As the sun descended beyond the horizon, sending ribbons of purple and blue across the sky, Stefan Cassadine stood on the Spoon Island dock and watched the launch approach. When Wenders had securely anchored the boat, he reached down to help the passenger out. Laura Spencer smiled once she was safely on deck, pausing a moment to straighten her clothes and smooth her windblown hair.

Leaning in to kiss her, he told her, "You look lovely, as always." She was dressed in a button-up sweater and a skirt, both a lovely, deep shade of blue that set off her eyes.

"You look wonderful as well." Instead of his normal suit, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt of dark, charcoal grey and matching slacks. His hair fell naturally across his forehead in the style Laura most liked.

Stefan couldn’t help but notice that Laura seemed positively radiant that evening, her voice filled with music. This seemed almost the happiest he had seen her in the last few years since he had arrived in Port Charles. "Why do you appear to be floating on air?" he asked while they walked arm and arm up to Wyndemere.

"Because I am. Lucky and I had a talk today – a real talk. I know that you’re not that fond of him, but—."

"It’s not that at all. Lucky and I had an unfortunate start. It’s just I haven’t liked how he’s treated you these past few months."

"Stefan, I know you’re worried, but it’s not your problem to deal with. Besides, we reached an understanding today."

This news pleased him as he knew that the estrangement that had developed between Laura and her son had hurt her greatly. "I’m glad to hear you’ve found common ground again. I know how much your son means to you."

"How much all my children mean to me. I wish you could have seen Nikolas, Lucky and Lesley Lu playing together this afternoon. They had this absolutely silly old Halloween turban . . ."

Stefan’s brow creased in confusion. "An old Halloween turban?"

"Yeah. But that’s not the important part. What’s important is the way they were all together. I mean, it was as if Lucky and Nikolas had spent their entire lives together and there was nothing between them except love and respect. And Lesley Lu, she acted as if she’d had both her brothers all her life. It was just incredible. I almost had to pinch myself. The impossible has happened . . . my children all love each other, and they’ve made peace with me, too. It’s just a miracle."

"I know you wanted that." Hesitating, he didn’t say what else he was thinking – that Laura’s life had seemed to improve after Luke had left. Without him around to control her, she could be who she really was. Not what Spencer wanted her to be.

"Something else also came through today." She opened her bag to pull out some folded papers, which Stefan immediately recognized.

"Laura . . . are those . . . what I think they are?"

Nodding, she unfolded the document and handed them over for him to inspect. "I filed after . . . after your trial. After I found out what Luke did to Katherine and what he put me through. He finally signed them yesterday."

"How did you get him to do that?"

"I threatened to reveal that he was the one who was responsible for Katherine’s fall. I seriously doubt Mac would take too kindly to that."

Stefan had to keep the look of awe off his face. "I’m impressed."

"I thought you might be."

"Will I have to watch myself around you?"

Laughing gently, Laura clasped her arms around his neck. "Only if you ever try to leave me."

"No chance of that," he said lowly. "Not after it took us so long to find each other again."

For a few long, wonderful moments, they kissed, the fact that Laura was now a free woman making the kisses even sweeter. When they parted, Stefan put his arm around her waist and escorted her into the house where Mrs. Landsbury greeted them and took Laura’s coat. Dinner was set up on an intimate table in the great room, candles flickering in the dimness and setting the romantic mood.

"Oh, Stefan . . ."

"Here," he said, pulling out a seat for her. As she sat, the light shined in her blond hair and blue eyes, and Stefan thought he had never seen her looking so beautiful.

Laura found that despite the superb meal Mrs. Landsbury had prepared, she was just too exhilarated to eat. She felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders, like things were finally going right again in her life. Not so long ago, she couldn’t have imagined such a thing. But thanks to her children – and Stefan – it was.

"You’ve hardly touched your food," he commented after watching her pick at her dinner for several minutes. "Is everything all right? I’m sure we could find you something else to eat if that isn’t to your liking."

"Oh . . . no. This is excellent. I’m . . . I’m just too excited to eat."

Seeing she was about ready to burst, he set his fork down on his plate. "Tell you what – why don’t we go for a walk?"

"That sounds like a very good idea."

The sun had disappeared completely in the time they had been inside. Now, under a black sky that seemed made of crushed velvet, where stars twinkled brightly, Stefan and Laura walked together along Spoon Island’s beach, enjoying the night despite the slightly chilly air. Small clouds of fine mist collected in front of their faces when they spoke.

"Laura . . . I was wondering . . ."

"Hmmm?"

"I hear Paris is lovely this time of year with Spring having just begun. I wanted to take a trip there and was hoping you’d accompany me."

Laura’s eyes widened in pleasure. "A trip to Paris sounds wonderful. When would we go?"

Stopping on the pathway, he turned to face her, his eyes twinkling in the light coming from Wyndemere. "Next weekend."

"Next weekend? But what about Lesley Lu?"

He answered without hesitation, "We can bring her along."

"Now there’s a romantic weekend in Paris," she responded teasingly with a laugh. "Will you let me bring along Foster and Amy as well?"

"If it would make you happy, I’d bring an entire clown troupe and a whole army of nannies. Anyone you like. I’m sure Lesley Lu would love Paris."

"Yes, she will . . . when she’s older. I think she should stay home with Aunt Amy this time." Wrapping her arms around him, she laid her head against his chest. "You’re wonderful, you know that?" After a few moments, she raised her head to look at him and found that she had to tell him. "I love you."

His eyes opening wide, he took a hold of her shoulders and stared into her eyes, seeing the truth there. The love. When they had discussed the subject earlier in the week, he hadn’t imagined that he would be hearing them from her so soon. "Oh, Laura, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words." He kissed her passionately as he murmured happily, "I love you . . . I love you."

Unable to help but smile against his lips, she felt herself being drawn closer into his embrace. For as long as she could remember, she had always felt safe in his arms, even when they were fighting following his arrival in Port Charles. She had never felt in any one’s arms the way she did in his. Like she was home.

For Stefan, it seemed that his entire life had been building to this point. To be free to hold Laura in his arms without the specter of his brother and Luke Spencer hanging over them. She had made a clean break. Chosen him. For the first time in his life, it seemed that he had everything he wanted. His son. The woman he loved. A place that was finally his home.

"Stefan . . ."

"Laura," he said at the same moment.

"Will you marry me?" they asked each other simultaneously.

When they realized what they had done, they laughed and hugged each other again, knowing their answers had been given in that instant. Then, in an uncharacteristic display, Stefan picked Laura up and spun her around under the moonlight. The world was theirs.

"We can look for an engagement ring in Paris," he told her after he kissed her again. Holding her close, he stroked her hair. How long had he imagined this?

Suddenly, music drifted out to them like an unexpected breeze, the tune haunting and romantic. Laura recognized it as the piece from the movie Somewhere in Time, Rachmaninov’s "Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini." Looking up toward the house, they realized Mrs. Landsbury had turned on a radio while she did the washing up. A window opened to keep steam from building up in the kitchen allowed them to hear the melody.

"May I have this dance?" Stefan whispered so as not to disturb the mood.

Nodding, Laura raised her hands, placing one on his shoulder and the other in his own outstretched hand. Once he had settled his free one on the small of her back, he slowly led her in a waltz on the stone path, their bodies moving closer together with each step. The dance they had been performing for almost twenty years had finally ended. Now, a new one had begun.

When the music stopped, Laura broke away and motioned for Stefan to follow her. Wondering what she had in mind, he let her lead him back inside and upstairs. Without her saying a word, he knew what she wanted. Their own private dance.

When they reached his room, Stefan opened the door then stood back to allow her to enter first. This was happening; really happening after so long. Laura felt her heart beating rapidly as she stepped through the threshold. The room was typical Cassadine, but there were touches that made it his – like the orange silk sheets on the bed. She threw a glance over her shoulder, wondering if he had planned for this to happen tonight. If so, it was perfectly fine with her. She had wanted this months ago, but Stefan, bless him, had realized she wasn’t ready. Now, she was. Now that they could admit their love freely. Now that nothing stood between them.

The room was also filled with candles, as yet unlit. As Laura reached out to one, Stefan shut the door behind them and locked it before joining her, taking her hand in his. Leaning together, they kissed each other for a long time, then Stefan moved away and took out an ornamental candle lighter, which he ignited. Laura slid her hand over his, and together, they lit all the candles in the room until the whole chamber glowed. Seeing his love illuminated in the soft wavering light, Stefan smiled, a real smile of perfect happiness. She was so beautiful to him. And she really did love him.

Breaking away momentarily, they each circled to opposite sides of the bed. She had never forgotten which side had been his in the nights they had slept together in Greece. They crawled on their knees to meet in the bed’s middle, looking into each other’s eyes. Both saw so much there – love and the promise of their new life together.

"All these years," Stefan whispered, breaking the silence, "I’ve dreamed of this."

Smiling through tears of joy, she said, "It’s not a dream anymore." She cupped his face against her palm. "I love you."

Stefan rubbed his hand over her shoulder then pulled her to him to kiss her. Through their closeness, Laura could feel the beating of his heart, a heart she had taken comfort in during that horrible time in her life. Now, she was opening herself up to that heart, with no fear, no hesitation.

As they kissed, he gently lowered her to the mattress, savoring the feel of her, the way her body responded to each of his gentle touches, each of his passionate kisses. Suddenly feeling impish, Laura nudged him back and made the move she knew he would be waiting for, the move that told him this was truly what she wanted. With deliberate carefulness, she unbuttoned his shirt, exposing the Cassadine medal all members of the family wore. She briefly considered taken the medal off, but it was a part of him. He would always be a Cassadine, and she accepted that; after all, she would be part of the family again herself. Willingly this time. So instead, she simply pushed his shirt all the way off before drawing her hands back up his arms to his chest.

Her touches inflaming him, Stefan reached down to lift her own shirt up and over her head, revealing a lacy black bra, then he began kissing his way down her chest. Laura threw her head back as wonderful electric feelings coursed through her with each kiss. Moments later, he was over her again. While she ran her hands through his hair, he impulsively kissed her nose, causing both of them to break out in wide smiles. Neither could recall the last time they had been so happy.

Taking her arm, he slowly, sensuously trailed his tongue from her wrist up to her shoulder then to her neck and lastly to her lips. When he pulled back to look into her eyes, both of them knew it had arrived. The moment they had been anticipating for so long. Drawing the covers around themselves, they finally and completely surrendered themselves to their love for each other.

* * * * *

"So, here we are," Laura said as they lay together in bed later, their arms around each other.

"Yes," Stefan answered, pleasure tingeing his voice. He ran his hand gently through her long, silky hair.

"Finally."

Snuggling closer to him, she let out a contented sigh then, unexpectedly, felt something tickling the top of her head, which caused her to look up. The ends of a golden pillow tassel were sticking out slightly over her head. Stefan bit back a chuckle; he had smoothed it down in a moment of mirth.

"Finally," he instead repeated.

Ignoring the tassel, she whispered, "I love you."

They kissed each other for several minutes before Stefan moved back slightly. "I love you," he murmured. As Laura leaned her head against his chest, rubbing it, happy to be held in his arms, he pressed his lips against the top of her head. "God, how I love you."

* * * * *

It was the middle of the night when Stefan and Laura arrived at the Port Charles dock on their way to her house their laughter echoing through the stillness. They couldn’t wait to tell Nikolas the news of their engagement. However, their merriment soon fell away when, to their surprise, they found Luke was waiting near the steps, his face pale and his eyes large.

The had been a fire at Morgan’s Garage.

Lucky was dead.

Grief-stricken, Laura collapsed into Stefan’s arms and sobbed.

An unseasonably warm late November day was just ending as Laura sat on the bench under the now bare trees, her eyes cast down on the etched stone before her. Today, she found that she could sit there with him, talk to him, without succumbing to tears. It had been a long, hard road to reach this point. To be able to be there alone. Before, she had always needed someone with her to help her every time she saw the headstone with that name and date.

"Laura?" a gentle voice murmured from behind her as hands came to rest on her shoulders.

Turning her head, she gazed into the somber, probing dark green eyes of her husband. "A few more minutes, Stefan," she responded in answer to his unspoken question. With a simple nod of understanding, he softly kissed the top of her head then retreated over the hill, fallen leaves crunching underfoot, to wait for her, giving her the privacy he knew she wanted and needed at that point. Foster, who had adopted Stefan as his master in the last few months and went almost everywhere with him now, nuzzled Laura’s hand comfortingly before trotting after him.

"Lesley Lu misses you Lucky," she stated sadly, splaying her right palm on the stone bench and learning forward. "She finally knows you’re not going to come back, but sometimes I think she expects you to come visit anyway. There are even times when I think you might walk through the door like you just came home for a visit from New York City. Liz moved there this summer, you know. We all told her that’s what you would have wanted her to do. She really loves you, Lucky.

"Nikolas is down visiting her. He’s supposed to be back in Port Charles tomorrow. I’m glad he’s around for Lu, but it’s just not the same without you."

With a sigh, she brushed away some extraneous tears that just refused to be held back while she remembered the little boy she rocked to sleep at night. The young man who was so protective of his little sister. One of her most precious memories, especially now, was that of her three children playing with that silly turban in the living room of her old house, mainly because it had been later that night when she had lost her beautiful son in that fire. Moving off the bench, she knelt down to run her fingertips over the depressed letters of the headstone that made up his name. Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Jr. "Lucky."

"I love you," she whispered. "Rest well, my sweet child."

As she rose, she became aware of footsteps behind her. Thinking that Stefan had returned, she turned to meet him. "I’m read—." Her voice cut off abruptly when she saw that it wasn’t her husband standing there.

"Hello, darlin’," he greeted in that laid-back way of his. His stance mirrored the tone of his voice as did his choice of clothing – a faded-blue denim jacket and jeans.

"Luke," she responded then waited as they stood there in silence, a few long moments passing uneasily between them. She almost couldn’t believe that he was there in front of her. They hadn’t seen each other at all since he had up and left town six months before without a word to anyone.

He finally broke the spell by asking, "So how are you? Long time, no see. I hear you married the Prince of Darkness and moved into his castle."

Laura shook her head, refusing to allow herself to be baited by his words. This was not the Luke she had once loved – or had at least thought she had loved. He had died a long time ago, before even Lucky. It hurt her to see him like this, but that was all she felt for him now. Sadness, hurt and pity. All other feelings she had once had for him had died along with everything else. "Things are as all right," she answered quietly. "I wanted to visit Lucky while we were having this warm spell."

"And how is our boy?"

The words almost cut Laura’s heart with their sharpness, but behind them, she noted a pang of sadness, of regret. After Lucky’s death, he had withdrawn, not even asking for visitation with Lesley Lu, possibly because he didn’t want to see her when he couldn’t see his son. He had taken up with Tammy Carson for a time although that had ended just as quickly as it had started. Only Bobbie had seemed to be able to reach him, but even she was held off at some distance. He hadn’t even let her know where he was going the day he cut out of town.

When Laura didn’t answer his question, he changed it, "How’s Lulu?"

"She’s healthy. Growing like a weed," she told him even though it sounded cliché even to her own ears. Then she stopped, unable to bring herself to mention that their daughter was starting to regard Stefan as a father . . . and that he had brought up the possibility of adopting her since Luke had apparently dropped out of the picture.

"So how is Count Vlad?"

She really hated it when Luke called her husband that. "Stefan is fine . . . busy."

"No doubt plotting against the next family he’s going to destroy."

Laura closed her eyes in pain. Their family had not been destroyed by Stefan. It had been destroyed by years of built-up lies and cover-ups and an unwillingness to understand or compromise. Both of them were to blame, and she would bear that knowledge for the rest of her life. But, at the same time, that part of their lives was over; to heal, they needed to move on.

"Luke, now is not the time or place. I thought you had more respect for the dead. Now, excuse me."

When she started walking past him, he grabbed her arm. "Laura . . ."

Without glancing up, she whispered, "Goodbye, Luke," and pulled away. Down over the hill, she found Stefan waiting for her by the car with Foster sitting at his heels. He reached out to draw her into a hug, wrapping his arms protectively around her. She sighed softly and buried her face in the crook of his neck, not wanting to move.

"Are you all right?"

She shook her head. "I was, but then Luke showed up."

Stepping back slightly to look up at him, she saw his eyes had snapped up and were scanning the top of the hill. Then they narrowed, causing her to twist around to see Luke standing up there, staring down at them. He was too far away for her to see what was in her eyes, what he was thinking. Once upon a time, she would have known even this far away, but now she no longer knew him. Didn’t want to.

"Let’s go home," she murmured as she turned away.

* * * * *

"Laura?"

Curled up in the window seat, she turned her attention from the expanse of lights, across the bay from Spoon Island, that was Port Charles. Stefan was sitting up in bed and gazing at her, the love for her bright in his eyes even in the dim light that came in through the window.

"I was having trouble sleeping," she told him.

This admission pulled him from the bed. He joined her on the seat, sitting behind her so he could snuggle her against him and envelop her in his arms. "What’s keeping my beautiful wife awake?"

"A lot of things. A lot of thoughts."

"Luke," he sighed, his chin resting gently on the top of her head.

"Among other things. He . . . he said some pretty hurtful things to me."

"At his own son’s grave? Does the man have no decency?"

"I don’t know who he is anymore. I don’t want to know. If he’s lost and hurting, he needs to find his own way back. I tried too many times and got pushed aside each and every time."

"But it still bothers you."

"Of course it does. He was a big part of my life; he’s Lesley Lu’s father. It’s hard to just shut away something like that." She twisted slightly to look into his dark green eyes. In them, she saw everything they had shared over the last year. Their "first" date to the opera. The dinners at Wyndemere. The support and love he unconditionally gave to her after Lucky’s death. "But never doubt that it’s you I love. You’re the one who stuck around when I needed you, who never ran out on me no matter what happened. The one who has loved me no matter what I’ve done. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone, and I can’t imagine living without you now."

As she reached up to run her hand through his golden-brown hair, a smile spread across his features. Stroking her face with the outside tips of his fingers, he whispered, "I love you," in Russian. She closed her eyes, allowing his gentle touch to sooth away all thoughts save for those about him. The next thing she felt was his lips on her, passionate, hungry, loving, while his hands roamed to other places. Twisting slightly against him, she gave him full access; however, after a few moments, he pulled away, somewhat hesitantly, causing a small cry of protest to escape from her throat.

"I just thought we’d be more comfortable on the bed," he explained.

"What? You don’t think it’s exciting enough right here?"

That made him laugh. "You really want to here . . . in the window."

"Why not?" she responded, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she turned around to face him, pressing up deliciously against him, her fingers tracing the outline of his lips. "No one’s going to see us after all."

That was all it took. Growling with desire, he pulled her to him, pushed her nightgown off her shoulders and made love to her.

* * * * *

The following morning, Laura paused briefly as she was getting ready for work, her eyes wandering over to the window seat. The pillows lay slightly askew, a pleasurable reminder of what she and her husband had shared during the night. She knew, though, that by the time she and Stefan returned home, Mrs. Landsbury would have them straightened up. Pity. She rather liked the new look.

After pulling her hair back with two clips and putting on her jewelry, she headed downstairs to the breakfast room. When she entered, Foster, who was eating near the door, raised his head from his bowl and wagged his tail in greeting. Laura reached down to pet him as she quietly watched Lesley Lu and her husband for a moment. The five-year-old was sitting on her stepfather’s lap, listening with rapt attention as he read her the comic strips. The sight was truly one to behold. Only Lesley Lu could get Stefan Cassadine, regent of an empire, to speak in a funny voice like Garfield the Cat.

"Mommy!" the little girl squeaked happily. "Poppa Stefan’s been reading to me."

"I saw that," Laura answered, joining them at the table. "What happened to Garfield today?"

"He smashed a spider," Lesley Lu answered, her nose wrinkling at the thought of squashed spider guts. "And Clem hogged Pasquale’s cookies again."

"Well, Clem certainly is a very naughty boy, isn’t he?" She tweaked her daughter’s nose. "Are you finished with your breakfast?"

Lu nodded and pointed to the empty cereal bowl at the spot that had become hers after they had moved into Wyndemere.

"Good. Then why don’t you go make sure you have everything in your bookbag that you need for kindergarten today."

Once she had slipped down out of Stefan’s lap, Lesley Lu hurried out of the room, her small shoes soon making loud clumps on the stairs. Smiling, Laura turned to see Stefan eyeing her as he folded his paper, which he placed next to his plate.

"So, Mr. Cassadine," she said slyly, placing her hand on his shoulder and leaning down close to him, "if I sit on your lap, will you read me the comics?"

"You sit on my lap, and you’ll get a lot more than that," he growled lowly while his hand traced the curves of her body underneath her dress.

"You cad," she laughed before kissing him gently on the lips. "You’re wonderful with Lesley Lu, you know that. You’re practically a father to her."

At her words, Stefan looked over at Lesley Lu’s spot. "You know that I’d like to be a father to her in every respect."

Laura nodded and tried hard to repress a sigh. "I know you do. And I’d like nothing more than for Lesley Lu to have a full-time father. But I keep hoping that Luke . . . I mean . . . he is her biological father, after all."

"I know you want them to have a better relationship, but he was gone for six months and never made an attempt to contact her. Now, he’s obviously back and still hasn’t done so. Lesley Lu deserves better than that."

The sigh she had been holding back finally escaped as she dropped into the chair next to her husband. "You’re right. I just keep hoping . . ." She paused a moment in thought. Perhaps she had been waiting long enough for something that might never happen. "All right, why don’t you talk to Alexis about what would be required for you to adopt her. Find out the procedure. We’ll decide how to take it from there."

"Are you sure?" Placing his left hand over hers on the table, he leaned forward to touch her face with his right one.

She nodded and bent her head into his caress. "I’m sure. You’re right, you know. Lesley Lu needs a father who will be a father."

"Then I’ll talk to Alexis today." As he rose, he kissed her forehead. "And I’ll give you and Lesley Lu a ride. I have a meeting at the hospital this morning."

After rounding up Lesley Lu, the three of them headed down to the launch. The Indian Summer weather of the day before had gone, replaced by the cool, chilly nip of late autumn. Laura reached over to pull her daughter’s coat up from where it had slipped down over her shoulders, but before she had a chance to zip it up, Lu pulled away and ran down to join Stefan, who had walked ahead. He was looking at the second launch berth with a frown on his face.

"What’s wrong?" Laura asked upon reaching them.

"The anchor rope is out in the water. It was wound up on the mooring when we arrived home last evening."

"That’s strange. Do you think someone anchored here last night?"

"It’s the only reason I can think of," he answered while he rewound the rope. "It’s not as though it can unwind by itself."

"Maybe someone got turned around in the water and ended up here by accident."

"Possibly." However, they both knew it had been clear the previous night, which had led to the temperature drop, so only the most inept sailor would have missed the lights of Port Charles harbor. "In any event, there was no apparent harm done, but I think I’ll still talk to John just to be safe."

* * * * *

If she had to spend anymore time on the phone, Laura’s ear was going to become permanently attached to the receiver. During most of the afternoon, she had been trying to track down someone to be a Big Brother to one of her Outreach kids, a difficult task to accomplish for numerous reasons. Some people were too busy to give the time needed; others didn’t feel they could adequately deal with the problems the kid had. Unfortunately, while she didn’t believe some of the excuses, she couldn’t force anyone to take on the responsibility.

However, just when she was about to concede defeat, she finally hit pay dirt. "You will? Oh, that’s great. I’ll contact you tomorrow to set up a meeting between you two. Thank you so much."

As she hung up the phone, the door creaked open, and Stefan entered. "Is now a good time to see the director?"

"Only if you’re my husband," she replied facetiously, rising from her chair and stretching the kinks out of her back muscles.

"Fortunate for me, then. I do believe I fit that criteria." Crossing the office, he took his wife into his arms and kissed her.

"Are you ready to go pick Lu up from school?" she inquired while she shouldered her purse.

"Have you noticed the time?"

"No . . . I’ve been on the phone . . ." Her voice trailed off when she saw the clock. "Ohmigod! I was supposed to find you an hour ago so we could go get her! How in the world could I forget? I can’t believe—!"

Placing his finger on her lips, he gently cut her off. "It’s all right. She’s down at the fifth-floor nurse’s station with Amy. When Gale Baldwin said you were stuck in a phone-a-thon, I drove over and picked her up so that you could get your work done."

Laura shook her head in disbelief. "I can’t believe I lost track of time. Thank you for picking her up."

"You’re quite welcome. I know whatever it is you were trying to sort out had to be important."

"You’re so understanding." She had wrapped her arms around her husband and was about to kiss him again when a knock came at the door. Looking over, they found a young man standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Laura Spencer Cassadine?" he asked.

Not thinking of the fact that she didn’t use the name Spencer anymore, she simply answered, "Yes."

"These are for you." He held out the bouquet, which consisted of yellow daffodils, ox-eye daisies and other wild flowers.

Taking them and inhaling their fragrance deeply, she said, "They’re beautiful, Stefan."

"I didn’t send them, unfortunately. I wish I had after seeing the look on your face."

"Then who did?" A quick check turned up no card, so Laura hurried out into the corridor to stop the delivery boy before he left. "Excuse me," she said, "do you know who sent these?"

"Sorry, ma’am. I just drop them off. If you want to know, you’ll have to call the Port Charles Waterfront Florist."

"Okay . . . thank you."

While she stood there, staring at the flowers, Stefan approached with her coat slung over his forearm. Where could they have come from? Wild flowers were a rather strange choice when it came to sending a bouquet, especially this time of year. In fact, the only other time that she had ever gotten flowers like this had been . . .

Laura suddenly dropped them to the floor as though they had burned her. "Luke . . . he sent those."

Stefan looked down in dismay. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. The delivery boy called me Laura Spencer Cassadine. And . . ." she took a deep breath, "when we lived in Canada, Lucky used to bring me a bunch of those very kind of flowers every Monday after school."

"And today’s Monday. What in the hell is that man playing at?"

"I don’t know, but it’s not going to work." Stooping down, she scooped up the bouquet and stalked down the hall. The first nurse she came across, she stopped. "Will you see that a patient who doesn’t have any family gets these?" she asked, pressing the flowers into his hand.

As the nurse agreed and hurried off, Laura felt Stefan’s hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." She turned around and kissed him briefly. "Come on. Let’s go rescue my sister from Hurricane Lesley Lu."

Down at the fifth floor nurse’s station, they found Lesley Lu playing a game of Cat’s Cradle with her aunt. When the little girl saw them, she practically launched herself off the desk she was sitting on. Amy, however, caught her before she went flying and set her on the floor. Lu then ran over to Laura with arms outstretched.

"Mommy!"

"Hello, Sweetie," she said, rubbing her noses with her daughter. "How was your day?"

"I drew a picture of a tree and wrote my numbers, and Daddy visited me."

That last bit puzzled Laura. "Daddy?"

"He was outside by the fence at recess."

Luke was at the school? Why? "Did he tell you why he was there?"

Lesley Lu shook her head vigorously. "He didn’t talk to me. Just waved and left."

Laura gazed over her daughter’s head to lock eyes with her husband. Stefan’s words from earlier came back to them both. What in the hell was Luke playing at?

"Thanks, Claude," Laura said and hung up the phone just as Stefan and Foster came in from outside. "Hey . . ."

"John said that they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary on the grounds. And nothing is missing. Sounds like you were right – someone got lost." He shook his head. "Who were you talking to?"

"Claude. Luke hasn’t been at the club at all since he’s returned. In fact, he’s put the place up for sale. Hasn’t told anyone why."

"Maybe he’s leaving Port Charles for good."

"Possibly. But why—?"

Before she could finish her thought, Lesley Lu came running downstairs with a huge grin on her face. "The launch is coming! Niky’s home!" she called out. Grabbing their hands, she pulled them toward the door.

With the conversation put temporarily on hold, the three of them walked down to the pier as the boat anchored to the dock. Nikolas waved to his parents and little sister and passed his bag up to his father before swinging out himself.

"Niky!" Lesley Lu greeted, almost jumping into her brother’s arms for a hug.

"Hi, squirt," he said with a laugh.

"Welcome home, son," Stefan said once Lu had let Nikolas go. He hugged both his mother and his father then took the bag back to carry.

"How was New York City?" Laura asked as they walked up to the house, Foster bounding along in front of them.

"Good. Liz sends her love."

"How’s she doing?"

"Great, actually. She’s doing well at art school; in fact, they’re going to have a show next month, and one of her paintings is going to be a featured piece. I promised that I’d go back down to attend with her."

"I’m sure she’ll be glad to have a friend with her at such an important event."

"She sent a painting for you and Dad, as a late wedding present since she wasn’t here when you married last month. It’s in here," he said patting the bag he carried. "I already dropped my other stuff at my home. And she sent a gift for you, Miss Lesley Lu."

"Really?" Lu responded happily. "What?"

Patting her on the head, Nikolas answered, "We’ll just have to wait until we get inside the house."

"Then come on!" she demanded. Nikolas allowed himself to be pulled into the house, leaving Stefan and Laura behind on the pathway. As they continued at their previous pace, Stefan slipped his arm around her waist.

"I talked to Alexis about the adoption procedure," he told her.

"What did she say?" She imagined that Alexis had given him quite an earful of advice besides just the adoption; she and her husband’s sister were still on rather shaky ground when it came to their relationship as in-laws due to the mistrust from things that had happened in the past couple of years. But Laura knew that Alexis was important to him, so she tried to put aside their antagonism. It was going to take a while longer, though; Laura knew she would have to prove herself to Alexis and vice versa before anything changed between them.

"Unless there’s proof of abandonment, you have to get Luke’s permission for the adoption. Basically, he has to agree to terminate his parental rights."

"He took off for six months without any word or contact, and I have full custody. That’s not considered abandonment?"

"It would have been if he hadn’t returned. We would have had to put an announcement in the newspaper to advertise our intentions in any event, but his disappearance would have allowed us to claim abandonment. However, since he’s been seen in town by both of us, we can’t."

"We don’t even know where he’s staying." Raking a hand through her blond hair, she sighed. "I hate this. I always wanted Luke to have a relationship with her, but it seems he let it die with . . . Lucky. Why does my daughter have to suffer because Luke can’t get his act together and realize he has another child? Wasn’t it enough to lose one?"

"I would never allow Lesley Lu to suffer. Even if the courts make it difficult for me to be her legal father, I will always be her father in every other way. No matter what Luke does."

"I just wish it didn’t have to be this way." She paused for a few moments then admitted something she had never told anyone, "Sometimes, I wish you were her biological father."

"So do I . . . so do I. But I promise we’ll get this worked out, Lasha." The moment that the name came out of his mouth, Stefan realized what he had said. "I’m sorry. It just slipped out."

He hadn’t used that name for her in a long time, since the day she had asked him not to. But when he did call her that, Laura found that she had actually missed the way he said it. "It’s all right. I don’t mind it as much as I used to. In fact, I never did hate it when you called me that. I was just angry when I told you to stop it. I had too many memories of Stavros and Helena, too many fears that you had changed in the time we had been apart to someone I no longer knew."

"I felt like I had changed . . . I had to. It was the only way I could survive without you, deal with you being with Luke. It was only when I saw you again—."

Laura put her finger on his lips, showing him he didn’t need to explain himself. Things were different now than they had been. "We’ve both changed for the better. We’re different people; Lasha doesn’t mean the same thing anymore."

After embracing and kissing each other, they went into the house. As soon as they had entered, Lesley Lu came running into the foyer, hugging a medium-sized stuffed horse.

"Look what Elizabeth gave me!" She held it up for them to see. The horse was a Clydesdale with shaggy white hair around her hooves, a long tail, and a shiny mane. "She’s like in those commercials. Niky says they pull carriages in New York City and that we can ride in one if we go. Can we go? Please?"

"Maybe sometime," Laura said.

"How about we all go down for Elizabeth’s school show next month?" Stefan suggested. "Take a family trip. Then you can ride in one of those carriages."

"I’m sure Liz would love to have us all down there," Nikolas added as he joined them.

"Can we go, Mommy? Please?"

Laura smiled. How could she say no to all three of them? "All right. We’ll go to New York City next month."

"Yeah!" Lesley Lu exclaimed while she did her happy dance.

* * * * *

Sighing, Laura walked the grounds around Wyndemere, trying to collect her thoughts. She had left work at lunchtime because she wanted to try to locate Luke and discuss things with him, find out what was going on. Straighten things out and make him understand that Lesley Lu needed a father. She just couldn’t decide how she was going to talk to him about this. Luke could be stubborn and not listen to anyone if he got it in his head. How could she make him understand?

This brought her to the things he had been doing in the last few days. Showing up at the cemetery. Sending her those flowers. Watching Lesley Lu at school. Selling the club. What was he up to?

As she walked, she tilted her head down and stared at the ground. In the paved garden, she noticed something lying between two of the stones – a discarded half-smoked cigar. This caused her to stop; no one who lived or worked on the island smoked, so what was it doing there? Gingerly, she picked the stub up and sniffed at it. The odor was immediately, eminently familiar.

It was the brand that Luke smoked.

In that instant, the anchor rope in the water made sense. Luke had been on the island the night before last. But why? Glancing up, she realized to her horror that this spot allowed a view of her and Stefan’s bedroom! Had Luke seen them . . . ?

Dropping the cigar stub, Laura ran inside.

* * * * *

"Are you sure it was him?" Stefan asked, trying to keep his voice under control as his wife told him over the phone what she had discovered.

"Yes, it’s definitely his brand. I’d know it anywhere." Laura felt like she was about ready to shake apart.

"You think he saw us the other night?"

"I’m not sure, but still . . ." She couldn’t continue.

She didn’t have to. The thought of Luke having seen them together in a private, intimate moment was loathsome to both of them. Stefan knew that if he had been in the same room as that egregious simpleton at that moment, he would have been fighting desperately against the urge to strangle him.

"What should we—?" Laura started to say but was cut off by a beep from the receiver. "Stefan, someone’s on the other line. I can—."

"Take it. I’ll wait."

Depressing the hook, Laura clicked over to the incoming call. "Cassadine residence. Laura speaking."

Luke’s voice drawled in her ear, "I figured you’d be there when you left the hospital early today."

"Luke . . . have you been following me? What the hell are you doing?"

"Whatever do you mean?" her ex-husband asked innocently. It thoroughly infuriated her when he adopted that sort of tone with her.

"Don’t play games with me. I know you were here the other night, and I know that you were the one who sent me those flowers."

"So you haven’t totally forgotten our life together."

"Of course I wouldn’t forget that! But why—?" Suddenly Laura understood . . . what he was up to. Why he was doing all the things he was doing. "Oh, my God. You couldn’t have really thought that I would leave Stefan and go crawling back to you just because you came back to Port Charles and sent me flowers."

Luke didn’t say a word, and that answered her question for her.

"Our life together ended a long time ago," she said after a few moments of silence. "I’ve moved on."

"With that Cassadine demon? You can’t seriously be happy with him, living in that haunted house."

"You’re referring to my husband. He isn’t some evil thing; he’s—."

"He’s a Cassadine! And I was your husband."

"Let it go, Luke! I want you to have a relationship with Lesley Lu, but we’re over."

"We belong together, Laura. You know that."

"No—."

"We do. And I’ll prove it to you. We’ll be together again."

With that, he hung up the phone, leaving Laura to stare dumbfounded at the receiver. Stefan! She had to tell Stefan! Clicking over to other line, she quickly told her husband, "We have a problem."

* * * * *

"I’m going to have Alexis file a petition for a restraining order against Luke," Stefan said as they drove toward Port Charles Elementary School to pick up Lesley Lu. "Will you agree to that?"

With a sigh, Laura nodded. "Yes. I had been hoping . . . but he really scared me, Stefan. I haven’t been this afraid of him since . . ." She couldn’t continue her thought, but the images of that night in the disco long ago flashed through her mind.

Stefan, however, knew what she was referring to without her saying it. It was the reason he hated Spencer, the reason he had hated his brother. The way they had violated her, used her, disgusted him and offended his sense of propriety. There was no excuse for men to indulge in such monstrous actions. "I won’t let him hurt you, Lasha. I promise."

Upon reaching the elementary school, Stefan parked the Mercedes in the parent’s lot, and they went inside to wait by Lesley Lu’s classroom. Several minutes later, as soon as the bell rang, the classroom door swung open to admit a stream of students rushing to their buses or waiting parents. However, Laura didn’t see her daughter among them, and when the classroom had emptied with no trace of her, she became frightened.

"Where is she?" Stefan whispered, his low pitch indicating that he was as worried as his wife over his step-daughter’s whereabouts.

"Miss Jenkins!" she called out, hurrying into the classroom.

The young kindergarten teacher looked up from the supplies she was putting away in the cabinet, surprise crossing her face. "Mrs. Cassadine. Is something wrong?"

Laura couldn’t believe how blasé she seemed about this. "Yes, something’s wrong. Where’s Lesley Lu?"

"What do you mean? She was picked up earlier."

"Picked up? By who? On who’s authority?"

Miss Jenkins’ eyes opened wide at Laura’s tone of voice. "Her father picked her up. He had a note from you." She crossed over to the desk and retrieved a piece of paper, which she handed to Laura. "The handwriting matched—." She was cut off as Laura snatched the note away from her.

As Stefan came up behind her and peered over her shoulder, she read the note aloud, "’Please permit Lesley Lu to leave school early with her father, Luke Spencer. She has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Thank you, Laura Spencer Cassadine.’" After a few moments of silence, Laura finally said, her voice shaking, "I didn’t write this."

"But—," Miss Jenkins started to protest in defense of herself.

Taking Laura into his arms to comfort her, Stefan shot the teacher a look that would have cut had it been a dagger. "My wife doesn’t go by Spencer Cassadine, and Lesley Lu didn’t have any appointment, physician or otherwise."

"I’m so sorry," she stuttered. "I didn’t know. He’s her father, and there was no indication in Lesley Lu’s files that he was banned . . ."

But they weren’t listening to her. Laura stared up at her husband, tears in her eyes, voice hoarse. "Oh, God, Stefan. What is he doing? Where could he have take her?"

Blues music wailing from its speakers, the pink Cadillac sped down the highway, leaving Port Charles far behind as multi-colored leaves that had fallen from the trees were thrown about the road in the car’s wake.

"Where are we going, Daddy?"

Squinting against the setting sun, Luke Spencer looked over briefly at his daughter, who was strapped into the front passenger seat next to him, playing with the stuffed horse she had with her when he had taken her out of school. "Where did you get that?" he asked, purposefully ignoring the question for the time being.

"Elizabeth. Niky said this kind of horse pulls carriages."

"That’s nice." Hearing her mention the name of Count Vlad’s spawn made him grip the steering wheel tighter, causing his knuckles to turn white. Damn those Cassadines. If it hadn’t been for them, his life would be fine. He wouldn’t have lost his Angel, had her soiled by those demons. He wouldn’t have lost his son. But he was going to take back at least part of what was rightfully his. "Does he have a name?"

"It’s a she."

"Her name, then."

"Andromeda."

"Andromeda? Where did you get that?" he asked. "Wasn’t there a movie with a girl named Andromeda?"

"She’s named after one of Poppa Stefan’s ponies. The one he said I can ride when I turn seven."

Luke about choked at her words. Poppa Stefan?!? What had that bloodsucker been doing to his little girl? Brainwashing her? He was her only father, damn it! Her only father and Laura’s only husband. He was going to see to that. He was going to make sure that the Cassadines – every single, stinking one of them – were out of their lives forever.

* * * * *

Laura paced the floor of the conservatory, her heart aching like it was caught in a vice. How could Luke do this to her? Take her daughter without a word? This couldn’t be happening; she couldn’t lose another child. Crossing to the window, she stared out unseeing as tears collected in her eyes.

Stefan entered and immediately caught sight of her, her arms wrapped around her torso. Crossing over to her, he put an arm around her shoulder, and she instinctively leaned against him, accepting his strength and comfort. "Mac Scorpio is here," he said. "Are you up to talking to him, or would you rather I take care of the police report?"

"No . . . I should talk to him."

Clutching each other’s hand tightly, they left the conservatory and walked down the hall to Stefan’s study, where Mac was waiting. The police commissioner jumped up when the door opened.

"Laura, I’m so sorry to hear about Lesley Lu. Are you all right?"

"I’ve been better." She sank down onto the leather couch, rubbing her temples with her thumb and forefinger.

"If now isn’t a good time . . ."

"No," she responded, somewhat sharply. "No. I want to do this now. The longer we wait, the farther away Luke could be with my daughter."

"All right." As Stefan sat down next to his wife, Mac got out his notebook and leaned against the desk. "Lesley Lu’s teacher, Karyn Jenkins, has stated that Luke came in with a note supposedly written by you, Laura, and took Lu out of school. You maintain that the note’s a forgery?"

Laura nodded. "Luke never had my permission to take Lesley Lu anywhere."

Shaking his head, Mac scratched a couple of notes down. "Spencer’s not going to get out of this one," her muttered under his breath. "Okay, Laura . . . was there any indication that he was going to do this? Anything he said or did before this?"

Laura glanced over at Stefan, locking eyes.

"Laura?" Mac repeated.

"It’s all right, Lasha," Stefan urged. "Anything if it’ll help Lesley Lu."

"He didn’t really do anything that indicated he would kidnap her. She said he visited the school yesterday at recess though he didn’t talk to her." She took a deep breath.

Mac sense there was something more that she was hesitant to say. "But . . . ?"

"Luke’s been . . . harassing me the last few days," she finally admitted after a few moments more of silence.

"Harassing you? How?"

Feeling nervous and sick, Laura explained what had been happening and some of the things Luke had said. As she told him, she silently cursed herself for not finding a way to stop him earlier.

Stefan could see how upset she was and knew she was starting to blame herself, something she always seemed to do when it came to Luke. Squeezing her hand, he got her to face him. "It’s not your fault," he whispered.

Unable to answer, she swallowed hard, casting her eyes down at her lap.

Mac let out a slight growl. "I wish you had come to me about this earlier."

"This only happened over the last couple of days, commissioner," Stefan informed him pointedly. "We had no idea it would ever go this far. Now, will the police be able to help us, or did we make a mistake in turning to you for assistance?"

Narrowing his eyes at Stefan’s veiled insult against his police department, he responded, "We’ll do everything we can to find Luke and Lesley Lu. Do you have any ideas where they could have gone?"

Laura shook her head.

"Well, he couldn’t have gotten too far. He should still be in state since he apparently took off in his Cadillac. We’ll put out an APB and let you know if we hear anything. Hang in there, Laura." Mac tucked his notebook away as he stood up. "Stefan. I’ll see myself out."

Once he was gone, Stefan rose from the couch to pace the room while Laura put her head in her hands and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "They’re not going to find them," she complained. "Luke knows how to hide; he’s practically made a career of evading police and mobsters."

Kneeling down in front of her, Stefan took her hands from her face, holding them tightly, and searched her eyes. "Then we’ll find them ourselves. I’ll have John organize his security team to start searching for them tonight. We’re going to get Lesley Lu back."

Throwing her arms around him, Laura held her husband tightly as she cried.

* * * * *

Cesar Faison listened with interest while his contact gave him some fascinating information about his former business partner over the phone. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events. But perhaps a fortunate one. He knew that she had been wanting such an opportunity for a long time. It would be a shame to waste it.

"Where are they now?"

"Some one-star dump near the New York state line."

"Good . . . good. Now, listen very carefully. I’m going to have some other associates of mine join you. Here’s what you’re going to do . . ."

* * * * *

"How’s the ice cream there, Princess?" Luke asked, sitting down on the motel room bed.

"Okay," Lesley Lu answered half-heartedly as she pushed the melted remains of her Dairy Queen sundae around in the bowl sitting before her on the table.

"What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?"

Shrugging, she started ladling the ice cream, turning the spoon over and letting it drip back down into the bowl.

"Come on. You can tell me if something’s wrong. I’m your father."

"I wanna go home." Her little voice was more high-pitched than usual, filled with sadness. "I miss Mommy and Poppa Stefan. I don’t like this place."

"We’re only going to be here the night, and you’ll see Mommy soon."

"I wanna sleep in my bed." Dropping her spoon and knocking the bowl onto the floor, she jumped down from her chair, grabbed her stuffed horse and went over to sit in the corner. The ice cream remains seeped out of the overturned bowl onto the already stained shag carpet.

Silently, Luke cursed. This had to be that damn Cassadine influence. "Come on out of the corner."

"Only if you promise we can go home."

"Lulu . . ."

"My name’s not Lulu," she informed him petulantly. "Lulu is a baby’s name."

"I’ve always called you Lulu. I used to call your mother Lulu."

"That’s not her name either."

Luke felt as though his insides were burning from anger. His little girl had been turned into a stranger! It had all started with that blood transfusion. The Cassadine poison had changed her. Then she had lived in that creepy house. He should never have left her and Laura alone with Count Vlad. He should have kept them away in Switzerland, never allowed them to return to Port Charles in the first place. But maybe the damage could be undone.

"Damn you, Stefan Cassadine. Damn you," he muttered under his breath.

* * * * *

"Did you get in touch with your grandma?" Laura asked Nikolas when he came into Lesley Lu’s bedroom. She was rummaging around, straightening up, trying to keep herself busy, though she had a desperate need to be near her daughter’s things.

"No, I couldn’t reach Grandma Lesley. All I got was her answering machine."

"Did you leave a message?"

He nodded. "Of sorts. I didn’t go into any detail. Just told her to call as soon as she could. That it was an emergency."

Sitting down in the window seat, Laura gave her son a grateful look. "Thanks. I probably would have just broken down over the line. Where’s your father?"

"He was—."

Suddenly, Stefan burst into the room. "The security team has found a trail. Someone saw Luke’s Cadillac heading southwest on Highway Eighty-Four. John is with the pilot getting the helicopter ready to search from the air. We’re going with them."

No sooner had he said the words than Laura was on her feet. "Let’s go."

"I’m coming, too," Nikolas said.

"No, son. Stay here in case the police call."

"Or your grandma," Laura added.

After a few moments, Nikolas agreed reluctantly, "All right. Good luck. Bring her back."

* * * * *

When the knock came on the door, Luke parted the curtains slightly to check who his visitor was. "Thank God," he said, opening the door. "I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever arrive. Maybe you can do something about Lulu."

Lesley Webber stepped into the motel room and pushed down her coat hood. "Why? What’s going on?" She looked around the dumpy room in distaste, noticing the spilled ice cream on the carpet, and made a face.

"She’s been pouting. First she was sitting in the corner; now, she’s under the bed and won’t come out." Sighing, Luke shut the door and locked it.

"I’ll talk to her. Have you contacted Laura?"

"Not yet. I figured I’d wait until we got down to North Carolina."

"I hope this works." After depositing her coat on the bed nearest the door, Lesley made a questioning motion as to which of the two beds Lesley Lu was under. Luke pointed to the one she had just thrown her coat on, so she got down on her knees and lifted the bed skirt to peek underneath. "Lesley Lu? Sweetie?"

"Grandma?" a small voice responded.

"Yes, Baby, it’s me. What are you doing under there?" She could barely make out the little girl’s shape in the darkness.

"I don’t like it here. I wanna go home."

"Well . . . that’s not possible right now, but how would you like to go visit my home in North Carolina?"

Lesley Lu shifted slightly but didn’t come out. "Will Mommy and Poppa Stefan be there?"

Lesley hesitated before answering, thinking about the plan she and Luke had hatched when he come down to visit her the month before. Their attempt to get him and Laura back together. This was part of that plan, and it definitely did not include Stefan Cassadine coming down with Laura to North Carolina after Lesley Lu. "Your mommy will be there in a few days," she finally said. "I promise."

There were a few more moments of silence then some movement as the fluffy tail of Lu’s stuffed horse became visible, soon followed by her dark head. Lesley reached down to pick her granddaughter up from the floor. Smiling, she gently brushed her fine hair back from her face.

"I’m glad you came out," she told her. "I have some presents for you out in the car. Why don’t we have your daddy go out and get them for you."

Nodding, Luke caught the keys Lesley tossed him; however, when he opened the door, he didn’t see the gloved fist coming towards him until it connected with his nose. The force of impact sent him reeling back into the room and onto the floor.

"Luke!" Lesley cried in horror.

A group of men – big, imposing men in dark clothes – entered the room as she called to the dazed Luke. Two of them leaned down to pick him up while the other three advanced on Lesley. Fear rising in her throat, she backed up, holding Lu tightly. The little girl cowered in her arms, clutching her horse and hiding her face as sad, scared whimpers emanated from her.

"Wh—what do you want?" Lesley half stuttered, half demanded.

Without answering, the three men continued advancing until they had backed her into the corner. The smallest of the intruders, who was still bigger than Luke, reached out towards Lesley Lu. Screaming, Lesley tried to twist around to protect her with her body, but there were six pairs of hands on her, pulling at her, overpowering her. Despite her struggling, her granddaughter was dragged out of her arms, the horse falling to the floor in the confusion.

"No, Lulu! Leave her alone!"

"Grandma! Daddy!" Lesley Lu screamed at the top of her lungs, sobs wracking her tiny frame.

The cries of his daughter pierced the haze that had come over Luke. He looked up to see two men had pinned Lesley against the wall while another was carrying his little girl out the door. Ignoring the vice-like grips on him, he tried to lunge for the man holding Lu, but he was held back. Then, not too unexpectedly, he was punched in the gut, which knocked the wind out of him.

"Lulu . . ." he wheezed out.

"Daddy!" she cried, her arms reaching out toward him over the shoulder of her abductor.

That was the last he saw of her. As the man and Lesley Lu disappeared into the night, the remaining thugs dragged Luke and Lesley over to the beds, where they handcuffed them to the metal frames.

"What are you doing?" Lesley begged. "Why are you taking her?"

One of the men picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Yes . . . I’d like to report that the kidnapper from Port Charles who was on the news tonight . . . yes, Luke Spencer . . . I’ve seen him. He’s at the Pine Tree Motel with his accomplice. Room 18 . . . no, no name." With that, he replaced the receiver then turned to Luke, who was pulling at his restraints. "Herr Krieg sends his regards."

"What?!" he demanded. "What does Krieg want with my daughter?! Hey . . . I’m talking to you! Why does he want my daughter? Lulu!"

But without another word, the men vanished as quickly as they had come.

"Sir!" John shouted over the noise of the helicopter blades, removing his earphones and leaning back to converse with Stefan, who sat with Laura in the back. "Some news just came in from a town in downstate New York. The local sheriff’s department was tipped that Spencer and an accomplice were holed up in an area motel. They were arrested twenty minutes ago."

Gasping, Laura grasped her husband’s arm tightly. "Lesley Lu?"

"No word."

"Do we have enough fuel to fly down?" Stefan inquired. He would get Laura there tonight, no matter what it took.

John conversed with the pilot for a few moments. "Yes, we do. I take it you want us to head there immediately?"

"Yes. As quickly as you can."

"Right away!"

As Stefan and Laura glanced at each other in the dim light of the darkened cabin, the helicopter banked left, leaving the highway they had been following to cross the countryside. Luke had been found! But where was Lesley Lu? And who was this accomplice? They prayed their questions would be answered as soon as they reached the town.

Leaning his head against her, Stefan pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, "She’ll be there, my love."

Laura could only hope that he was correct and that everything was all right. She just wanted her daughter back.

* * * * *

"What do you mean, Lesley Lu wasn’t there?" Laura demanded, her voice dangerously close to cracking, tears in her eyes.

Sheriff Gary Buck stood up from his desk, turning his face away momentarily from the couple sitting in front of him. Of all his duties, he hated delivering bad news to frightened and worried parents, especially mothers, the most. "When we got to the motel room," he finally said, "we found Spencer and a female handcuffed to the beds. They claim Lesley Lu was abducted by five unknown assailants, all men. Spencer also alleges that someone named Herr Krieg is responsible." He reached down and picked up a bag which he placed on the table. Through it, they could see the horse Liz had sent Lu. "This and the female’s coat were the only other things we found in the room."

"Oh, God . . . that’s Andromeda. She got it as a gift a couple of days ago."

"Do either of you know of someone named Herr Krieg?" When Stefan and Laura both shook their heads, Buck sighed. "I was afraid of that. Mrs. Cassadine, I hate to ask this . . . but is there any possibility that your ex-husband . . . that he might have—?"

Her eyes opening wide in horror, she cut him off. "No . . . no! He wouldn’t hurt our daughter. He couldn’t . . ."

Buck nodded, but he knew better than to just accept one person’s say-so. He had seen supposedly mild-mannered people snap with no warning during the time he had worked in NYC. Anything was possible in this situation. This Spencer and his accomplice could have set this up to take the heat off them. Such things had happened in other cases before.

Stefan, who had remained silent up to this point, finally decided to pose a question that had been weighing on his mind for several minutes. "Sheriff, do you have any idea who this female found with Spencer is?"

"Well, the driver’s license in the rented car parked outside the room identifies her as one Lesley Webber from North Carolina, but we were—."

"Mom?!" Laura cried in disbelief. "You . . . she . . . you’ve got to be mistaken. My mother would never . . . she . . ."

Buck’s eyes opened wide at her reaction. He hadn’t gotten any background on the people they had arrested other than what had been in the APB about Luke Spencer. The Cassadines had arrived too quickly to complete any requests. Damn it. He hated surprises like this. "I think you’d better come with me," he stated, walking to the door and motioning for them to follow.

Laura and Stefan trailed the sheriff into the back, where the interrogation rooms and cells were located, and down a short corridor recess that had windows on both sides. Through the left window, they saw Luke leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes focused on the door. In that moment, seeing him like that, Laura felt as though she had never hated anyone more in her entire life.

Then she turned her head to look through the right window. Her gasp drew Stefan’s attention. He hadn’t actually believed it could be her until that moment, but there was no doubt about it now. The woman sitting in the second interrogation room was indeed Lesley Webber.

"I can’t believe it," Laura whispered, echoing his thoughts. "How could she?"

"I take it that this woman is your mother?" Buck asked gently.

After a few seconds, she nodded, unable to take her eyes off her. "Can I see her? Talk to her?"

Though the sheriff appeared to hesitate on this request, he escorted her to the interrogation room door. "I’m locking the door behind you, so signal when you’re ready to leave."

With that, Laura stepped into the room to face her mother.

Lesley was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, her hands clasped on the top, her head bent. When the door clicked shut, she looked up, her eyes widening at the sight of her daughter standing there.

"Baby!" she cried, rising from her seat.

Laura, however, had practically become a statue, rooted to her spot, her expression bewildered. She didn’t know what to think at that moment.

"Oh, Baby, it was so horrible. They came in and took Lulu, dragged her from my arms. I tried to stop them. You have to believe me. I tried . . . but there were too many of them."

Closing her eyes, Laura fought hard to keep from screaming. After a few long, tense moments, only one word came out of her mouth. A word that had a ton of pain and emotion behind it. "Why?"

The true meaning of her question didn’t register with Lesley. "I don’t know why they took her. One of the men mentioned a Herr—."

With a fire in her eyes that Lesley had never seen before, Laura exploded into a rage before her mother could finish her explanation, "No, Mom! I want to know why you helped Luke kidnap my daughter! Why you allowed him to hurt me! Because of you two, Lesley Lu’s been taken by God knows who! I might never see her again! How could you do this to me?!"

* * * * *

His hands clasped behind his back, Stefan watched the confrontation between Laura and her mother, not hearing what was being said since the intercom was off for privacy but getting the general gist of things from their gestures and body language. How could Lesley have done this to her own daughter? Had it been Helena, he would have understood – or to be more precise, he wouldn’t have been surprised. But for Lesley Webber to have something like this . . . Was it his fault? He suddenly wondered. Had Lesley done this because of him, to get Lesley Lu away from the Cassadines because of her feelings regarding his actions years ago when Helena had ordered her death? He had always believed that he had done the only thing he could have done to save her life, but at what cost?

Sighing sadly, he turned instead to look through the one-way mirror window into Luke’s interrogation room. The other man had moved from the wall and was prowling the room now, like a caged animal. After a few moments, he knocked on the glass. Stefan could see now that he had a swollen nose that was turning black and blue. Someone had definitely punched him.

"I know you guys are watching me!" Luke called out. "You have the wrong person. My little girl was kidnapped from me!"

Stefan shook his head. Luke Spencer – always claiming to be the sinless or wronged party, no matter how guilty he was.

The sheriff seemed to share his sentiments. "He’s been swearing his innocence since we hauled him in here. Said he had permission to take the little girl on a trip."

"That is definitely not true," Stefan answered. "He hasn’t even attempted legal contact through my wife in more than six months."

"Well . . . the Port Charles P.D. will sort all that out anyway. We have to honor their arrest warrant no matter the circumstances. A couple of officers are going to be here in a couple of hours to pick up both him and . . . Mrs. Webber to transport back upstate."

Stefan nodded; hopefully, the P.C.P.D. would be able to handle that correctly. "What about Lesley Lu?"

"I have some of my people out searching. But other than that name – Herr Krieg – and some very general physical descriptions, we have nothing to go on. I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you want to hear about your stepdaughter."

Rubbing his eyes, Stefan tried to figure out what they were going to do. Spencer had to be telling the truth; with Lesley around, he certainly would never have hurt Lesley Lu. But who was this Herr Krieg, and why would he want a five-year-old girl? Had Luke wronged him in some way, and this was his way at getting back at him? "May I talk to Mr. Spencer? Maybe I can find something more out."

"Is that a good idea? From what I’ve gathered, given the circumstances of this situation, you two aren’t exactly on . . . the best of terms."

"That, Sheriff Buck, is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. But out there somewhere is my stepdaughter, who is probably very confused and very frightened. And in there," he pointed to the other interrogation room, "is my wife, who is as well. I want to do whatever I can to get Lesley Lu back, even if that means talking to him."

"All right."

When Stefan entered the interrogation room, Luke couldn’t believe it. "Oh, great. The person I least wanted to see in this world. I must be a glutton for punishment today."

* * * * *

"I . . . we . . ." Lesley stuttered. With everything that had happened, she hadn’t thought at all about the plan she and Luke had been executing since his return to Port Charles. "Luke was so lost without you, Sweetie. If you had only seen him when he came to visit me, you would have felt the same way. I know that you two belong together . . . so we . . . we thought that if we took Lulu to North Carolina, we could get you to come down, talk to Luke . . . work things out . . ."

This wasn’t happening. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her fists clenched at her sides, Laura hissed, "You condoned my ex-husband kidnapping my child, putting me through the living hell of losing her, because you hoped we would reconcile?!"

"It was the only way. You wouldn’t talk to him, he said. If you hadn’t married Stefan Cassadine—."

"How dare you try to blame me or my husband! Luke is not now nor ever has been the saint you seem to want to believe he is. I gave him every opportunity to prove himself to me and to Lesley Lu!"

"But Stefan—."

"Stefan has been nothing but kind and understanding and supportive. He may have made mistakes in the past, but at least he feels regret for them. Luke never has and never will. He just takes what he wants when he wants it; damn everyone else."

Lesley was horrified at her daughter’s words. "How could you say such things? About the father of your children?"

A stab of pain hit Laura in her heart as an image of Lucky flashed through her mind. "Child. But Luke seems to disregard that except when it’s convenient for him. And Stefan is also the father of one of my children. You seem to forget that, too." Shaking, she wrapped her arms around herself.

"But Luke—."

"You really don’t get it! I am not someone for you to give to the man you think is right. You encouraged Luke to harass me and kidnap Lesley Lu. You hurt me! And now someone else has my daughter!"

"Baby, I just wanted what’s best for you. And you know that I never would have knowingly placed Lesley Lu in danger. She’s my only granddaughter." Lesley tried to reach out to her daughter, but Laura simply moved away, leaving her standing there. Dropping her arms, she whispered, "I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Well, you did. And I don’t know if I can ever forget that." Walking over to the interrogation room, she signaled for Sheriff Buck to let her out.

* * * * *

"There is no punishment enough for what you’ve done," Stefan informed Luke as they stood facing each other across the interrogation room. "How could you take Lesley Lu from her mother?"

"I had every right to take Lulu. She’s my daughter," Luke insisted.

This caused Stefan to let out a snort. "You’re good at evading the law, but not in this instance. Laura has full custody. That means you can’t take Lesley Lu anywhere without permission. You did. You falsified a note in her handwriting. That’s kidnapping and forgery, by my count."

"Laura will never prosecute me."

"On the contrary," he replied, leaning against the table between them, his arms straight, "Laura is fully ready to prosecute. So is the P.C.P.D."

Luke’s eyes narrowed. "You brainwashed both of them – Laura and Lulu. Twisted them for your own perverse Cassadine pleasure and turned them against me. If my plan had worked, they would have seen that."

"Get over yourself. You were the one who pushed Laura away time and again and stomped on her heart when all she ever tried to do was protect you; you were the one who resorted to kidnapping to try to get her back when you decided you wanted her. That was your fatal mistake. Using Lesley Lu in that way. Laura sees you for what you really are now. A pathetic, self-serving ignoramus."

Luke wasn’t even sure what that last word meant, but he knew it wasn’t a compliment, considering it came out of the mouth of Stefan Cassadine. "So I guess you think you’ve won. Is that why you came in? To gloat?" He plopped down in one of the chairs, hunched over, his hands clasped together between his legs.

"Actually . . . my reason for coming in here is Lesley Lu. Help us find her. Tell us who took her."

Luke didn’t say anything.

"Who’s Herr Krieg?"

Again . . . silence.

"Damn it, Spencer! You’ve already caused Laura enough pain. Help us find your daughter." When he still didn’t answer, Stefan headed toward the door. "I hope Lesley Lu’s life is worth your pride. Because of you, Laura’s lost both of your children."

"You bastard!" Luke yelled, jumping up and knocking the chair over. He started to advance towards Stefan threateningly. "If I ever get out of here, Cassadine, I’m coming after you! You stole what’s mine!"

Before Stefan could do anything, the sheriff opened it and stepped in, his gun drawn and pointed at Luke. "I’d back off, Spencer. You’re already in enough trouble as it is."

As the other man pulled back, Stefan said simply, "I stole nothing. You had already lost them because of your own actions." With that, he left the room, Sheriff Buck backing out behind him.

"So you didn’t have any luck," Buck said as he locked the door and holstered his sidearm.

"No . . ." Stefan looked down the hall and saw Laura sitting in one of the chairs, her head buried in her hands, a position she seemed to perpetually be in since this whole nightmare had started. Ignoring the sheriff, he walked over to his wife and kneeled down in front of her. "Lasha . . ."

When she looked up, he saw that she had been crying. "My mother encouraged him. She actually encouraged him!" she sobbed. "I want my baby back, Stefan. Why was she taken?"

"I don’t know. I wish I did." He felt his own heart breaking as he told her that.

"You said she would be here!"

"I know I did, and I thought she would be. But we’ll do everything we can to find her." Holding her to him, he made that his silent vow – he would do whatever he could to find his step-daughter. No matter what.

"Helena, darling, I’m so glad you could come," Faison greeted as the elegant blonde walked into the monitoring room of his compound.

"I had to," Helena purred. "Your message was so . . . intriguing. What gift do you have? Is Lucky finally ready for phase two?"

"Not quite yet. Soon, though. Soon. No . . . my gift is something else." Swiveling his chair around to face the bank of monitors along the wall, he hit a couple of buttons, bringing up one of the rooms on the large middle screen. The chamber had been hastily decorated in pinks and purples with stuffed animals and dolls scattered all over the place. With a flick of his finger, Faison panned the camera over to the bed, where a little girl slept curled up in the fetal position.

She practically gasped at seeing her. "Lesley Lu Spencer. How did . . . why . . . ?" For once in her life, Helena Cassadine was at a loss for words.

"Luke Spencer decided to kidnap her from her mother, and I knew you had been wanting to . . . have an audience with her, so I took advantage of the situation."

"’Have an audience.’ I do so love your euphemisms." She paused a moment as a thought crossed her mind. "You didn’t have Luke killed, did you?"

"No . . ."

"Good. I don’t want to deprive him of what we have planned for his precious son." Then she pondered the wonderful pain this had to be causing Laura. First her son, now her daughter. And very soon, her other son as well. It almost made up for the fact that her original plan from seven years before had been aborted. And speaking of that plan, she leaned against the back of the chair to get a closer look at the monitor. "Faison dear, can you focus the camera closer on our little guest?" Nodding, he turned a knob and narrowed the field of view to include only Lesley Lu’s head and upper torso. Tear tracks stained her cheeks; obviously, she had cried herself to sleep. "She really does resemble Nikolas. The face. The hair. What a pity I wasn’t able to go through with my plan for her. Ah, well. I’ll find another use for her. She’ll be a beauty when she gets older, and that can always be exploited." She addressed the small figure on the monitor, "How would you like that? To marry into royalty when you grow up? Once I’ve taught you the ways of a Cassadine daughter, you shall make a wonderful bride to cement an alliance with another family. Perhaps the Kiriakis family of Greece and Salem or the Winslow family of San Christobel."

"So . . ." Faison said, clicking the monitor off with the flick of a switch, "I take it you’re pleased with my gift."

"I’m quite pleased, my darling. I knew my decision to join forces with you was right. You have yet to disappoint." She tapped her lips thoughtfully with her right index finger. "You know, while things are in chaos as they must be with the disappearance of that little girl, this truly has turned out to be the perfect time for our next phase with Nikolas. Is everything ready?"

"Yes . . . the young man is thoroughly prepared and knows what to do, and according to my men, a man named Jax and someone calling herself Natasha Bergman are in Athens. They’ve taken your bait with the will."

"Marvelous." Helena reached around the chair back to draw her finger up his arm to his neck. "Oh, my darling, soon all three of Laura’s children will be under my influence. And on that glorious day, there will be nothing either Luke Spencer or my weakling son can do about it. The Cassadine empire will be mine to control again."

* * * * *

Pulling his coat more tightly around his neck to ward off the chilly November wind, Stefan walked down the docks towards Luke’s Club. When he reached it, he stopped outside for a moment, staring at the button-decorated door. A "For Sale" sign was tacked to it, along with one declaring "Closed until further notice". A quick pull at the door found it open, however, so he entered. As he removed his gloves, he walked into the clubroom, where Claude was clearing out the bar. Bottles clinked together as he placed them into boxes.

"Club is closed," the large black man stated upon hearing his visitor.

"I haven’t come for a drink," Stefan answered. Recognition of his voice brought Claude up from where he was crouching.

"Mr. Cassadine . . . what are doing here?"

Stepping up to the bar, he placed his gloves on the counter. "I had some questions."

"How’s Mrs. Spen—I mean . . . Laura? Have they found Lesley Lu?"

"Not yet."

"That poor little girl. I can’t believe this has happened." Claude shook his head in plain disbelief. "I don’t understand why Luke has done this . . . his daughter, his club. What was he hoping to accomplish?"

"Something impossible." Stefan leaned against the bar, studying the man that Luke had trusted for several years. Would he tell him what he needed to know? There was only one way to find out. "Claude, I need some information . . . about Luke and someone he may have been doing business with, someone named Herr Krieg."

For a moment, Stefan thought that Claude was going to bodily pick him up and throw him out of the club, possibly off the dock, for even suggesting that he betray Luke Spencer’s confidence. However, the feeling quickly passed though Claude was still shaking his head. "You know I couldn’t possibly say anything . . . I promised—."

"Look, Claude . . . I don’t care what promises you may have made to Luke Spencer. This could mean Lesley Lu’s life." He bent closer across the bar top, causing the other man to back up. "If you know anything about this Herr Krieg, you have to tell me now before it’s too late."

His words seemed to hang in the air between them. Finally, Claude came out from behind the bar and sat down heavily in a nearby chair. "Herr Krieg was one of Luke’s business associates. In what, I don’t know; I knew better than to ask. Krieg would make an appearance every once in a while, and they’d go into the office for privacy. I think Luke ended the association about . . . about the time Lucky died."

At last, a lead. Had Lesley Lu been kidnapped out of revenge for ending the association? For a double cross? "Can you describe what he looks like?"

"Krieg? I don’t know . . . maybe about your height, gaunt, with stringy greyish hair around shoulder length. He spoke with an accented voice . . . something European. Beyond that . . ." He shrugged and gestured uncertainly.

"It’s all right . . . you’ve given me a place to start." Picking up his gloves from the bar, Stefan headed toward Luke’s office.

When Claude realized where he was going, he stood up. "Hey, you can’t go in there!"

Silently, Stefan turned around and stared intently at him, his green eyes fixed and unflinching. After a moment, he continued to the office without Claude trying to stop him again.

Luke’s office looked like it had just been left in the middle of one night and hadn’t been touched since. Papers and books were scattered on the desk, and some old clothes were discarded on the chair and sofa. Shaking his head, Stefan drew on his gloves to begin inspecting the desk. He wouldn’t expect any evidence of Luke’s association with this Krieg to be out in the open; consequently, he searched for hidden catches or false drawer bottoms. Opening the top drawer, he ran his hand along the inside upper rim but found nothing, so he tried again with the bottom drawer. Again, nothing. But as he closed the drawer, something about the floor beneath the desk caught his eye. The planking was uneven as though it had been pried up but hadn’t been replaced correctly. Kneeling on the ground, he ran his fingers along the edge and, finding that the board was loose, he pulled it up.

Underneath was a safe that opened with a four number code, which he considered for a few moments before keying in a number. The safe door immediately clicked open. Spencer was nothing if predictable – the number had been Lucky’s birthday. Stefan shook his head sadly. How he wished that Lucky hadn’t died in that fire. It would have spared Laura so much heartache and pain and probably would have prevented everything else that had happened.

In the safe, he found papers and several passports. As he thumbed through the documents, he stopped when he saw the name Krieg written in Luke’s sloppy hand in one of the margins. In addition to the name, there were some details about diamonds, the notes making it obvious that they were supposed to be smuggled. Different groups of diamonds were connected to specific dates and places, the most recent being right after the time that Lucky had died with the collection point listed as Adelboden in Switzerland, near where Laura and Lesley Lu had been holed up. To the back of that group of papers was stapled a picture of a middle-aged man with long, greyish hair and piercing eyes. From the date and time stamp, Stefan realized that the picture had to come from Luke’s security camera system.

"Herr Krieg, I presume," Stefan said.

When he thumbed through the passports, he found that they contained pictures of Luke with varying disguises and pseudonyms. With them, Luke had been all over the world. However, none of them had a Swiss stamp for the date listed on the paper. Had Spencer squelched, as the simpleton himself would so crudely put it, on a deal with this Herr Krieg?

Stefan checked the safe again and noticed that there was something in the corner. Picking it up, he found that it was a diamond, of rather good size and quality. So Luke had actually had them here in the club at some point.

After tucking the papers concerning the smuggling operation and the diamond into his coat’s inner pocket, Stefan returned the passports and other irrelevant documents to the safe. Once he closed it, he replaced the planking in such a way that it was obvious something might be beneath. Just in case the police decided to search the club.

* * * * *

Heading toward his Jaguar in the Port Charles University student commuter lot, Nikolas pulled out his cellular phone and checked it to make sure that his mother or father hadn’t left him a message while he was in class. Once he learned there was no news, he signed. His life seemed to be one long string of heartaches and problems. Not that long ago, Katherine had attempted to make him think she was carrying his child. Luckily, it had never gotten as far as a wedding before he had discovered the truth when he had walked in on her making plans to buy a baby from some shifty con artist. Humiliated, she had left town. Now, just when he was getting his life back on track following that, enrolling in university after leaving his joke of a job at Deception, his sister had been kidnapped, not once but twice. He felt like his soul had been put through the wringer too many times with Lucky’s death, Katherine’s betrayal and Lesley Lu’s disappearance.

When he was almost to the car, he noticed a man approaching out of the corner of his eye. However, just as he turned to find out what he wanted, he felt someone else grab him from behind and a sharp prick in his upper arm. It took him a moment to realize that he had been injected with something, but by that point, it was too late. Darkness swallowed him up while he collapsed in his assailant’s arms.

A few moments later, a van drove up to the where the Jaguar was parked. The two men who had assailed Nikolas picked him up and placed him in the back, where Faison was waiting. He smiled as he looked down at the unconscious young man.

"Very good. Madame will be quite pleased." As the two men went to the front of the van to join the driver, Faison turned to his companion, who sat in the shadows. "Are you ready?"

A voice that sounded almost exactly like that of Nikolas Cassadine answered, "Yes."

"Remember your assignment."

With a nod, the young man climbed out of the van. And once it headed off a few moments later, it looked as though nothing had ever happened . . . because standing next to the Jaguar was a dead ringer for Nikolas.

Stefan prayed that they would be able to use what he had found to track down this Herr Krieg and Lesley Lu. When he arrived at Wyndemere, he found his wife sitting on the floor of his study, Foster lying next to her. Papers were spread out around her as she searched through a large box. Her blond hair was pulled back from her pale face in a simple ponytail, and her eyes, which appeared to had gotten bigger in the last couple of days, were focused on what she was doing.

"What are you looking through?" he asked when he joined her.

"When I moved here, I had a bunch of Luke’s old papers boxed up and stored here in the attic. I figured that if he ever came back, I could give them to him. But I had forgotten they were up there until this morning. I thought I would look through them to see if I could find any reference to this ‘Herr Krieg’." She shook her head and pushed the box away in frustration. "So far, no luck. Though I don’t think I ever realized the extent of some of his activities. I trusted him far too blindly."

"That’s not important now." Taking her hands, Stefan helped her up off the floor. "I think I found something in his office that might help us."

"What?"

He showed her the sheaf of papers he had removed from Luke’s safe. "Those are notes about some diamond smuggling he was apparently doing for Krieg." Flipping to the picture, he said, "That’s evidently him."

Upon seeing the man, Laura gasped, "I’ve seen that man before. He came into my office not that long ago, wanted to give a donation to the Outreach program, but he never gave him name. He just left a cash donation along with some story about losing a child. Was he . . . oh my, God . . . you don’t think he was . . . threatening me?"

"I don’t know, Lasha," he sighed as he put the papers back in his pocket, knowing he had to be truthful with her, "but it’s possible. According to what I found, Luke was supposed to be in Switzerland about two weeks after Lucky died; however, based on the passports that I found in the safe, he didn’t go. And I also found this." He held up the diamond.

"Are you saying that Luke double-crossed this man on an illegal activity . . . and my daughter was kidnapped in revenge?"

"It looks that way."

Tears collecting in her eyes, Laura shook off his attempt to console her and paced the room. Then, suddenly, she started relentlessly kicking the box that held Luke’s papers while sobs shook her body. In between screams, she cursed her ex-husband, "How . . . could . . . that . . . bastard . . . how . . . could . . . he . . . ?!"

"Lasha!" Stefan cried. He jumped forward to take her in his arms, holding her close to him. This time, she didn’t try to push him away. Instead, she flung her arms around him and buried her face against his chest, sobs causing her to hiccup her words.

"I let him betray me so many times . . . I let him . . . and now . . . now—."

"Shhh," he soothed. "We’ll use the paper to track down this Krieg. We’ll find Lesley Lu."

"But what if she’s . . ." Choking slightly on her tears, Laura trailed off, incapable of bringing herself to finish the terrible thought.

"If he had wanted to kill her, he would have had his men do it at the motel. She’s still alive. You’ve got to believe that."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and a moment later, Nikolas walked into the study. As Stefan continued to hold her, Laura hastily wiped her eyes.

"Mom? Dad?" he said upon seeing them. "Has something happened?"

Laura shook her head. "No . . . no news. We were . . . just . . . I—I’m just an emotional wreck. I can’t go five minutes without breaking down, it seems."

"It’ll work out, Mom. I know it will."

"I hope so, Nikolas." Taking their son in her arms, Laura hugged him, Stefan noticing the way his eyes darted around to take in all the papers scattered around. There was something strange in his eyes, something that Stefan couldn’t define. And Foster seemed weary of Nikolas for some reason, the dog’s eyes almost locked on him as if waiting for something to happen. But as Laura moved back, he chalked it up to the stress of everything. He was just seeing things.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Nikolas asked.

"Yes . . . we were—," Stefan started to say, reaching toward his pocket for the picture of Krieg.

Unexpectedly, Laura cut him, taking a hold of his arm, "Wondering if you would call Liz and let her know what’s been going on."

Nikolas nodded. "All right."

"Thank you."

After leaving the house, Scott Martin allowed himself a smug, satisfied smile. The hardest part of the assignment was done. Stefan and Laura Cassadine believed that he was their son, Nikolas. Now, it was just a matter of time and waiting for his cues.

Meanwhile, in the study, Stefan turned to contemplate his wife. "Why didn’t you want me to ask him about Krieg?"

Sighing, Laura sat down on the couch, her composure having finally returned. "Because I don’t want Nikolas in the middle of this. You know how he is. If we tell him, he’ll want to get involved, like he did in the entrapment of Liz’s rapist. I’ve already lost two children because of Luke and the things he’s done. I won’t allow it to become all three."

Stefan couldn’t argue with her; when it came to Nikolas and Luke Spencer, he had always felt the same way for similar reasons. "All right. We’ll keep him out of all this."

"But what are we going to do with that information you found? We should give a copy of the picture to Mac, so he can have the police circulate it although I doubt it’ll do much good. I’m sure that Herr Krieg is an alias."

Tapping a finger on his lip, Stefan walked over to the phone and dialed his jet pilot. "Have the jet prepared please. I’ll be leaving for Switzerland in two hours."

Laura rose from her seat as he replaced the receiver in its cradle, a stunned look on her face. "Switzerland? Are you going to try to find Krieg yourself?"

"Someone has to. You said it yourself – going to the police isn’t going to do much good. If Krieg told Luke that he’s the one responsible for the kidnapping, that means he’s probably not going to try to come back to Port Charles. We need a place to start. This meeting point seems the best place to start."

"I’m going with you, then."

"Laura, I’m not sure that’s—."

"What else am I going to do? Sit here, tearing my hair out, waiting for news that might never come? I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while my daughter is out there in the hands of some . . . psychopath."

Rounding the desk, Stefan placed his hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. He could see that she was serious. She wasn’t going to let him go to Switzerland without her. And he knew better than to try leaving her at home. "All right. We’ll go together."

Feeling as though he were clawing his way up through thick white layers of mist, Nikolas slowly regained consciousness, confused as to what had happened to him. His mind was a blank. Where was he? As he sat up on the bed he had been lying on, a wave of nausea coursed through him, causing him to double over.

A moment later, the door opened, and someone took a hold of his shoulder with one hand while a glass of what looked like water was offered to him. Looking up, Nikolas almost choked when he saw his grandmother, a concerned smile on her face.

"Drink this, darling. It will help."

"Grandmother . . . ?" he started to say before he retched.

Helena merely held his head until he had finished then helped him to sit up straight and dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief. "My poor Nikolas." When she held out the cup again, he took a sip. "You need to rest. You’ve been through so much."

"What . . . ?" He tried to remember what happened, but all he could recall was leaving class and heading to his car. "What happened?"

"You mean, you don’t remember?" she asked. Through his foggy awareness, Nikolas couldn’t tell if she was pleased to hear that or if she was just surprised. "You’ve been sick. Took with a terrible fever several days ago, collapsed outside of your class at Port Charles University. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard, my dear. Let me take care of you."

"Why are you here? Where am I? Where—where’s my mother and father?"

"Oh, your mother and father will be here soon . . . don’t worry . . ." She gently pushed him down and covered him up with a blanket. "Now, you sleep. Get better. We’ll talk once you’re well."

As Nikolas drifted back to sleep, the "water" she had given him taking effect immediately, Helena smiled down at her grandson. How well her plans were going. Stefan and Laura were running around, trying to find Lesley Lu, with no clue that Nikolas was now gone as well. She was finally going to get everything she had ever wanted.

* * * * * *

Passing the tourists and shoppers, Stefan and Laura hurried through the streets of the Swiss town of Adelboden in Bernese Oberland. On the other side of the street in front of a hotel, an American Girl Scout troupe was getting on a bus, no doubt to visit the Our Chalet up in the nearby hills. While they walked around people, Stefan kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure that no one was tailing them; with everything that had happened so far, he didn’t want to take any chances.

The address Luke had written down turned out to be a small restaurant called Bundeslade, located near the town square. When they walked in, they could see why someone might want to use it for illicit activities. Around the edge of the main dining room, tables were curtained off in private alcoves. Anything could happen behind those drapes.

A hostess approached from the direction of the kitchen, her hands up as though to stop them from coming in. "I’m sorry . . . we’re closed," she said in German.

Laura, who knew a bit of German from her time moving around with Luke, responded, "Not hungry. We need information."

The woman looked at them for a moment. "What?"

Taking the picture from his pocket, Stefan held it out. "We want to know if anyone here knows who this man is," he stated, also in German.

The hostess studied the photograph for a moment. "I might know him."

Laura and Stefan had expected this – it seemed almost cliché, but no one seemed to do anything unless they received something in return. Into the hostess’s hands, he slipped an envelope, which she checked briefly before tucking it into her pocket.

"Ah, yes . . . Herr Krieg. He’s been here before."

"When was he last here?" Laura asked.

"May, I believe. He seemed somewhat upset at the time."

Laura took out a picture of Luke. "Have you ever seen him with this man?"

"No . . . I’ve never seen that man before. He’s been here with a blond woman, but not with that man."

"A blond woman?" Stefan asked. "What does she look like? Do you know her name?"

"Beautiful woman, quite elegant. Never caught her name, but she was always well-dressed with a large diamond ring and other expensive jewelry. Oh, how I admired her jewelry," the hostess said with a glint of jealousy in her green eyes. "However, the piece I most remember her wearing was the medallion around her neck. She seemed so proud of that."

As Laura glanced over at him in shock, Stefan reached up to pull his Cassadine medallion from underneath his shirt. "Did her medallion look like this one?"

The hostess squinted at it in the dim light, recognition lighting up her face. "That’s it. Do you know this woman?"

"Maybe," Stefan said though both he and Laura knew that there was no doubt about it.

Krieg’s companion was Helena.

* * * * *

Alexis Davis-Jacks was beginning to get really worried. She and Ned hadn’t heard from Jax or Chloe in several days, ever since they had taken off to do whatever it was they went to Europe to do. With everything that had befallen her family lately, she was scared about something happening to her two best friends. She had never known anyone like Chloe or Jax and didn’t want to lose them.

As she paced the penthouse she shared with Jax as his legal wife, she wrapped her arms around herself. A couple of times, she had almost called Ned and asked him to come over, but with the scrutiny they were under with Chloe’s Aunt Gertrude and Ned’s family, she didn’t risk it. And she really couldn’t explain it, but she was sensing a disconnection from Ned, an impression that had been growing the deeper they got into this silly charade they had allowed themselves to get sucked into. Maybe it was just because of that and the time they were forced to spend apart; however, for some reason, that didn’t seem to sufficiently explain her feelings.

Suddenly, the door to the penthouse opened, and Jax, looking very weary with his normally perfectly coifed blond hair thoroughly mussed, stepped in and dropped his duffel bag to the floor. Alexis was almost paralyzed for a few moments when she saw him, but then before he could say a word, in a very un-Alexis-like action, she was across the room, throwing herself into his arms.

"Where have you been?!" she demanded. "I’ve been worried to death! Not to mention the fact that I’ve been having to lie to your parents for days about where you’ve been."

Laughing, Jax gently disentangled himself from her grasp. "It’s good to see you, too. And Chloe is fine. Thanks for asking."

"Jax!"

"All right, all right. You want to know where we were? We just spent the last few days getting chased by Helena’s men, jumping in the sea and running through the streets of Athens." As if to punctuate the sheer exhaustion he was feeling after all of that, he dropped onto the couch, putting his legs up on the table.

"Helena’s men?!" Alexis crossed over to the table and sat down on it, facing him. "You went to Athens after you specifically told me not because it just had to be a trap."

"Well, I was obviously right . . . however . . ." Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a bunch of papers. "I knew how much finding this means to you."

"You—you found it?" With a shaking hand, she took the papers he held out to her. Sure enough, it was Mikkos’ will.

"I think you’ll be most interested in what’s on page two."

Quickly, she flipped the page and scanned the lines until she found the name she had been looking for. "And to my cherished daughter, Natasha, called Alexis Davidovich, whom I could not embrace in life but whom I have loved as I loved her dear mother and now acknowledge in death . . ." Choking back a sob of joy, she clutched the will to her chest. "He acknowledged me, Jax. I wasn’t forgotten." Leaning forward, he drew her into a hug. She held him tightly, her mind a whirl by what he had done for her. Except for Stefan, no one had ever done anything like this for her before, had risked his life for something that meant so much for her. "Thank you."

He pulled back slightly and reached up to brush away the tears sliding down her cheek, looking into her eyes. Then, each of them, as though attracted together by some irresistible force, moved toward the other until their lips touched. At first, it was simply a gentle brush, but soon, the kiss deepened.

It only lasted a few moments. Both of them suddenly realized what they were doing and jumped back, staring at each other in astonishment.

Morning had yet to dawn as the jet began its descent into Port Charles. Following days of no sleep, Laura had finally dozed off about an hour before, the exhaustion plain on her pale face. Though Stefan wished there was something he could do for her, he knew that the best thing was to let her nap, no matter the dreams she might have. She needed the rest. Instead, he paced the cabin, his mind going a mile a minute as he considered their next move.

After discovering that Helena was somehow involved with this mysterious Herr Krieg, Stefan and Laura had come directly back home to do some further investigating. Since his mother was apparently out of town, they were planning to board Helena’s yacht to try to find something that might tell them what was going on.

"Sir," the pilot’s voice came over the intercom from the cockpit. "We’re beginning our final descent. Please make sure that you and Mrs. Cassadine are strapped into your seats."

Returning to his seat next to where Laura was curled up, Stefan buckled his seatbelt then reached over to harness his wife’s. As he did this, she stirred, slowly opening her eyes.

"Are we back?"

"Almost, my love. We should be on the ground within a few minutes."

Sighing, Laura shifted, putting her feet down on the floor. "I dreamed that we found Helena and Lesley Lu, but that it was too late. She had turned her into a miniature version of herself, complete with the blond hair, and Lu didn’t know who I was . . ." Tears started welling in her eyes again..

"If Helena does have her, we’ll get her back. We won’t let her win. We’ll find her no matter who has her."

* * * * *

Alexis sat on the couch out in the living room, reading through her father’s will, trying not to think about the kiss that had happened between Jax and herself the night before. She didn’t understand how they could have let that happen – how they could have betrayed Chloe and Ned that way. So as long as she didn’t think about it, she could pretend that it never happened

Instead, taking a sip of coffee but barely tasting it, she focused on the will. It was basically the same as the one that had been read following Mikkos’ death except for the inclusion of her share as his daughter. Stefan had already made provisions for her several months before, so that part of the will was really a moot point. It was more the fact that he had actually claimed her, said that he loved her that was the most important thing. Those words meant as much to her as Jax risking his life to retrieve the will for her, as Stefan protecting her when they were children. No wonder Helena had always hated her so, to know that Mikkos had loved an illegitimate child that much.

As she read, Jax came into the living room, wearing a business suit. "You’re up early," he commented, heading to the kitchenette to pour himself a cup of coffee.

Without looking up, she answered, "I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to read through these papers more closely."

Once he returned to the living room, he sat down on the couch across from her and watched her intently for a moment. "Alexis . . ."

She knew that tone of voice. It was always used by someone when an uncomfortable subject was about to be brought up. So before he could say anything, she pre-empted him, "Don’t you have an ELQ shareholders meeting this morning?"

"Oh, no . . . you’re not going to change the subject on me. We need to discuss what happened last night."

"Discuss what?" She turned over the will’s last page to a set of documents with it. "Nothing happened, so there’s nothing for us to talk about."

Grabbing her wrist, he tried to push the papers down to force her to look at him. "Something did happen . . . and we need to get it out in the open."

"No! Just let it go, Jax, for everyone’s sake." With a violent yank, she wrenched herself and the documents away then rose to cross to the other side of the room next to the terrace windows, her eyes refusing to meet his. Trying to block out his presence, she started reading the new page she had just flipped to. A moment later, she gasped in disbelief. "Oh, my God."

"What? Alexis, what’s wrong?"

"These . . . these documents." She quickly scanned the entire group. How could this be? Oh . . . Stefan . . . Nikolas . . . "According to this, after Nikolas was born, Helena suspected that he might not be Stavros’ son, so she had paternity tests run."

"So she’s known all along that Nikolas was fathered by Stefan?"

Numbly, Alexis shook her head, her brown hair falling into her face. "That’s just it . . . her tests say that Stefan isn’t Nikolas’ father. Stavros is. She had the tests Stefan ordered doctored."

"Why?" Jax asked, crossing to her and taking the papers to read himself. "Why would Helena try to make Nikolas think he isn’t the heir?"

"Why does Helena do anything? Revenge against Stefan most likely. Give him the one thing in the world he wants the most, then snatch it away. She was probably going to pull this out sometime soon."

Shaking his head, all thoughts of the kiss now pushed aside, he gave the papers back to his wife. "What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I have to tell Stefan and Nikolas."

"Is that a good idea? With Lesley Lu missing?"

"Well, someone needs to tell them before Helena does." Sighing sadly, she stared at the papers. "How could she do this to them?"

* * * * *

After landing in Port Charles, Laura and Stefan headed directly to the yacht, despite their near exhaustion, wanting to take advantage of the fact that Helena wasn’t there and to find out her connection to Krieg as quickly as they could.

The yacht was a sumptuous ship moored in a private marina to the north of Port Charles harbor, its pearly white finish gleaming even in the dim light of the approaching dawn. From the waterfront road, they could see that there were currently no lights burning anywhere in the ship. The flag with the Cassadine crest that was usually raised when Helena was in residence was nowhere to be seen.

"Sir," a voice greeted them as they walked toward the marina entrance after parking the car down the road. John appeared from the shadows, wearing all black and carrying a small pack.

"Report," Stefan instructed.

"I’ve checked the area – no guards – and I’ve already disabled the alarm system. The marina and, no doubt, the yacht are still locked down."

"You brought your tools?"

"Of course, Sir."

The small pack turned out to be John’s locksmith kit. Kneeling down in front of the gate, he began working on the padlock. Laura didn’t want to think about how often she had seen Luke perform similar work while they had been on the run. Soon, John had the gate open, and the three of them entered the marina, heading down the dock to where the yacht floated in the water.

Getting up on the deck was no problem. However, the yacht was indeed locked down, the door leading to the decks below latched tightly shut. So while, John set about opening it, Stefan patrolled the deck, keeping an eye out for any unobserved guards or water sentries.

"Sir . . . I’m in."

"Good," Stefan responded. "You stay here and keep watch while we go down. Let us know if anyone is coming."

"Yes, Sir."

At the top of the stairs, Laura found the switch to turn on the lights. Once they could see where they were going, with Stefan leading the way, they descended down into the bowels of the yacht, into Helena’s lair. At the bottom of the steps were two doors, one leading into Helena’s bedroom and the other into her sitting room.

"I’ll check her bedroom," Laura offered, "if you want to check the sitting room."

Stefan nodded, the idea of going into his mother’s chamber of horrors abhorrent to him. While he had been growing up, only Stavros had ever been allowed into her private sanctuary, and the hints that his older brother had dropped about the time spent in there had always seemed almost . . . incestuous. Dark. Ominous. Though he had spent much of his childhood craving his mother’s attention and love, when Stavros had taunted him with tidbits of his own relationship with her, he had found himself glad that she ignored him, coming to realize when he was older how sick and twisted she really was.

Looking into his wife’s eyes, he reached over to stroke her cheek then turned to head into the sitting room. After she watched him for a moment, Laura walked over to the bedroom entrance, where she paused, steeling herself before opening the hatchway.

The room was dim, the curtains drawn over the portal window against the dawning morning outside. Feeling along the wall, Laura found the light switch and flipped it. When the room brightened, she was able to see a large, luxurious suite, decorated in some of the finest pieces of art she had ever seen in her entire life. An amazing and disturbing tapestry – depicting the drunken revelry of the Bacchae during the festival of Dionysus – hung over Helena’s bed, which itself was covered in rich silks and satins. All the decorations were, in fact, intensely disturbing, with their violent sexual content. It all matched the vision that Laura, who let out a long shudder during her appraisal of the room, had of Helena as a sexual predator, chasing young men. Seeing this place stiffened her resolve that if that witch was holding Lesley Lu captive, she wasn’t going to allow her to remain in her clutches much longer. She would not permit Helena to turn her daughter into something dark and evil.

While Laura began searching, Stefan was doing the same in the sitting room. He bypassed the bar in favor of the far side of the room where the writing desk sat. Looking through it turned up nothing other than some blank stationery and writing implements, so he turned his attention to other things in the chamber. A painting of a young Nikolas caught his eye. Walking over, he contemplated it for a moment. Even at the age of six, his son had been a serious child, his dark eyes somber and full of intelligence. Stefan found himself staring deeply at those eyes – the painter had captured everything about Nikolas in them, his depths and emotions.

As he examined the portrait, he noticed that the frame was hinged to the wall. Behind it, he found a safe recessed into the yacht’s hull. It was a combination safe, so he tried a several numbers, including his parents’ anniversary and Nikolas’ birthday. Then, he realized what it had to be and entered the four numbers. Immediately, the safe popped open. Stavros’ date of death. Stefan couldn’t help but smile sourly at his mother’s predictability. Like Luke Spencer, she had focused everything on one child.

Inside the safe, he found not papers but a velvet bag, containing diamonds.

Back in Helena’s boudoir, Laura had yet to find anything. She had searched underneath the bed and the mattresses and behind the tapestry; she had looked in the drawers, only to find things that she wished she had never seen. When nothing turned up there, she began checking behind pictures.

The last picture she removed was a depiction of Procne killing her son Itys in revenge against her husband Tereus. Behind it, she found a small niche in the hull containing several folders. Curious, she pulled the folders from the recess and opened the top one to find it contained a document. A cursory glance showed that these folders, each of which was labeled with a special number, contained Helena’s private papers.

Before she could go find her husband, he entered, holding the velvet bag. "There’s nothing in the sitting room except these diamonds," he told her. "I want to check them against the notes I found in Luke’s safe. Have you found something?"

Holding the folders aloft, she answered, "I think we’ve found what we’re looking for."

After replacing the painting, Laura and Stefan took the folders and diamonds and left the yacht. While John headed off to organize his people to track Helena and Krieg, they returned to Wyndemere to change clothes and get themselves organized.

"Looks like we made it back in time," he observed, looking up at the dark clouds that were rolling in overhead while the wind blew stronger. "It wouldn’t have been good to have been caught on the yacht during that."

When they reached the end of the pier, they noticed the launch approaching from the direction of Spoon Island. A lone figure stood at the ship’s bow, her hair whipping in the breeze.

"That’s Alexis," Stefan realized. "What was she doing out at the house?"

"Stefan!" she called as the launch reached the pier. He assisted her out onto the dock, surprised to see her clutching several papers tightly in her hand to keep the wind from ripping them away. "I’m glad I found you. Mrs. Landsbury said you hadn’t returned when I went over to the island. I need to talk to you."

Immediately, he could tell that something was wrong – the set of her jaw, the glisten in her eyes. It was all familiar to him. He had seen that expression too many times before while growing up on the island, any time Helena had done something to her, punished her in some way. "Has something happened?" From her look, he almost wondered if he really wanted to hear the answer.

Alexis glanced from him to Laura and back again. When she did, Laura immediately felt cold as the pit in her stomach, which had been a constant presence since Lucky’s death through Lesley Lu’s disappearance, opened wider. "Jax just returned from Athens last night . . . with our father’s real will. He and Chloe were almost killed retrieving it."

"But they have returned safely?" he asked, confused as to what the problem was. Why would the recovery of their father’s real will cause such consternation? They had settled the question of her inheritance months ago.

"Yes, they’re fine." She sighed, unsure about how to say what she needed to say. Damn Helena! "The thing is . . . there was something . . . there was another document with the will. Medical records."

"Medical records?" Laura repeated. "What kind of medical records?"

Alexis knew that there was not going to be any easy way to say this. "DNA records. Stefan . . . Helena switched your paternity tests for Nikolas, changed the results." At her words, both Stefan’s and Laura’s jaws dropped in disbelief and horror. "Nikolas is Stavros’ son."

"No!" Laura cried out. "No! That’s not true! Stefan, it’s not true! You know it’s not!"

Putting his arm around her to comfort her, he stared at his sister, turmoil in his eyes. It made Alexis wish she could slink away and hide in a hole for having caused it. "How do you know those aren’t the fake documents? Why would Helena have doctored results against Stavros?" He didn’t understand this, didn’t want to believe this.

"Why would Helena have had her men try to kill Jax and Chloe if it wasn’t true? The will isn’t important anymore – the only thing it was hiding was Mikkos’ acknowledgement of me as his daughter. Besides, why does Helena ever do anything?"

Fighting against the urge to lash out at something, Stefan closed his eyes in pain. Why did Helena do anything, indeed? She hated him, her own son, with such venom and passion – always had. It would be so like her to dangle before him something he loved so dearly only to snatch it away again.

"Stefan . . . I’m so sorry . . ."

Suddenly, Laura reached out and grabbed the papers from her sister-in-law, refusing to believe what she was hearing. Nikolas was not Stavros’. He wasn’t. But there it was in front of her. Tests claiming that Stefan could not have fathered her son. She felt as though someone had stolen her final child away from her.

"What are you going to do?" Alexis asked.

"Nothing," Stefan said. "Nikolas is still my son for all intents and purposes. No blood test will ever change that. We have to deal with Lesley Lu’s kidnapping first."

"But don’t you think that he has the right to know?"

"I will not worry him with something like this based only on documents from Helena. We will deal with this in our own way. When the time is right."

"Stefan—."

"You heard what he said, Alexis!" Laura interrupted. "He’s our son, and we’ll decide when and what to tell him! He’s been through too much recently as it is!"

"He’s not a child! He deserves to know the truth," Alexis protested. "Stefan, if you don’t tell him, I will!"

"With what evidence?" Plucking the papers out of his wife’s hand, Stefan quickly tore the documents up and tossed them out toward the water, where the wind whipped them away.

"You’re making a mistake!"

"That’s not your judgement to make!" Laura insisted. "You’re not his mother!"

"Neither were you until recently."

Stepping back as though Alexis had slapped her, Laura stared at her in disbelief. Stefan glared at his sister. "How dare you say that to her. You will not utter a word about this to Nikolas, do you hear me? Not a word!"

With that, Stefan took hold of Laura’s hand and assisted her into the launch, leaving Alexis behind on the pier while rain started pouring.

* * * * *

The diamonds and documents from Helena’s yacht were forgotten for the moment. Stefan and Laura were in their bedroom, changing clothes and drying off from the downpour they had been caught in on their way back to the island. Holding a dress she had just taken out of the closet, Laura sat on the bed, twisting it into strange shapes in her hands. Her eyes were focused on some faraway point as she bit her bottom lip.

Coming out of the bathroom wearing a dry pair of trousers but no shirt, Stefan saw his wife lost in thought and knew exactly what was on her mind. He took the dress from her hands and slipped it on over her head then sat down next to her on the bed and began stroking her still damp hair. "I am sure that those papers were simply part of some sick scheme by my mother. We’ll deal with it later. After we find Lesley Lu."

Laura shook her head. "But what if they’re not wrong . . . ? I don’t think I can bear it."

"Then we’ll deal with that, too. But you said it yourself earlier that they had to be fake. If Helena has known since I originally ordered those tests when Nikolas was a child, then why did she fake the results? Nothing pleases her more than hurting me."

"You’re his father. No matter what."

"No matter what."

Before they could discuss anything further, they could hear the phone ringing out in the corridor. Together, they left the bedroom just as Mrs. Landsbury came hurrying up the stairs with Foster at her heels.

"Mr. Cassadine, Commissioner Scorpio is on the phone for you."

"Thank you." Hurrying downstairs, they went into the study where Stefan put the call on speakerphone. "Commissioner," he greeted.

Mac Scorpio, sounding somewhat frazzled and anxious, didn’t even bother with any greetings. "I’m glad I finally found you. I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday! Where have you been?"

"Laura and I had to check something out in regards to Lesley Lu. We just returned this morning. What is it that you needed to talk to us about?"

"That picture you dropped by the police department. Where did you get it?"

"From some papers of Luke’s that we found."

"And that’s supposed to be Herr Krieg?"

"I believe so." Stefan was confused by the direction of this conversation. They had left a note with the picture explaining all of this.

"Stefan, the man in that picture is not named Herr Krieg. His name is Cesar Faison." When he uttered the name aloud, Laura’s jaw drop. Wasn’t Faison supposed to be dead?

Stefan was just as thunderstruck. "As in the man who used to own Wyndemere?" He had done some research on this Faison when he had purchased Spoon Island and now knew why Mac sounded the way he did.

"Yes! The man responsible for the deaths of my brother Robert and his wife Anna. If he’s this Herr Krieg responsible for Lesley Lu’s kidnapping . . ."

"He is. That was one of the things we were checking on while we were out of touch."

On the other end, Mac muttered an expletive under his breath. "How is he connected to Luke? Did he know Krieg was Faison?"

"We don’t think he did. Luke was . . ." He glanced over questioningly at Laura, who nodded her head. "Luke was apparently smuggling diamonds for him but didn’t know his real identity. We think he might have reneged on an agreement and failed to deliver a shipment, so Kri—Faison kidnapped Lesley Lu in retaliation."

"Damn it! Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?"

"We just found out." Stefan decided not to mention that his mother might be involved. That would involve explaining some things that they didn’t really have answers to.

Mac sighed and seemed to calm down. "All right. At least we know exactly who’s responsible now. By the way, Lesley’s and Luke’s preliminary hearings were yesterday. They’ve both been held over for trial without bail. The judge said that given the charges and circumstances, they were considered flight risks."

Moaning, Laura sat down on the couch and buried her head in her hands. It still hurt to think that her own mother had been involved in this. Apparently able to sense her distress, Foster jumped up next to her and licked her hands gently.

"Anyway, I thought you might be interested in knowing. In the meantime, I’ll revise the APB for Faison and contact you when we have more information."

"Thank you, Commissioner," Stefan said before ending the call. But both he and Laura knew that if Cesar Faison was in cahoots with Helena Cassadine, it would take far more than the Port Charles Police Department to track them down.

* * * * *

"Alexis, I don’t think this is a good idea," Jax told her as they drove toward Nikolas’ home after she picked him up from the ELQ shareholders meeting at the Quartermaine mansion. "Shouldn’t you give your brother and Laura time to tell him? After all, they just found out. This has to be hard on them, too."

"Because they won’t tell him. At least not until it’s too late. I know Stefan; once he makes up his mind about something, he doesn’t change it. And Nikolas deserves to know this. He should know about this, no matter what my brother says."

"Then why am I coming along? Isn’t this something that should stay private, in the family?"

"I need you because you saw those documents. You can vouch that I’m telling the truth." She shook her head. "Unfortunately, I’ve forged Cassadine family genealogy documents in the past, so I need someone to back up what I’m going to tell him, especially since Stefan tore them up."

Alexis pulled the car up the driveway, glad to see Nikolas’ Jaguar was there. After parking the car, they dashed through the pouring rain up to the front door, where Alexis knocked.

When he heard the knock at the door, Scott Martin wondered who would be coming up to the house in this kind of weather. Before he answered, he peaked out of living room blinds to see Alexis Davis and Jasper Jacks standing out on the veranda. Was this what he had been waiting for?

"Aunt Alexis," he said when he opened the door, stepping out onto the porch to join them. "Jax."

"Nikolas," she responded, a sad smile crossing her face. She hated that she had to tell him this, but someone had to before Helena did.

"Did you come out for a visit? I don’t think you’ve been here since I moved in."

"This isn’t a social call. There’s . . . there’s something I need to tell you."

"What?" he asked, pointing to the porch chairs.

As the three of them walked over to sit down, Alexis considered how she was going to explain what she had learned, the words running over and over again in her head. Finally, with a sigh, she said point blank, "You’re the prince."

Scott had to suppress a smile – this was the time he had been told to wait for.

* * * * *

Helena watched the bank of monitors in Faison’s control room, tapping her fingertip to her lips thoughtfully. In his room, Lucky was staring at the chess board as he muttered to himself. He was spending more and more time each day at the board; it was becoming his constant companion, his lifeline. It wouldn’t be long now. Soon, she could start the brainwashing technique in earnest.

Then she looked in on Nikolas. Poor Nikolas. He was still in bed, sick and delirious from the sedatives she had been giving him. Though she hated that it was having this effect on him, it was necessary to keep him from questioning what was going on, at least for the time being. Once she was sure of the brainwashing technique, she could use it on her grandson, who would then take his position as the Cassadine Prince – with her as his advisor. And Stefan, who would no doubt be destroyed to think he wasn’t his father, would be totally out of his life, no longer a possible threat to the plans that she had put into place with Stavros’ birth.

In the last room, Lesley Lu was sitting on the bed, staring at a young woman they had brought it to act as a governess for her. She was trying to entertain her; however, the little girl was pouting, refusing to play. She had been screaming for her mother and Poppa Stefan earlier until she had finally worn out her voice. Helena knew it would take time to break through the blocks that Lesley Lu was throwing up, but she was young. Soon, she would forget. There would be no need to brainwash her.

Faison entered the control room and stopped to appraise Helena. She was not going to be pleased when she heard what he was about to tell her.

"I know you’re there, Cesar darling," she said without turning around. "It’s not like you to be so apprehensive about approaching me. What’s on your mind?"

"I’ve just spoken to some of my men. Your son and his wife were in Switzerland yesterday – they were seen going into Bundeslade."

This caused Helena to finally swivel the chair around. Her face had darkened slightly at his words while her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Did your men find out why they were there?"

"Unfortunately, no. The hostess claimed they wanted to eat but left when they found out the place was closed."

"I seriously doubt that they were there for lunch. Why would they go to Switzerland when they’re trying to find Lesley Lu? They went there for another reason . . . did Luke tell them something about Herr Krieg?"

"Perhaps. Apparently, one of my men stupidly told him I sent my regards. He’s been taken care of."

"What about getting the truth from that hostess? And where are my son and his little tramp now?"

"The hostess should be arriving here to ‘talk’ to us tomorrow morning. My men are bringing her here. As for Stefan and Laura, they returned to Port Charles this morning.."

"Ah, well . . . they’ll soon be sidetracked anyway. Jax and that little blond nitwit pretending to be Natasha got back to Port Charles with the papers last night. Alexis should have discovered the false paternity papers by now and gone running to Stefan. What I wouldn’t have given to be there . . . especially when our dear actor Scott does his routine."

* * * * *

"My God," Laura muttered as she surveyed the folders spread out on her husband’s desk. They had decided to begin going through them after Stefan had called John to tell them about Krieg actually being Cesar Faison. "It looks like Helena was involved in every scientific experiment under the sun. But will any of this lead to a connection with Faison or Lesley Lu or anything of that sort?"

Stefan put a hand on her shoulder. "Knowing my mother, the connection is in here. We just have to find it. We should start by figuring out exactly what each of the folders deal with."

Just as they started reading over the papers, the door to the study slammed open, causing both Laura and Foster to jump in alarm. As the door knocked against the wall and violently rebounded, they turned to see Nikolas storm in, and immediately, Stefan realized that Alexis had told him about the paternity documents.

"Nikolas—," he started to say but was cut off.

"Is it true? Did Alexis find papers that say Stavros is my father?"

"Yes, but—."

"Why didn’t you want to tell me? Is it because you’ve known all along? Because you knew you were lying when you told me you were my father?"

Hurt that he could even think such a thing, Stefan shook his head, trying to reach out to him. "No, Nikolas. I always believed that you were my son."

"Right," he spit back.

"When you were young, I wanted you to be the prince. You had to be, or Helena would have killed you. I wanted you to have the Cassadine fortune."

"But I don’t want it!"

"That’s part of why we didn’t want to tell you. At least not now. When you thought you were my son, you never seemed happier. You were free. We couldn’t take that away from you. Not with Lesley Lu missing and everything else that’s been happening. Not when we weren’t even sure about the validity of those documents."

"Which you conveniently tore up! You lied to me! Again . . . for my own good! I don’t need you—."

Laura couldn’t take it anymore. How dare Alexis take matters into her own hands! "Stop it! I will not stand here and let you attack Stefan. He has cared for you and protected you for your entire life. He devoted his life to you."

"Why should I believe that?"

"Because he promised his loyalty to you even when he knew you might have been Stavros’ child. Because he’s loved you since the day you were born. And no blood test or legal document can change that, Nikolas. He loves you more than life itself!"

He shook his head as though he refused to let anything sway him from his anger. "That doesn’t justify lies. I would have thought that you would understand that better than anyone."

"We didn’t want to say anything now only because we didn’t think it was appropriate. We wanted to get Lesley Lu back first. Nikolas, you’ve been through so much recently—."

"We’re going to settle this as soon as possible," he insisted. He glared at Stefan, his eyes flashing. For a moment, Stefan felt that he was looking into the eyes of a stranger. Nearby, apparently disturbed by the altercation, Foster growled lowly. "I’m going to schedule a DNA test at General Hospital. I’ll notify you when it’ll be."

With that, he stalked out, leaving Stefan and Laura to stare after him.

On the way back to Port Charles, Scott Martin replayed the confrontation that had just taken place at Wyndemere in his mind, smiling in self-satisfaction. That had gone rather well, if he did say so himself. The fact that Stefan and Laura had decided to wait to tell him about the documents had just added so much more to the encounter. Helena Cassadine and Cesar Faison would be quite pleased, he was sure. And when he was done here, he would finally get the chance he wanted – a shot at Hollywood, they had promised.

Now, to move on to the second part of the plan. Using Nikolas’ cellular phone, Scott called General Hospital once he found the number in the phone’s address book. "Yes, I’d like to speak to Tony Jones," he told the receptionist who answered.

"One moment while I page him."

The launch had arrived at the docks by the time Tony Jones came on the line. "Tony, it’s Nikolas Cassadine."

"Nikolas!" Tony said in the surprise. "I heard about your sister. Any news?"

"I’m afraid not."

"I’m sorry to hear that. I hope they find her soon."

"Me, too." Scott sighed to add to the effect.

"Anyway, why are you calling? Is there something I can help you with?"

He smiled grimly to himself. "Yes, actually . . . I was wondering . . . umm . . . can you run DNA tests to establish paternity?"

"I can’t – that’s not my specialty," Tony answered. "My colleague, Doctor Fenmore, can run them, though. Why are you asking?"

"Because . . . because I want to have a paternity test run on myself and Stefan."

"You and—Nikolas, I thought the issue of your paternity had been sorted out."

"I thought so, too, but apparently not. Some documents came to surface that make the tests . . . necessary. Can you connect me with your colleague? I need to have this done as soon as possible."

"Actually, you’re in luck. Doctor Fenmore just came on the floor. Hold on a minute. Let me find out when he can see you." There was a long pause on the other end of the line though Scott could hear the muffled voices of the two doctors speaking. He hoped that this could be done soon. He didn’t look forward to the idea of having to submit to a blood test, but if he had to do it, he wanted to get it over with. "Nikolas, he can see you and Stefan tomorrow afternoon at one p.m. Is that a good time?"

"That’s fine. Tell him we’ll see him there. How long will it take for the results?"

"If it’s important, he can do it within a couple of hours."

"It’s important."

"All right, I’ll tell him. We’ll see you tomorrow."

After he hung up the phone, he immediately placed a call to Wyndemere. Stefan answered the phone. "Nikolas, I’m glad it’s you. Look, we need—."

He interrupted, "The DNA test is scheduled for one p.m. tomorrow afternoon at General Hospital. Doctor Fenmore’s office."

"Nikolas, please understand—."

"I’ll see you, then."

With that, Scott pressed the disconnect button to hang up. Everything was taken care of, just as Helena wanted it. However, he didn’t feel like going back to Nikolas’ house, and since the rain had subsided and he had never been in Port Charles before, he decided to take a stroll along the docks.

"Nikolas!" he heard a female voice call behind him. He recognized it from the tapes he had studied to learn about Nikolas’ life while healing from the plastic surgery.

Before turning around, he took a moment to prepare himself, the smile dropping from his face. Then he looked behind him and waved half-heartedly to the teenager. "Hi, Emily."

Emily Bowen-Quartermaine jogged down the steps onto the docks and joined him. "I’ve been trying to reach you since you got back for New York. I heard about Lesley Lu’s kidnapping. Any news?"

"No," he said.

"Is there anything I can do to help you? This must be really tough on you and your parents."

At the mention of "parents," he stared out at the water, biting his lip. This chance meeting was turning into yet another unexpected bonus, a chance to stretch his acting abilities. Perhaps this could also help in his attempt to drive Stefan away – get some allies on his side.

His facial expression got the desired effect. "Nikolas? Is something going on with your parents?"

"How could it? My father is dead."

Emily gasped in concern. "Did something happen to Stefan?"

"No, Stefan is fine."

"Then what do you mean, your father is dead?"

"My father is dead, Emily, because Stefan isn’t my father at all! Stavros was!"

After his outburst, silence settled over them for a few moments. Emily couldn’t believe it. Stavros was his father? "I thought—how did you find this out?"

"Apparently, Helena had documents proving that Stefan couldn’t have fathered me. Alexis took them to Stefan and my mother, but they tore them up and refused to tell me. They probably always knew the truth . . . but they wanted ‘to protect me’. Why does everyone feel they have to protect me?" Squeezing his eyes shut, he forced himself to tear up.

"I’m sure it’s only because they love you," she said quietly, putting her hand on his arm.

"That’s what they say, but how am I supposed to know the truth anymore when all I’ve heard all my life is conflicting stories and lies?" Bowing his head, he sighed dramatically and shook his head. "Look, Emily, I think I just need to be alone for a while."

"All right." Giving his arm a reassuring squeeze, she continued the way she had originally been heading.

Scott watched as she disappeared around the side of the dock buildings, once again pleased with his performance. So far, he had been able to fool Stefan, Laura, Alexis, Jax, Tony Jones and now Emily. The people that Nikolas knew best here in Port Charles. Turning his head to look at Spoon Island off in the distance, he began humming to himself. Soon, the humming became a tune, which gave way to him singing, "There’s a face that we wear in the cold light of day – it’s society’s mask, it’s society’s way, and the truth is . . . that it’s all a façade!"

Meanwhile, Emily walked slowly toward Kelly’s, thinking about her meeting with Nikolas. It seemed that life had come crashing down around everyone she knew, including herself. Liz had called her that morning in panic because she had kissed a guy at a party the night before. He was one of her classmates, a nice guy who was one of the most talented artists at school. They had studied for several tests together and often got into debates about artists and their works, but nothing had ever happened between them before. Liz would never allow anything to happen – she still loved Lucky. However, something had happened at the party. They had been dancing, and then, they had kissed. She didn’t know what to do. She really liked this guy, but she felt that she was somehow being unfaithful to Lucky if she allowed anything more to happen. How was she supposed to handle it? Emily didn’t have an answer for her; how could she help when she was failing in her own love life? She had been interested in that guy Juan who had come to Port Charles looking for his father, but he had been hauled back to Puerto Rico by his adopted father before they had gotten a chance to know each other. And every date she had been on recently had ended in disaster. At times like this, she wished that she could turn back to the clock to seven months before when Lucky had been alive and the four of them – Liz, Lucky, Nikolas and herself – had been happy and looking forward to the future.

She was almost to the end of the connecting passageway from the docks when she suddenly heard something strange back in the direction she had just come. It sounded like singing. And she recognized the lyrics, too. They were from the musical Jekyll and Hyde, which her father Alan had taken her to see a couple of years before as a birthday present.

Heading back down the alley, she stopped at the edge of the building and peeked around, her eyes widening in disbelief at what she saw. Below on the dock, Nikolas was singing . . . while dancing the exact same steps as she had seen in the show.

"There’s a face that we hide ‘til the nighttime appears, and what’s hiding inside, behind all our fears, is our true self . . . locked inside the façade!" With a flourish, he finished his dance, then turned on his heel and headed down the docks in the other direction, still singing, "Every day . . . people, in their own sweet way, like to add a coat of paint, and be what they ain’t! That’s how our little game is played. Livin’ out a masquerade, actin’ a bizarre charade – while playin’ the saint!"

Once she was sure he was gone, Emily came around from the side of the building. That wasn’t the Nikolas she knew. He would never sing and dance like that, especially not with everything that had been happening to him lately. And she knew for a fact he had never seen the show.

So what in the hell was going on?

* * * * *

"He’ll come around," Laura assured her husband.

"He just didn’t seem like the Nikolas I know." His eyes full of grief, Stefan was standing over by the fireplace, looking into it though there was no fire burning while Foster nuzzled his hand. Nikolas’ words had hurt him more deeply than anything Helena could have ever done to him. "There was something in his eyes. And it was like talking to a stranger . . . both when he was here and on the phone."

"He’s had a bad shock . . . and there’s been so much happening. Katherine, Lesley Lu . . . Lucky. He just needs some time."

"I hope you’re right. I don’t want to lose him, Lasha." Shaking his head, he paused for a moment. "I don’t want to lose any of you. We’ve already lost so much already."

"You’ll never lose me," she said, crossing over the fireplace and circling her arms around him from behind. "You’ve kept me sane during all this . . . for the last seven months. I don’t know where I’d be without you. We need each other."

"I don’t know what I’d do without you either."

Turning around, he took her into his arms, and they held each other for a long time, not saying a word. Finally, Stefan pulled back, his expression abruptly determined.

"We need to focus on finding out what’s in those documents now. We’ll deal with Nikolas once Lesley Lu is safe."

Laura nodded and crossed over to the desk to pick up one of the folders, which she handed to Stefan. She then selected another at random, and each of them began reading.

"This has to do with that drug my mother used to save Katherine’s life," Stefan remarked, showing his wife the document. "Look – here’s the date of her fall, the night of the Bacchanalia." Both of them remembered that night with vivid clarity. It had been the turning point in both their lives. "Helena’s physician administered the first dose within the first week. All his notes are here." He flipped the page as he quickly skimmed through. "Lasha, look at this. The doctor wrote that the drug causes sterility in anyone who receives it. Katherine wasn’t just not pregnant; she couldn’t have conceived a child even if she wanted to."

"Did Katherine know?"

Stefan shook his head. "I don’t think so . . . at least not at the time this was written. The physician said that he was under orders not to divulge any information about the side effects to the patients. I guess Helena wanted to maintain all aspects of control."

Shaking her head, Laura couldn’t believe what she was actually about to say. "That actually makes me feel sorry for Katherine. She was used by Helena."

As Stefan reached over to pick up another document, Laura returned to reading through the one she had. After a few minutes, she gasped, "Oh, my God."

"What?"

Before she could answer, Mrs. Landsbury knocked on the study door. "I’m sorry to bother you, but Miss Quartermaine is here to see you. She says it’s important."

"Emily?" Laura said in surprise.

"Please show her in," Stefan instructed.

A few moments later, Emily entered the study and stopped just inside the doorway, glancing back and forth between Laura and Stefan, who had abandoned the documents they had been reading. She suddenly looked like she wanted to run away. "This—this might have been a bad idea," she muttered under her breath.

Walking over, Laura put her arm around the teenager’s shoulders. "Emily, sweetheart, what’s the matter?"

"I . . . this is probably going to sound stupid . . . you’re probably going to throw me out and—."

"Emily, we would never think that you’re stupid. Please sit down and tell us what’s going on."

Sinking down onto the couch, she took a deep breath before starting. How was she going to explain this to them without sounding like she had lost her mind? "I just ran into Nikolas on the docks. He seemed really upset, and when I asked him what was wrong, he told me about . . . Stavros being his father, according to those papers . . ."

When Emily trailed off, Laura prompted her, "Did he say something that concerned you?"

"Well, sort of. Actually, it wasn’t what he said when we were talking. You see, he asked to be left alone, so I did, but before I left the docks, I heard someone singing . . . that sounded like Nik, so I went back." She hesitated a moment and reached out absentmindedly to pet Foster. "He was singing and dancing on the docks. It was if he had suddenly changed within the space of a couple of minutes."

"He had changed?" Stefan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah. It was like . . . he was Nikolas, but he wasn’t Nikolas. I mean, he looks like Nikolas . . . but he wasn’t acting like him." Sighing, she looked down at her hands. "Oh, I knew this was stupid. I probably sound like I’m totally whacko or something."

"No, sweetheart, of course not," Laura assured her.

Stefan was standing by the desk, considering what Emily had said, when he happened to look down at the picture of Nikolas sitting on his desk. His focus was drawn to the eyes again, just like with the portrait on his mother’s yacht. He recalled how he looked into Nikolas’ eyes earlier and had thought he was gazing into the eyes of stranger, something he had never felt in all the years he had been raising him. "Emily, what song was he singing?"

"’Façade’ from Jekyll and Hyde."

"Interesting choice."

Laura glanced from Emily to Stefan. "You’re not . . . are you saying . . . ?" She couldn’t complete her thought.

"I’m not sure, Laura." Picking up the phone from his desk, he dialed John’s cellular phone. "John, put a tail on Nikolas immediately. I want a report on what everything he does, including any strange behavior."

When he put the receiver down, he glanced over at Laura, who looked like she was about to faint. Had she lost yet another child?

Scott was tired of being cooped up in Nikolas’ house, pretending to be sad and angry. He wanted to get out and do something. Helena Cassadine had warned him to stay put and not do anything to attract attention to himself, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He hadn’t been anywhere fun in months; during the time he had been recuperating from the plastic surgery, studying to take on this part, he hadn’t been permitted to leave Faison’s compound.

Well, forget Helena and Faison. He was going to have a night out.

* * * * *

For what seemed like the millionth time that night, Alexis picked up the telephone then stopped and dropped it back into its cradle, staring at it for several moments. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, to call, because she was afraid of what he would say to her.

"Hey," Jax said, coming up behind her. "Are you all right?"

Sighing, she shook her head. "I keep thinking about what happened. I want to call Stefan, but I don’t know what I’ll say. And I’m scared what he’ll say. Nikolas needed to know . . . but Stefan . . . he loves Nikolas, has dedicated his life to him . . . and I—I . . ." She trailed off, unable to continue.

It didn’t matter. Jax, having dealt with similar circumstances with his brother Jerry over the years, understood what she was trying to say. "Just give it some time, Alexis," he told her as he put his hands on her shoulders and slowly kneaded her tense muscles.

Closing her eyes, she leaned into his touch. For a moment, under his ministrations, she felt herself forgetting everything that had happened that day. "Where did you learn to do that?" she murmured.

"Nowhere, actually."

"Well, remind me to thank Nowhere sometime."

This caused Jax to chuckle lowly. He loved Alexis’ sense of humor. In some ways, it had kept him going when they had been stranded in the Sahara. Since then, he had come to realize that often, she used it to mask her feelings, but at the same time, he had come to appreciate her wit. Like he had come to appreciate other aspects of her. She was so unlike all the other women in his life. For example, the way she smelled. As he stood there behind her, he could detect the light scent of her hair; it was the simple fragrance of her shampoo, not the heavy odor of perfume so many of the other women he had known, including Chloe, wore. In a way, it was more intoxicating to him because it was natural. It was her. It made him wonder about so many things, about holding her close and burying his face in her hair, about what the rest of her might smell like, look like. If circumstances had been different, if they had met when they were both single and free . . . Suddenly, he realized what he was thinking and jerked back, dropping his hands and walking over to the fireplace.

"Jax?" she asked, perplexed by his sudden action.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath while he raked a hand through his frosted blond hair.

"Jax, what’s going on?"

Unable to keep it to himself any longer, he said, "This! This whole situation! Do you know that these last couple of months since you moved in have been some of the best since I arrived in Port Charles? In my entire life? It’s great having you around; I can talk to you like no other woman I’ve ever known. And my parents love you – that has never happened with any of the women I’ve ever brought home. When I was in Athens, I kept wishing that you were there, not Chloe. You’re probably the best wife I’ve ever had. And . . . and it kills me the think that it’s not even real. That in a few months, this is going to be over." He sighed. "I envy Ned . . . you know that? I really do."

When he had finished, Alexis felt as though she couldn’t move; Jax’s words had frozen her to the spot. Was he saying . . . ? "But what about Chloe?"

Crossing back over to her, he reached up to toy with an errant strand of her hair. "Chloe is one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. And I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent with her, but . . ." He took a deep breath. "Not as much as the time I’ve spent with you."

What could she say? That she liked the time she had been spending with him as well? That except for Stefan when they were growing up, no man had ever risked his life for her the way he had in Greece, just to get her something he knew was important to her? That when something happened, she thought first about telling him, not Ned? She was so confused. She loved Ned . . . at least, she thought she did. But what she felt for Jax . . . sometimes, it seemed so much stronger. How could she explain any of this to him? "Jax . . . I—."

Before she could say anything, Jax did something that he would never had thought he would do. He grabbed Alexis and kissed her long and hard. When he was about to draw away, though, she pulled him back and continued the kiss.

Just then, the penthouse doorbell rang. Gasping, Alexis untangled herself from Jax’s arms, and they stood there staring at each other, wishing the moment hadn’t been broken. Before long, the doorbell rang again, so Alexis straightened her clothes and went over to answer. Outside stood Ned and Chloe, holding hands and looking like they had something rather important to say.

"Hey," Ned said, glancing back and forth between the two.

"Hi," Alexis answered. Could he see what they had just been doing? And why in the world were they holding hands?

"Can we come in?" he asked. "We need to talk to you guys about something."

* * * * *

Exhaustion had finally overtaken Stefan and Laura, and they had fallen asleep while holding each other, still wearing their clothes. Neither of them had wanted to talk about what Emily had told them, as if talking about it might make their worse fears come true. If they didn’t speak about it, then it didn’t have to exist. They could pretend everything was all right. And with everything that had happened to them already, they needed desperately to believe that something was normal.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Laura woke up, her head pounding mercilessly. Quietly, she slipped out of bed and half-stumbled into the bathroom to find some aspirin. But before she reached the cabinet, the world started spinning as her stomach lurched. Dropping to her knees, she grabbed the edge of the toilet just in time.

Suddenly, she felt two strong, gentle hands helping her up from the floor, and she looked up to see Stefan, a look of concern in his eyes. However, he didn’t say anything until he had given her a cup of water to rinse her mouth out with and had flushed the toilet.

"What happened?" he asked once he had guided her to the bed to sit down.

"I’m not sure." Reaching over to take his hand, she leaned her head against his shoulder. "I woke up with a headache, but when I went in to get something for it, I suddenly felt sick."

"With everything that’s been going on around here, I’m not surprised. Are you going to be all right?"

Nodding, she said, "I think I’m going to go downstairs and see if I can find some Sprite or something for my stomach."

"Do you want be to come with you?"

Sitting up, Laura looked at her husband, the dim light from the bathroom accentuating the dark circles under his own eyes. "No . . . that’s okay. I’ll be fine. Try to go back to sleep."

Downstairs, she made her way to the kitchen and found some soda in the refrigerator. After pouring herself a glass, she walked back through into the great room and stopped at the bottom of the steps, her eyes focusing on the closed door of Stefan’s study. The document she had been reading before Emily had shown up was still in there . . .

Had she actually seen what she had thought she had seen while reading it earlier? Surely, she had misunderstood it. There was no way that it could be right.

But what if it was?

The fatigue she had been feeling for days now still permeated every fiber of her being, but she didn’t think she could go back to sleep, even if she wanted to. She felt that she had to go back and read that document again. Be sure of what it said. So, silently, she headed down the corridor to Stefan’s study, clicking on the light when she entered.

All the folders were where they had left them, the one she had been reading sitting on the side table next to the couch. Setting her glass down, she picked up the folder and flipped it open to begin rereading the record.

Meanwhile, Stefan became worried when Laura didn’t return after twenty minutes. Heading downstairs, he was puzzled to see the light shining in the study. What was his wife doing?

"Lasha?" he called out.

She didn’t answer, so he hurried to the study to see what was going on. Laura was standing next to the couch, two folders clutched tightly in her hands, her eyes practically glued to the documents within the one she had open. Her lip was trembling slightly as an expression of horror mixed – incredibly – with delight crossed her face.

"Laura?" he said. "Laura, what’s wrong?"

"This," she finally responded although her voice was a barely audible, raspy whisper. Glancing up, she swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.

"What?" he asked.

Laura handed him the folder she had been reading. "This contains a number of medical reports. Look at the patient’s name on the one on top."

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Senior." Stefan could hardly believe his eyes. "Luke?"

She nodded. "Read the notes."

Stefan quickly read through the information. "Sterile? Luke is sterile? But this is from 1985. This can’t be right. How could you and he if he’s—?"

"It’s not a mistake. I found that folder after its number was cross-referenced to this one I was reading earlier before Emily arrived." She gestured with the folder she was still holding. "This one has information on a pill Helena had developed to cause sterility – a form of revenge against her enemies, I suppose. After I tried to visit Nikolas, Luke had to see the doctor because his knee began acting up, a lingering injury from the avalanche. He was given what he thought was some pain killers. They were really those sterility pills."

"As revenge against you for trying to see Nikolas, Helena made sure that you could never have any more children with Luke," he realized.

"That was the reason I never got pregnant in the years before we returned to Port Charles."

"But if this is correct, how could you have conceived Lesley Lu?"

She drew in a rattling breath. "Look at the second record."

Flipping the page, he found that the second record was one for Laura starting in 1993. "‘December 2, 1993 – patient came in for initial consultation and gynecological examination. Sperm specimen from male subject S introduced during pelvic exam.’"

"That was the day I went for my yearly check-up. We had recently returned to Port Charles, so I had to use a new doctor; I thought I had been assigned to her randomly when I called in to make an appointment with the medical group. During the pelvic exam, she told me she was using a new technique for checking for possible cervical lesions and squirted something into me," she explained. "Read on."

"‘February 21, 1994 – patient complaining of nausea and other symptoms of pregnancy. Tests show patient towards end of first trimester, almost three months along.’" When he finished, he looked up at her, stunned. "You found out that you were carrying Lesley Lu. My mother paid your doctor to inseminate you. But with whose semen?"

Laura hesitated a moment. The thing she had wanted most in the world for Lesley Lu had appeared to come true, but her heart didn’t know whether to feel overjoyed or enraged. Too many emotions were threatening to overwhelm her at once. "Turn the page," was all she could finally say.

He did. And when he saw his own name at the top of the next record, he almost dropped the folder in astonishment. As it was, he had to sit down. "I’m male subject S. So—this is saying—this means—I’m Lesley Lu’s father? Helena had you inseminated with my sperm?"

Nodding, she sat down next to him. "Yes," she responded.

Part of him wanted to jump up in joy – Lesley Lu was his daughter! However, another part of him felt violated. Helena had used them. Lesley Lu had been conceived as part of some sort of twisted plan when she should have been conceived in love. Staring into his wife’s eyes, he could see that she was dealing with the same conflict of emotions. "We have a daughter together," he whispered, tears in his eyes.

"I know," she answered lowly, putting her hand in his. They sat silently for a few moments, then she asked, "What did Helena hope to gain by inseminating me with your sperm? I don’t understand."

Rising, he paced the study in thought, considering what he knew about his mother. More than anything, her actions were motivated by the most basic reason – revenge. However, neither Laura nor Luke had known about the sterility pills, which meant that she had intended that to come into play at some important point later on . . . but fourteen years after the fact, she still hadn’t played this card. Yet, she had seen to it that Laura had been impregnated with Stefan’s own child. "Oh, God . . . I think I know why."

She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"She wanted to drive you and Luke apart – by making it seem like you had an affair with me. At some point, she was going to see to it that Luke learned that he was sterile and that Lesley Lu’s father was someone else. And who would be the worst possible person for that to be? A Cassadine, especially one whom he might not have been told about."

In a way, his theory made twisted sense. It sounded thoroughly, totally like Helena to do something like that. "But she never used this information . . ." That didn’t sound like Helena at all. She would never pass up a chance to use something she had planned. Then it hit her. ". . . because Lesley Lu got sick. She didn’t have a chance to use it because everything that came out in the aftermath destroyed the relationship anyway." Feeling her heart rending, she got up and went over to Stefan, desperately needing him to hold her. As he wrapped his arms around her, she whispered, "Oh, God . . . what are we going to tell Lesley Lu?"

If they were ever able to tell her.

"I don’t know."

Without warning, the phone rang, startling both of them. Stefan kissed Laura’s forehead before releasing her and crossing over to his desk to answer.

"Cassadine residence."

"Sir, it’s John."

"Any news?"

"Nothing from the tracking teams, Sir; however, there’s been a report from the man whose been following Nikolas. He went to a nightclub tonight and was buying alcohol."

"But Nikolas isn’t of legal drinking age in this country."

"Yes, Sir, we know."

Confused as to why they would be talking about Nikolas not being of drinking age, Laura asked, "What’s going on?"

"Just a minute, John." Putting his hand over the speaker, Stefan relayed to her what John had just told him.

"That doesn’t sound like Nikolas."

"No, it doesn’t. Not at all."

It seemed that their worst fears concerning Nikolas were indeed true.

The hostess’ screams echoed through the corridor as the door to her cell slid open, and Helena hurried out, her face a mask of utter anger.

"Call the airport and see that my jet is fueled! I’m leaving for Port Charles immediately!" she commanded her manservant, Ari.

Faison appeared at the end of the corridor. "What’s going on, Helena?"

"The fool hostess told my son and his trollop that she had seen me with you at the restaurant, and she said they recognized me! They know I’m connected to you now, Cesar! I must return to Port Charles immediately and see what they’ve found out since then."

"What about the children? Should we move them?"

"Not yet. Laura and Stefan may have discovered our connection, but they don’t know where this compound is, nor will they. Continue with the plans. I’ll contact you when I know more about what’s going on." She glanced over her shoulder at the cell she had just come out of, the hostess’ screams now muffled sobs. "And kill that pathetic excuse for a woman."

* * * * *

The waiting room on the fourth floor of the hospital seemed almost oppressive. While they waited for Dr. Fenmore to finish running the DNA comparisons, Laura and Stefan sat together on one of the couches, staring over at Scott Martin, who felt very uncomfortable under their scrutiny. He felt as though they were analyzing him. Whether that was just because he was nervous about what he was doing, he couldn’t tell. Neither of them had said a word in several minutes. He just wanted to get this over with.

After what seemed like days, Tony Jones approached them, holding a sheet of paper. "I have the results of your tests."

"Where’s Doctor Fenmore?" Stefan asked.

"He was called away on an emergency and asked me to deliver the results to you since Nikolas said it was so important."

"Well," Scott said, "what do they say?"

Tony looked at the two men and sighed. He hated giving news like this. "I’m sorry, Nikolas, but Stefan is not your father. According to these tests, there’s no possible way he could be."

As Scott put on a despondent expression, he felt Stefan’s hand fall onto his shoulder. At first, he thought that it was an attempt at sympathy and support, but when the older man’s grip tightened almost painfully, he realized that something was going on.

"Doctor Jones," Stefan said, his voice measured and sure, "I was wondering if you would do us a favor?"

"What? Do you want the tests run again? I can assure you that—."

"No . . . not that. I was wondering if you would be good enough to compare the blood work-up from this test to those from Nikolas’ files when he was shot and when he donated blood marrow to Lesley Lu."

Looking up, Scott saw Stefan’s steely gaze focused on him and knew that he suspected he wasn’t Nikolas. He began panicking inwardly as he tried to figure out what to do. "Uncle—!"

Tony, thinking that the young man’s protests were out of shock, was just as flabbergasted by the request. "I really don’t understand—."

"Tony," Laura said, fixing her blue eyes on her former brother-in-law. "Just do it."

"But Nikolas is over the age of—."

"Tony," she pleaded. "This is important."

"All right. Let me go get his records and today’s full blood work-up from Doctor Fenmore’s office."

While Tony was gone, Scott attempted to pull away from Stefan’s grip but found that the other man was too strong. So he tried again, "Uncle, I don’t understand why you’re doing this!"

"I think you do," he answered simply.

"Let me go!"

"Not unless you tell us the truth," Laura responded.

"I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!"

"We’ll see about that."

A few moments later, Tony returned, the records in hand. He shook his head in disbelief. "I don’t understand what’s going on. According to today’s test, Nikolas’ blood type and Rh factor are totally different from what we have down in his records. There must have been some kind of mistake. Possibly, Nikolas’ blood sample got mixed up with someone else’s."

"Oh, there was no mix-up, Doctor Jones," Stefan remarked. "I think you’ll find that today’s blood test is fully accurate for this young man here. But this young man isn’t Nikolas."

"Not Nikolas!" Scott cried in a last-ditch effort. "Uncle, I know that you’re upset about the results, but to say that I’m not Nikolas—."

Her eyes blazing, Laura turned on him. "You are not my son. I don’t know who you are, but you’re not him. My son does not speak to people the way you have; he does not sing and dance on the docks, especially at a time like this when his sister is missing, and he certainly does not go to nightclubs and drink! Now, I want to know the truth. Who are you, and where is the real Nikolas?"

Unflinching, Laura stood toe to toe with him, inside his personal space, and Scott had never been more frightened in his entire life – he knew that he was caught. Literally trembling, he stuttered out, "All right! My name is Scott Martin. I was hired to impersonate your grandson."

"Hired?" Laura repeated. "By who?"

"Helena Cassadine.

Stefan and Laura looked at each other. Of course, Helena would be the one involved in this. She was involved in everything else. "Why did she want you to impersonate Nikolas?" Stefan inquired.

"She said that he was being controlled by you two, and you only cared about controlling the Cassadine estate. She wanted me to help save him. She wanted me to destroy his relationship with you, make sure you thought that you weren’t Nikolas’ father. She said it was the only way to get you out of the picture." He saw their looks of incredulity and hate and felt that he had to defend himself. "Look, I’m an actor, originally from St. Louis. I’ve been trying to break into show business for about five years now, but I wasn’t having much luck—.

"What a minute," Laura broke in. "Five years? How old are you?"

"I just turned twenty-four. Anyway, I was starving and struggling to make ends meet when she approached me about this job. She offered me a lot of money and a real chance in Hollywood through some of her connections if I did it. How could I saw no to an opportunity like that?"

Snorting at Scott’s naïveté, Laura shook her head. "You don’t know Helena Cassadine, do you? When you had done the job she wanted you to, do you really think she was going to let you go, knowing what you did? She probably planned to kill you when you finished."

"But she promised me!"

"The only person my mother ever kept a promise to in her life was my brother Stavros," Stefan informed him. "And he’s dead now. Everyone else is to be used and disposed of as she sees fit, including you."

Tony, who had been standing off to the side, watching the confrontation in attentive incredulity, finally spoke up, "Speaking of Stavros, is Nikolas your son or not, Stefan?"

Having forgotten that Tony was still even there, Stefan blinked in surprise at the question. "I don’t know." He turned back to Scott. "Do you?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "I don’t know. Honestly. Helena didn’t tell me; she just said that documents would be found that showed Nikolas was Stavros’ son, and I was to use those to demand a DNA test."

"Why would she have replaced Nikolas unless those documents were forgeries?" Laura pointed out.

"Maybe she thought that the discovery of Nikolas being Stavros’ son wouldn’t be enough to drive you two apart," Scott offered.

"We won’t know until we recover Nikolas," Stefan stated. "Do you know where he’s being held?"

"I’m not sure. Possibly the compound I stayed at when I was studying to take his place."

"Where was this compound?"

"I don’t know. When they took me there, I was somewhat groggy from the plastic surgery and still had the bandages on my face, and when I left, they blindfolded me and put me in the back of a van."

"They?"

"Yeah . . . the compound didn’t belong to Helena. It belongs to this guy . . . her friend . . . lover, maybe. His name is Faison.

"Faison . . ." Laura murmured. "Stefan . . ."

He knew what she was thinking. This compound might be the place where Lesley Lu was also being held. "You said they took you out by van. Was this compound within driving distance of Port Charles?"

"No. I was transferred from the van to a jet to fly here."

"How long were you in the van? And how long was the flight?"

"I’m not sure . . . I think thirty minutes in the van, maybe three to four hours on the jet." He paused and glanced at Laura and Stefan. "What are you going to do with me now?"

"That’s for the authorities to decide," Stefan said. "Doctor Jones, if you would be so kind as to call the police and have them come arrest Mr. Martin."

As Tony hurried away, Stefan’s cellular phone began vibrating in his pocket. Quickly, he pulled it out and hit the connect button. "Stefan Cassadine."

"Sir," John’s voice came on the line. "I have some information for you. We just got word that your mother’s jet has filed a flight plan for Port Charles. We’re working on tracing the origin of the flight."

"When is she set to arrive?"

"In about two and a half hours."

"That bitch," Laura seethed as they walked up from launch dock toward the house. They were the first words she had uttered since they had left the hospital; she had been containing her anger until they were alone, not wanting to explode in public. "I never thought I’d say this about anyone, but if I could, I’d kill your mother with my bare hands. She’s gone too far this time . . ."

Stefan stared straight ahead, debating with himself about whether to tell her. After Helena had practically made Laura suffer a permanent breakdown a few months before, he had seriously considered doing it but had changed his mind at the last minute; however, the drug was still in his safe at Wyndemere. Perhaps it was the time to use it. If he did, though, he had to tell her.

"Laura, there may be something . . ." he finally said once they were inside the house.

As she pushed her windblown hair away from her face, she raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?"

Taking her arm, he propelled her into the study, shut the door and locked it.

"Stefan, what’s going on?"

"I don’t want anyone else to walk in on us, even Mrs. Landsbury. Lasha . . . what I’m about to show you may upset you, but you’ve got to understand, I only considered using it after Helena almost caused your breakdown." As Laura sat down on the couch, a bewildered look on her face, he walked over to his safe and accessed it with both a key and combination. When it was open, he reached in to carefully pull out a small box, which he took over to Laura.

"What’s in there?" she asked.

Pressing the release catch, he popped open the lid to reveal two vials nestled in foam, one containing a clear liquid and one containing a red liquid. Once he took a deep breath, he began explaining, "When Helena told Lucky last year about what Luke had done to you at the disco, when I saw what she was doing to you, I started looking at ways to get her out of the way permanently. The thing was I couldn’t kill her. I’m not like Luke; I can’t justify cold, calculated murder, even—especially of my own mother. So I had a scientist friend from university develop this. It’s a variation of the Romeo and Juliet drug I used to save your mother’s life." He selected the clear vial and held it up to the light. "It’s odorless, colorless, tasteless and impossible to trace. When ingested, it causes a sort of paralysis. People affected are aware of what’s going on but can’t move or speak; they’re basically trapped in their own minds. It seemed the perfect punishment for her – a living hell for making the lives of those I love a living hell."

Laura stared at the vial in wide-eyed wonder. "Why didn’t you use it?"

"I came very close back a few months ago when Helena almost caused you to breakdown. I couldn’t stand what she was doing to you . . . but you needed me more than I needed revenge against her. So I saved it. Although I knew that one day, I’d end up using it."

"What about the vial of red liquid?"

"That’s the antidote. Just in case." After putting the vial back and closing the box, he took her hand. He could tell from the way she had quietly asked her questions then gone totally silent that she was shocked at what he had just admitted to her. "Lasha, my love . . . please understand that I agonized at the time about telling you what I was planning, but you had so many other things to deal with. And if, for some reason, I got caught, I didn’t want you to be held responsible as well."

For several moments, Laura stared into her husband’s eyes, her mind a whirl at everything that he had told her. She was stunned, to say the least, but she also understood why he wanted to do it. This made her think about everything that Helena had done to her – from the day she had abducted her off the Port Charles docks to the realization that she had kidnapped her son and daughter. All the hurt, anger and sadness that the woman had caused her over the last twenty years washed over her like a wave crashing upon the shore of the island in Greece. Finally, she opened her mouth and said, "Let’s use it."

Stefan, who hadn’t been sure what her final reaction was going to be, squeezed her hand tighter. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I want her out of our life, Stefan. I want to be able to live normally with you and not have her breathing down our necks, threatening to take that away."

* * * * *

"The jet’s point of origin was Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada," John told Stefan and Laura as the three of them drove toward Helena’s private marina. "I’ve sent some of my people up there to start searching the surrounding area within the radius indicated by the time Scott Martin said he was in the van. They’ll let us know as soon as they find anything."

"Good," Stefan responded.

When they arrived at the marina, John and Stefan left Laura in the car while they quickly broke back into the yacht. They weren’t planning on staying long this time. Down in the yacht’s sitting room, John went to work setting up a one-way audio transmitter in a hidden place while Stefan hastily poured the contents of the clear vial into a mostly empty carafe of his mother’s favorite sherry. Once they were done, they locked up the yacht again and returned to the car.

"Everything’s set for the viper’s return," Stefan told Laura as they drove up the road to await Helena’s arrival. "There’s no turning back."

"I know."

* * * * *

Helena Cassadine threw her coat over the back of the chair as she entered the sitting room of her yacht. Behind her, Ari quickly picked it up then stooped down to collect the gloves she dropped on the floor.

"Ari, find out where my son and his wife are. I want to know their every move from now on."

After Ari had bowed and disappeared out the door, Helena walked over to the bar and poured herself a sherry, which she quaffed in practically one gulp. Setting the glass back on the countertop, she stared across the room at the portrait of Nikolas. "Damn you, Stefan," she muttered. "You are not going to going to ruin my plans."

With her glass refilled, she crossed the room to the picture, her fingertips tracing the outlines of her grandson’s young face while she sipped her drink. Stefan had managed to interfere in her schemes far too many times in his life. First, with his birth, Mikkos had been given a true heir who, were the truth discovered, might challenge her beloved Stavros and spoil her carefully crafted revenge against the man who had betrayed her time and time again. Then, with his affair with Laura, he had taken away from Stavros the child that should have been his, to carry on the legacy Helena had spent years so carefully cultivating. Finally, he had managed to take the regency away from her after Stavros had died. She was never able to get a good grasp on Nikolas and educate him the way she wanted.

She should have killed Stefan when she had had the chance, but somehow, he had been protected. First by Mikkos, who had stopped her when she had tried to smother him during an episode she had blamed on her "depression" following Stefan’s birth. Then by the tides, when they had diminished after he had walked into the sea, failing to drown him. It was as though the universe was playing with her, having sent her a son that was a constant thorn in her side.

Turning away from the portrait with a sigh, she swallowed the rest of her second glass of sherry. Only Stefan could drive her to drink this much.

As she returned to the bar for another refill, Ari reentered the room. "Madame, there’s someone here to see you."

"Who is it?" she asked impatiently, setting her still empty glass down.

"Commissioner Malcolm Scorpio."

* * * * *

In the car, Stefan and Laura listened in as Helena moved around, unable to make out what she was muttering to herself. The clinking of a glass told them, though, that she was drinking. It wouldn’t be long now, they knew.

They weren’t prepared, however, for the visitor that showed up. As they glanced at each other, Laura said, "What is he doing there?"

Before Stefan could answer, Helena asked the same question.

"He didn’t say, Madame," Ari answered.

"Well, show him in," she responded in what sounded like resignation. "Then go complete the task I gave you."

Within moments, the sounds of footsteps indicated Mac’s entrance into the sitting room.

"Commissioner Scorpio," Helena’s voice practically purred, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"This isn’t a business call, Mrs. Cassadine. I’m here because of a young man named Scott Martin, who is currently sitting in one of my jail cells."

There was a long pause. "I see . . . May I offer you something to drink, Commissioner? A sherry, perhaps."

Without so much as a glance at each other, Laura and Stefan were out of the car in a flash, heading toward the yacht.

* * * * *

Weary of the reputation this woman had and not wanting to fall into one of her traps, Mac shook his head at Helena Cassadine’s offer of a drink. "No, thank you. I’m on duty."

"Then you’ll excuse me while I do," she said, emptying what was left in the carafe into her tumbler, trying to keep her cool so as not to let Scorpio see that the name of Scott Martin was familiar to her. The imbecile had managed to land himself in jail? Apparently he wasn’t as good as she had believed him to be if he had been caught that easily. However, she wouldn’t allow a two-bit actor to take her down with him. "You must excuse my somewhat mussed state; I have just returned to Port Charles."

"Yes, I know. We were informed of your jet’s arrival after it landed at the airport, and I figured that this was probably the first place you would come."

"Oh, it’s so nice to be the center of attention."

Mac knew that she was just trying to control the conversation and divert his course of inquiry. Such tactics seemed to be a Cassadine trait. "Mrs. Cassadine—."

"Yes, yes, I know. You said something about a Sean Marters?"

"Scott Martin," he corrected, trying not to let her little tricks get to him. He had to maintain his cool so there could be no accusation of police impropriety.

"Who, pray tell, is this Scott Martin?"

"He was arrested earlier today for impersonating Nikolas and committing fraud against Stefan and Laura and the Cassadine estate. He claims that you hired him."

Helena almost choked on her sherry but quickly recovered. "What a ridiculous notion. I’ve never heard of that man before in my life."

Stefan and Laura arrived at the bottom of the yacht steps in time to hear her comment. "Now, Mother," Stefan said in his best reproachful tone as they entered the room, "I seriously doubt the veracity of that particular statement."

Her face twisting as though she had bitten down on a bitter lemon, Helena turned around to face her son. "What are you doing here?"

Mac, who never thought he would agree with Helena Cassadine on anything, found himself saying, "I’d like to know that as well. Stefan, Laura, this is police business."

"We want to know where Nikolas and Lesley Lu are," Laura said, relieved to see that Mac did not have a glass of sherry though the decanter on the bar was empty. Helena must have been drinking quite a bit.

"Nikolas? Lesley Lu? What in the world are you talking about?" Helena acted surprised. "Have you lost your other two children, Laura? You really are a poor mother, aren’t you?"

Seeing the look of pure malice on her face, Stefan held back his wife to keep her from bodily attacking her mother-in-law. "We know you’re connected to Faison, Mother."

"Faison . . ." Before she could finish what she was about to say, the world suddenly slanted for a moment, causing her to pause. Taking a deep breath, she put a hand to her head, and the feeling passed. "Where have I heard that name before?"

Crossing his arms, Stefan looked at her. He could see that the drug was starting to affect her. Perhaps this encounter would provide them with the perfect alibi in terms of her imminent collapse – a stroke following a rather intense confrontation. "You know exactly who Faison is."

"I have never—."

"Wait a minute," Mac interrupted. "You’re accusing Helena of being in league with Faison?"

"Yes . . . didn’t Scott Martin tell you that? He told us that he had been staying at Faison’s compound after his plastic surgery while he learned all about Nikolas to take his place."

"He said nothing about Faison to me."

"Well, he told us!" Laura insisted. "Faison and Helena kidnapped my son, Mac. They also kidnapped Lesley Lu."

"This is simply preposterous!" Helena declared. "I am not going to stand here and be accused of these crimes."

"That’s right," Mac said. "You’re going to come down to the police station and answer my questions there."

"Why aren’t you out looking for my grandson instead of here bothering me? You take me in, and I will have my attorney—!" Helena suddenly faltered, her tongue feeling too big for her mouth, her limbs turning to rubber. "I . . . won’t . . ."

"Mrs. Cassadine?"

She regained her senses for a moment. "I will not allow you to badger me like this! I . . . won’t—."

Before she could say anything else, she crumpled to the floor, powerless to move. The glass of sherry she had been holding fell out of her hand, its contents spilling out onto the floor.

* * * * *

At General Hospital, while Mac stood nearby in the corridor, Stefan and Laura watched from the doorway as Tony Jones examined Helena, who lay on the bed, her eyes open and staring up at the ceiling. Every now and then, she would blink, but that was the only movement she made. It was an eerie sight to see, almost of though they were looking at a marionette whose strings had been cut. But despite the fact that was disturbing to see Helena that way, both Stefan and Laura knew that she had needed to be taken down. They had been given no other choice.

Just as Tony finished his physical examination, a nurse came in with the blood work-up. Tony took it and read the results before he walked out into the corridor to join Stefan and Laura.

"Do you know what happened?" Stefan asked, glancing over at Mac, who walked up to them.

"I wish I knew. Her symptoms present like a stroke, but there’s nothing to indicate that’s what happened. And according to this, there is nothing in her system except alcohol." Tony shook his head, clearly not liking the fact that he couldn’t figure out what was going on. "I’m going to need to keep her here so I can run some more tests."

"Like what?" Mac asked.

"Well, a full toxicology screen for one, to make sure that there are no other foreign substances, like a poison, that this blood test might have overlooked."

"You think she was poisoned?" Laura asked, widening her eyes.

"Knowing what I know about Helena Cassadine, I’m not ruling anything out yet. This could be stress-related. You did say that the four of you were in a confrontation with she when she collapsed."

"How long will it be before you know anything?" Stefan inquired.

"A couple of days."

"Thank you, Doctor Jones."

As Tony returned to his patient, Stefan and Laura looked at each other somberly. They knew that the poison wouldn’t show up in the screen, but they still didn’t have their children back.

"How did you know that Helena was back?" Mac asked.

Stefan regarded the police commissioner for a few seconds. "My security captain John found out that her jet had arrived in Port Charles."

"You should have left her to me, Stefan."

"If this had concerned your children, would you have?"

Mac had to admit that Stefan had a point. He had been watching their reactions closely the entire time they had been waiting for Tony, trying to gauge what might be have been going through their minds. Given Helena’s relationship with the two people before him, he hadn’t expected them to be overly upset by what had happened to her, and their behavior seemed to indicate as much. It was obvious that they were more concerned about the fate of Nikolas and Lesley Lu, and he didn’t blame them for that. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with the disappearance of Maxie and Georgie. But he was still somewhat pissed at them for interfering with his investigation, no matter how distressed they were. Especially since they seemed no closer to actually knowing where Lesley Lu and Nikolas actually were.

"Look, Stefan, Laura, I understand your feelings, but—."

Before Mac could finish what he was saying, John came running up to them, despite shouts from several nurses to walk. "Sir, they’ve found the compound."

Laura clutched Stefan’s arm, almost afraid to accept what she had just heard for fear that it might be a trick or a mistake.

"Where?" he asked.

"Thirty miles northwest of Winnipeg."

"Instruct your company to assemble in Winnipeg; we’ll be up as soon as possible to join them. Then make sure the jet is ready to go."

Mac couldn’t believe this. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that you’ve found Faison’s compound?" he asked while Stefan was giving John his instructions. Though the other man didn’t respond, he knew the answer. "You can’t be seriously considering going up there. Isn’t it better to call the Canadian police?"

"And have them do what?" Stefan inquired, his tone calm but firm. "Commissioner, you know what this man is capable of; he killed your brother and sister-in-law. You know that police have been ineffective in the past when dealing with Faison. Do you think it could possibly be any different now?"

"And you think that you’re going to be able to do what the police haven’t?"

"I’d say we definitely stand a better chance."

"We’re going to get our children back, Mac," Laura said. "No matter what it takes."

Staring at them, Mac knew that nothing he could say was going to make them change their minds. The policeman side of himself wanted to stop them, but the other side, the side that cried for revenge against Faison for everything that he had done to his family, knew that they had to go. "All right. But I’m going with you."

Stefan shook his head. "Commissioner, I don’t think that’s wise."

"Look, this isn’t a request. Either you can take me with you, or I’ll have you thrown in jail."

"On what charge?" Laura demanded.

"Interfering with a police investigation for one. I’m sure that I can come up with a few more."

For a few moments, Stefan and Mac glared at each other in a virtual staredown, Stefan seeing the seriousness of his threat in the other man’s eyes. Mac wasn’t going to back down, and they were wasting precious time standing there, arguing. Well, he certainly had to give Mac credit for his tenaciousness. "All right, Commissioner. You leave me no choice. As long as you make sure that my mother’s servant Ari is kept out of the way and that all this – including the arrest of Scott Martin – is kept out of the news until at least tomorrow morning."

"Deal."

It was the middle of the night when Stefan, Laura, Mac and John rendezvoused with John’s security detail in a secluded spot outside Winnipeg, where they were preparing for the compound incursion. There, among the tranquility of the trees, men and women in flak jackets were checking weapons and ammunition while at the back of an unmarked van, the reconnaissance party, lead by John’s second, Venus Ardanowski, stood over a map. As he followed the other three from the car, Mac shrugged deeper into his jacket against the chilly air. Stefan, however, appeared to take no notice of the cold.

"Report," he said when they reached V and the other members of the reconnaissance group.

"The compound is located in a valley about five miles from here in that direction," V responded, pointing to north. Then she began referring to the map, showing them the compound’s location and where they were in relation. "The guard is minimal, but the compound is surrounded by a electrically fortified fence, and there’s only one gate, which can only be accessed by a gravel road. The surrounding area is heavily forested. However, we’ve found that there are several tunnels in the area to drain off water to keep the valley from flooding during storms and snow melts. One of them is connected to a drain within the compound courtyard and dumps into Lake Manitoba just beyond those trees.

"That tunnel is our best bet for broaching the compound perimeter undetected. While the main incursion group enters to rescue the children, a secondary group will wait with the van. Someone from the main group will have to shut off the compound’s electrical system, which is maintained by a generator. This will allow the secondary group to enter through the gate to provide back-up if needed and quick escape."

"All right," Stefan said. "We’ll leave in ten minutes." As they broke up to finish the incursion preparations, he took his wife’s arm and led her aside. "Laura, you should stay with the van—."

"The hell I am," she shot back. "Stefan, I know you want to protect me, but there’s no way I’m staying here while you go in to rescue our children. I’m going with you."

He knew better than to argue with her, especially now. "Fine, you’ll come with us." Putting a hand to her cheek, he leaned in to kiss her. "We’re not leaving without them, Lasha. I promise."

* * * * *

The tunnel, which was just large enough to let the tallest of the group walk upright, was damp, but other than that, there was no water to impeded their progress, so the main group made its way toward the compound fairly quickly. Shining flashlights, John and V lead the way, followed by Stefan and Laura, then Mac, with the other eight members of security force bringing up the rear. In addition to the lanterns, Stefan, Laura and Mac each had a firearm for protection while the others carried assault rifles.

Mac couldn’t believe they were doing this. He was a police commissioner, for crying out loud. But this was Faison they were dealing with, and there was no way he was going to let Stefan and Laura leave him behind when he had a lot to make that man answer for. Some way, somehow, Faison was going to pay for what he had done to Mac’s family, for what he had done to Stefan and Laura.

Meanwhile, Laura tried to keep her mind focused on what they were doing. She had been caught in life and death situations with Luke often enough to know that letting her mind wonder could lead to problems, both for herself and other people in the group. For right now, she couldn’t think about Lesley Lu or Nikolas. That would come later, once they had achieved what they had set out to do.

After they had walked for what seemed like hours, they stopped below a drain grating directly above their heads. Putting her hand to her lips to tell them to remain silent, V then pointed up at the hatch. They had reached the compound. John and another one of the men boosted V up to the grating, holding her while she pushed it up and aside. After checking outside, she ducked her head back down to look at the group below her.

"The courtyard is clear. There’s one entrance into the building to the east. I can see the generator shed to the northwest."

"All right," Stefan said. "Team one will go up first. Once you’ve cut the generator, the rest of us will come up, and we’ll search the compound."

Slinging her assault rifle across her back to keep it out of the way, V grabbed the edges of the drain and hoisted herself out into the courtyard. A few moments later, one of the men joined her, and they quickly made their way to the generator shed. While they set about breaking the lock and shutting down the power, the other waited on apprehensively, knowing that the longer this took, the more chance they had of being caught.

Finally, the signal came – two short high-pitched whistles followed by a long one.

* * * * *

Unable to sleep, Faison wondered through the compound. He hadn’t heard anything from Helena since she had left to return to Port Charles, but he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. There had been times in the last few months when he had gone a week or more without hearing from her.

As usual, he found himself outside her room. Keying the lock code, he walked in quietly despite the fact that he knew she was sedated tonight. Once inside, he stood there for a few moments, just watching her sleep, her long, dark-brown hair spread out around her on the pillow, the moonlight spilling in through the window illuminating her pale skin. Helena didn’t know that she was here; to keep her hidden, he housed her in the south wing while Laura Spencer’s children were kept in the north wing. She was his secret, the one he could never let go.

"Ah, mi amore," he whispered.

Suddenly, the door slid open on its own accord, startling Faison. That only happened when the generator stopped producing power, as a safety precaution to keep people from being caught without an escape in an emergency. Looking out into the hall, he saw that the lights had also gone off. The power was indeed out, and that shouldn’t have happened because he had just had it checked a few days before. Which could only mean . . .

That someone was on the premises.

* * * * *

With Stefan’s and John’s help, Laura swung out of the tunnel and into the courtyard above, glad to be out of the cramped, enclosed conditions of the underground passage. As Mac clambered up followed by the other security personnel, she had a chance to take a quick look around the compound. The building was a one-story stone and metal building consisting of three wings, surrounded by a heavy-duty fence and thick forests, just like V had reported earlier. Though the east and south wings of the building had windows, there were none in the north wing. If Laura were to bet where her children were being held, it would be there.

After everyone had climbed out of the tunnel, they immediately headed toward the building, weapons trained in case anything happened. Just as they reached the stairs, five guards came out shooting, causing the group to duck and scatter. Two of the men were hit, but they were only winded, the flack jackets they wore protecting them from injury. V, John and the others immediately opened fire with their assault rifles, taking the guards out in just a few seconds. They all stayed where they were to make sure that no one else came then moved into the building.

* * * * *

A loud rapid-fire popping sound, like someone had jumped on a sheet of heavy-duty, super-duper bubble wrap similar to what her mommy used to protect things when they moved into Poppa Stefan’s house, woke Lesley Lu up. The sound scared her because she didn’t like this place. She knew the people who ran it were bad. A sound like that here couldn’t be good.

Sitting up, clutching her blanket to her, the little girl looked fearfully to the door, only to be surprised to find it open. Had someone forgotten to close it? Her mommy always got mad when people left the door open, especially this time of year.

But this was the first time since she had been brought here that the door had been left open without someone there to keep her inside. Sliding off the bed, she crept over to the door, trying to keep quiet because she didn’t want to attract the attention of that scary-looking man with the long hair. When she saw that there was no one around, despite the darkness in the corridor, she started running.

* * * * *

Once inside the building, the group split up, Stefan and Laura taking John and four others toward the north wing while Mac headed south with V and the rest of the group. It looked like Faison hadn’t expected anyone to try something like this as they hadn’t run into anymore sentries – V had been right about the minimal guard.

However, as Stefan and Laura’s group entered the north wing, they saw a shape moving in the darkness. Everyone swung their lights over as the figure began cowering against the wall, a whimper echoing in the silence.

"Lesley Lu!" Laura cried.

"Mommy!" she cried in a raspy voice.

Running over to her, she picked up her daughter, holding her close to her. A moment later, Stefan was there, relieved to see his little girl was safe.

"Someone take her out to the van," he said. "It should be here."

"Right away," answered one of the women. She gently took Lesley Lu from Laura, who didn’t want to let her go at first but knew it would be better to get her out of there.

"All right, objective one achieved," John whispered as the woman and Lu left. "We’re still searching for objective two. Everyone, spread out and search all the rooms in this wing."

* * * * *

His flashlight trained in front of them so they could see where they were going, Mac followed V down the corridor toward the south wing while the others in the group split off to search rooms along the way. He just knew that Faison was here somewhere, and he was itching to get his hands around the man’s neck, just as he had dreamed so often since his brother had died.

Suddenly V pushed Mac up against the wall and pushed his light down, whispering in his ear, "Someone’s coming." Straining his ears, he could hear footsteps and a muttering voice coming from around the corner.

"It’s all right, my darling. Just come with me."

"One of them is wearing shoes; the other is barefoot," V noted. "When they round that corner, I want you to shine your light on them."

Nodding, Mac readied himself, positioning his flashlight and making sure his gun was cocked. It was Faison; he would have known that voice anywhere. Within a few moments, two figures rounded the corner, and immediately Mac brought his light up to capture them in its bright glare, surprising both of them and causing them to recoil slightly. Sure enough, there was Faison, wearing a jacket, his long hair tied back. But he wasn’t prepared for the person standing next to him, her long mussed hair down around her shoulders, her lithe body clad in a floor-length nightgown. Her brown eyes looked slightly dead, as though she didn’t really understand what was going on.

"Anna!" Mac cried out. He couldn’t believe it. Anna was alive! "Oh, my God, Anna."

Faison knew from the voice that the intruder was Robert Scorpio’s younger brother even though he couldn’t see him. He thought quickly, grabbing Anna and holding her as if he had a gun. "Don’t come any closer."

"Don’t shoot. That’s my sister-in-law," Mac told V. "Let her go, Faison."

"If you make a move, I will kill her."

"You’re outnumbered, Faison," Mac informed him. "Your guards are dead, and there are eleven other people searching this compound – all armed. Admit it, you’re finally beaten."

"I admit nothing." Kissing Anna’s hair, Faison whispered, "We’ll be together again, my darling." Then abruptly, he shoved her at them, causing Mac to drop the light in his attempt to catch her and to fall into V. The entire corridor plunged into darkness.

Cursing, V fumbled for her own light, but by the time she got it turned on, Faison was gone.

Mac held Anna in his arms, staring down the corridor. Faison had gotten away from him again. "One day, Faison. One day."

* * * * *

"We’ve found Nikolas."

"Nikolas?" Laura asked. "Where?"

"The second room down. It looks like he’s been drugged," John reported. "I’m not sure with what. Probably a sedative."

Stefan was relieved to hear that they had found his son. "Is he going to be all right?"

"We’ll know for certain once we get him to a hospital in Winnipeg."

"John," V called, entering the wing while one of the team carried Nikolas out to the van.

"Report."

"South wing is secured. Unfortunately, Faison’s escaped, but we found two other women and the body of a third. The younger of the two living women claims she was brought in as a governess for Lesley Lu. The other woman Scorpio says is his sister-in-law. I think her name is Anna."

This news overshadowed the fact that they had lost the man responsible for the abductions. "Anna? She’s alive?" Laura asked in surprise.

"Yes, apparently so, Mrs. Cassadine. Scorpio’s gone out to the van with her."

"Good," Stefan said. He was upset that Faison had slipped through their fingers, but it wasn’t overly surprising given that the man had spent years evading police. "When you get out to the van, make sure that a bulletin goes out on Cesar Faison. I’m authorizing a bounty on his head for his capture."

"Yes, Sir." With that, V turned and headed back toward the east wing.

"Is the rest of this wing secured?"

"Sir!" a voice came from down the corridor. "There’s someone else here!"

"What?" John said. "Who?" Shining his light down the corridor, he illumined the last two people from their team. Between them, they were supporting a third person. A young blond-haired man, who looked dazed.

"Lucky!" Laura gasped in disbelief, feeling as though she would faint had Stefan not grabbed her.

Her son was alive!

It seemed almost surreal. Less than six hours before, Laura had been holding onto the slim hope of retrieving two of her children from the clutches of Faison. Now, incredibly, she had all three of her children back. Looking down at Lesley Lu, who slept now with her head in Laura’s lap while they sat in the waiting room of a Winnipeg hospital, she had to fight to keep back tears. "I don’t understand," she said to Stefan, her voice quiet so as not to bother Lesley Lu or Mac, who was staring out in the direction the doctors had taken Anna, Lucky and Nikolas. "Why did Helena and Faison kidnap Lucky? Why did they make it look like he had died in a fire?"

Next to her, her husband reached over to stroke the little girl’s head. "I’m don’t know. John has sent V and the others to search through the compound more thoroughly. Hopefully, they’ll find something that will give us a clue as to why."

A few moments later, one of the doctors came into the waiting room. "Mr. and Mrs. Cassadine, Mr. Scorpio."

Stefan and Mac jumped to their feet while Laura carefully moved Lesley Lu off her lap before joining the three men near the door.

"What’s happening, Doctor?" Mac asked. "How’s Anna?"

"She’s fine, for the most part. The only drug found in her system was a mild sleeping sedative, which accounts for her dazed state, but that should wear off completely within the next few hours."

"When can I see her? Take her home?"

"You can see her immediately. As for taking her home, we’ll release her to you in a few hours, once we’ve made sure that the sedative has completely worn off as we expected."

"What about Nikolas and Lucky?" Stefan asked.

"Nikolas is going to be fine in a few days. He was drugged with a stronger sedative that he has apparently had a rather bad reaction to; however, we’ve begun flushing the drug from his system. After that he’ll need time to recover."

"How long will you need to keep him here?"

"Well, flushing his system will take until this evening. After that, we’d like him to stay under medical observation for several days."

"Could we transfer him to Port Charles General Hospital for that?" Laura asked. "We’d like to get him home as soon as possible."

The doctor considered the request for a few moments. "I wouldn’t recommend it, but if your doctor agrees to come up and accompany you back to Port Charles, we’d be willing to allow it."

"Tony will do it. How about Lucky?"

"That’s quite a different matter," the doctor admitted with a sigh. "As it is, I don’t think there’s anything we can do. He’s generally unresponsive; it’s almost as though he’s withdrawn in himself. You said earlier that he was held captive for more than seven months. It’s quite possible that this is a coping mechanism he’s put into place to deal with whatever torment he may have faced from his captors."

Laura felt tears stinging her eyes as Stefan reached out to put his arms around her shoulders. "Will he every come out of it?" she asked, her tone almost pleading

"I don’t know, Mrs. Cassadine. I’m not qualified to deal with problems like these. I’d suggest finding a qualified psychiatrist to help him once you return home."

"Can I see my sons?"

"Of course."

* * * * *

Anna Devane-Scorpio knew something was different as she became aware of her surroundings. She was no longer in the room at the compound, the one that Faison had been keeping her in during the last several months. This room was different – the walls were white, not pale blue, and the bed sheets were scratchy cotton as opposed to the satin and silks Faison had provided. She suddenly realized it was a hospital room. What was she doing in the hospital?

Then she noticed someone sitting at her side, his brown curly hair in somewhat of a disarray. "Mac?" she whispered in disbelief.

"Anna." She recognized him! That was a good sign. Mac had feared that Faison had done something to her in the time she had been his captive. "I’m so glad you’re all right."

"What’s going on? How did I—? What are you—?"

Placing a hand over hers, Mac explained to her what had happened.

* * * * *

"Nikolas," Laura said, leaning over the bed where her son lay, stroking his face. "Nikolas, can you hear me?"

Her son’s eyes fluttered open, taking in the sight of his parents standing over him. "Mom . . . ? Dad . . . ?" he said thickly. "Wha—?"

"It’s all right, Son," Stefan said. "You’re safe now."

"Wha—what happened?"

"You don’t remember?"

Looking up at the ceiling, he concentrated on his last memories. "I . . . was leaving class . . . and then . . ." The memory came back to him. "A couple of guys came up on me. One of them . . . he injected something into me. When I woke up, Helena was there. Said I had been sick and collapsed outside of class. I don’t remember much after that."

"I wouldn’t think you would," Laura told him. "Helena and Faison drugged you the entire time you were captive."

"Captive?"

"We’ll explain it all later, Nikolas," Stefan assured him. "For now, you should rest. We’ll be taking you home to Port Charles soon."

Nodding, Nikolas closed his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep. Stefan and Laura sat at his bedside for a few minutes longer.

"I want to see Lucky now," Laura whispered after kissing Nikolas’ forehead.

Just as they were about to enter the room, John appeared at the end of the corridor, motioning for Stefan to join him. "Go on in," Stefan told Laura. "I’ll be back in a minute."

Nodding, she watched as he walked down the hall to join John then turned back to the door, taking a deep breath before pushing it open and entering. She almost cried upon seeing Lucky sitting on the bed, staring off into space, muttering to himself. Her prayers of seven months had finally been answered, but at what cost? Her son was thin and gaunt, his face pale, his unfocused eyes sunken. Would Lucky ever come out of this waking come he seemed to be in? Would she ever get her little boy back?

Walking over the chair beside the bed, she drew it closer and sat down before reaching up to take his hands, which remained limp. "Lucky . . . it’s Mom. I’m here, sweetheart. We’re going to take you home. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. If I had known that you were alive, I would have done anything to save you before this. I hope you’ll come back to us." She stroked his hair lovingly, wanting desperately to hold him like she had when he was a child. "Please come back to us."

Meanwhile, in the corridor, John reported to Stefan, "V’s group has finished the second sweep on the compound. There’s no sign of Faison. It’s possible that he used the water tunnel to escape. However, they found some items that might be of interest – a locked chest, which has been taken under guard to the jet for you to open and inspect later, and this." He handed Stefan what appeared to be a journal.

"Thank you, John."

As he returned to Lucky’s room, Stefan opened the book to find it contained handwritten entries, all in a controlled script. Immediately, he could tell that this had been written by Faison and, curious, began to skim the passages, stopping in front of the door as he read. The first entry was dated the day Lucky’s memorial service had been held in Port Charles, and Faison detailed the plans that he had for the young Spencer boy.

Horrified, he stopped and looked through the window where Laura was sitting with him.

How could they?

* * * * *

Sunlight streamed into the room, shining on Alexis and waking her up from her sleep. Opening her eyes, she turned over to reach out for the other side of the bed only to find it empty. Wondering where Jax had gone to, she sat up, just in time to see him coming into the room with a breakfast tray, from which the wonderful smell of fresh coffee and hot bagels wafted toward her.

"Good morning," he greeted, leaning down to kiss her.

"Morning," she responded once he had pulled away and began to set up the tray up in front of her. "What’s this?"

"Sort of a celebratory breakfast – to commemorate our first real morning together as husband and wife." Sitting down beside her on the bed, he picked up one of the bagel halves and spread some strawberry cream cheese onto it.

Blushing slighty, she looked down at the duvet that covered Jax’s bed, thinking of the conversation with Ned and Chloe that had go on until the earlier hours of the morning the day before. "It still seems a little amazing that this has happened . . . I mean, I knew that Ned and Chloe were getting closer. Who wouldn’t with all the time they were spending together. Look at us . . . But, I never expected this. I’m happy and all; it’s just—."

"Alexis," he finally interrupted, tilting her head up to look at him.

"What?"

"You’re babbling." With a smile, he feed her a piece of the bagel and then kissed her again.

"Hmmm," she sighed contentedly before picking up one of the mugs of coffee. "Any news on Lesley Lu?"

"I don’t know. I haven’t had the morning news on yet. If you’d like . . ." He gestured to the television set that sat in the corner.

"Please."

Grabbing the remote control from the nightstand next to the bed, Jax switched on the television and flipped through the channels until he found a news program that had just started a few moments before. As the anchor moved on to the next story, two pictures of Nikolas – one a shot from Stefan and Laura’s wedding and one an arrest picture – flashed up on the screen above her right shoulder.

"Oh, my God," Alexis breathed, leaning forward to listen.

* * * * *

"Brainwashed?" repeated Kevin Collins, who had flown up to Winnipeg that morning with Tony Jones and Amy Vining. It had been shocking, to say the least, to learn that Lucky Spencer was still alive, and now he stood out in the hallway in front of Lucky’s room with Stefan and Laura, trying to get a handle on this extraordinary situation.

"Yes, Doctor," Stefan responded, holding out Faison’s journal. "According to this, Faison was working with my mother to perfect a brainwashing technique. They wanted a guinea pig . . ." At this, he looked over at his wife, who was listening in silence. Laura had gotten to the point where she was simply taking every new revelation of what Helena had been trying to do to her and her family with stoicism. She knew that Helena was paying for what she had done. Now, instead of wasting her emotions on that witch, she was trying to focus herself on rebuilding her family. "They decided to take Lucky. Apparently, once they were done and sure it worked, Faison planned to use it on Anna Scorpio while Helena planned to use it on Nikolas to take control of him and the Cassadine empire."

"But as I understand, Nikolas isn’t the prince. How could she use him to control the empire?"

"She tried to make us think that he was Stavros’ son by faking some medical documents and having someone impersonate Nikolas," Laura answered.

Kevin shook his head. The Cassadine family seemed as screwed up as his own. "All right," he said, flipping open the journal. "Does this say what they did to him? It may help me with the deprogramming."

"Faison wrote that he drugged Lucky’s food with small quantities of a mind-altering drug every day, which left him open to hypnosis and suggestion," Stefan explained. "It took longer than he expected because Lucky was quite resistant."

"I’m going to have to read through this thoroughly before I can even begin to help him. And, Laura, you’re probably not going to like this, but I would suggest that once we return to Port Charles, Lucky be committed to General Hospital’s psychiatric ward for the time being."

"But I just got him back," she protested. "Is that necessary?"

"I think so. Brainwashing is very nasty business, and I don’t know how far Faison or Helena may have taken him. There may be a trigger word that could set him off, that if one of you accidentally says, it could make him violent. For his safety and yours, he needs to be in controlled environment until I can be sure that he doesn’t pose a threat to you or himself." Kevin reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "Laura, I know this is hard, but I wouldn’t be suggesting it if I didn’t think it was important."

Glancing through the window at Lucky, she knew that what he was saying made sense. She wanted her son back, but it was going to take time. "Can I visit him?"

"Of course."

"All right," she agreed, reaching over and taking Stefan’s hand. "Just help my son."

The Port Charles Police Department was bustling when Laura walked in. Walking back toward Mac’s office, she had to dodge of couple of officers who went running through. Glad to reach the office door unscathed, she knocked.

"Come in!" As she opened the door, he looked up from the paperwork on his desk. "Laura!"

"Hi, Mac. How’s Anna?"

"Adjusting. It’s somewhat of a shock to be back home after spending so long as Faison’s prisoner, I think. So much has happened while she was gone – she can’t believe that Felicia and I are married." He laughed gently and shook his head. "The good news is that Robin is flying home to be with her. She should be back this afternoon. I’d be home right now except I had to come in to file a report on what happened with the kidnapping."

Laura knew from his look that he was having to do some judicious editing of what had really happened. "Robin must be thrilled to have her mother back."

"Yeah. She practically jumped the first plane to Port Charles. How are your kids, by the way?"

"Lesley Lu is fine, eating up all the attention she’s been getting. She’s home with Stefan at the moment. And Nikolas is still in the hospital. We’re going to see him later today." Running her hand through her hair, she paused for a moment before continuing, "As for Lucky, he’s the same. Kevin says it’s going to take a while to bring him back from wherever he is in his mind. Liz is coming up to see him, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. We’re taking it one day at a time with him."

"That’s probably best," he agreed. "Anyway, what brings you here? I’m sure you didn’t come by just to ask about Anna."

She nodded – he was right. "I actually wanted to know if I could see Luke."

Picking up the phone, he called down to the detention center. "Hey, could you have someone get Luke Spencer out of lock-up and take him to the visitor area? Someone’s here to see him." He paused for a moment. "All right. We’ll be right down."

"Thanks . . . I have some stuff to tell him."

"I can imagine," he remarked as he came out from behind his desk and crossed to the door. Holding it open, he allowed her to exit first then followed. "You might be interested in knowing that your mother decided to plea bargain. Since Lesley wasn’t the one who actually took your daughter from school, Dara just agreed to five years probation on kidnapping conspiracy charges in exchange for her testifying at Luke’s trial. She’s going to be released tomorrow after her hearing in front of the judge."

Stunned, Laura didn’t know what to say. She never imagined her mother turning against Luke for anything, especially not after the impassioned defense she had given in the interrogation room the night Lesley Lu had been taken by Faison’s men. It seemed that the prospect of jail time could bring out self-preservation in anyone.

"Laura?"

"I’m sorry, Mac. I just don’t know what to say. After what my mom did . . ."

"I understand. I just thought you might like to know. Between the kidnapping charge, the papers you and Stefan gave us and the stuff my people found at his club, Luke’s going to be facing a long jail term."

By this time, they had reached the detention center, where Mac signed them in and Laura received her visitor’s pass. One of the guards took them back to the visitor’s room, which contained booths with clear partitions, giving a view into the prisoner’s room. Luke was already there, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and sitting in the very center booth, his face practically inscrutable when he saw that it was Laura who was here to see him. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself then, leaving Mac to stand by the door, walked over to the booth, sat down and picked up the phone that would transmit their conversation through the thick plastic barrier between them.

"Is it true?" Luke asked, skipping the greeting. "Is Lucky alive? I heard something about it on the television in the detention recreation room."

Laura nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "Yes. He’s alive. Helena and Cesar Faison – your Herr Krieg – faked his death. They were holding him in a compound outside Winnipeg."

"Why did they take him?"

"They—they took him to test a brainwashing technique that they wanted to use on some other people . . . and to hurt us."

His eyes narrowing, Luke swore under his breath. "Damn them! He is okay, isn’t he?" For a moment, she didn’t answer. "Laura, our son is going to be all right?"

"We . . . we don’t know yet." Swallowing hard, she explained Lucky’s condition to him and what was being done to help him.

"Wait a minute – you’re telling me Psycho Doc is treating my son? No way, Laura!"

"Luke, this is the only chance Lucky has of returning to normal. We did what we thought was right."

"You mean Count Vlad had a say in this?"

"Stop it, Luke. I did what I thought was right." She shook her head, hating the way Luke was acting. "Aren’t you even going to ask about Lesley Lu?"

"How is she?"

"Fine . . . now. It doesn’t look like she’s going to have any lingering problems. Apparently, they treated her fairly well, which is more than I can say for their treatment of Lucky or Nikolas."

"Where is she?"

"Back at Wyndemere with Stefan." Suddenly unable to meet his eyes, she bent her head to stare down at her free hand, which was tightly grasping the ledge in front of her. How was she going to explain to them about Lesley Lu’s paternity?

"Saved her from one set of vipers only to leave her to another."

"Luke!"

"Mark my words, Laura. If you let Steffin have anything to do with Lulu’s life, he’ll corrupt her, just like he corrupted that so-called son of yours. He’ll destroy her."

"Stefan loves Lesley Lu!"

"Count Vlad doesn’t know how to love. You know, he was probably in on this whole thing with Mommy Dearest."

"He wasn’t. Luke, he was just as distraught by Lesley Lu’s kidnapping . . ."

"Why should he care?"

"Because he’s Lesley Lu’s father!" Immediately realizing what she had done, Laura gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn’t meant to tell him that way.

Luke’s eyes darkened. "What do you mean by that?"

Sighing, she dropped her hand back down. "I mean that Stefan is Lesley Lu’s biological father."

"You had an affair with him?" He couldn’t believe this – had she lied to him about having not seen Stefan since she had left the island as well? Was there no end to her deceptions? Had he ever really known the real Laura? His face twisted into a mask of disgust and loathing. "You’re nothing more than a Cassadine whore!"

"How dare you!" she seethed. "I never . . . knowingly betrayed our wedding vows. Luke, when we were searching for Lesley Lu, we found some of Helena’s papers. One of them . . . gave details on something Helena did to the three of us – you, me and Stefan." She then went on to explain everything that they had learned. When she had done, she stared at him intently, waiting for a reaction, any reaction.

For a few moments he just sat there, returning her gaze. If this was a joke, this was a very cruel joke. "That’s the best story you’ve concocted yet. You’ve really learned from all your cover-ups."

Laura felt as though she would have punched him had the partition not been separating them. "I didn’t make this up! Luke, the dates and events in the documents all coincide . . . and . . . did you ever stop to think why in all the years after Lucky was born, we never conceived another child, yet right after we returned to Port Charles, I became pregnant with Lu?"

Though a part of him knew that she had a point, his pride and ego weren’t about to let him admit it. "I am not sterile!"

"Luke . . . !"

"Have you had a DNA test run?"

"Not yet—."

"Run one. I’ll provide a blood sample, a sperm sample even, if nothing else than to prove to you that this whole thing is a complete joke and that once again, you’ve let yourself fall victim to Cassadines and their schemes. Steffin is using you, Doll, and you’ll come crawling back when you finally figure that out."

"In your dreams. You may not believe this, Luke," Laura said, standing up, "but I do. Stefan is her father and wants to acknowledge her. She was only your daughter when it was convenient for you. You used her for your own selfish means. Stefan loves her unconditionally, and that’s the kind of love she deserves. He also loves me for who I am, not what he thinks I am, and that’s the kind of love that I deserve. Goodbye, Luke." She slammed the phone onto its hook with such ferocious fervor that Luke dropped his in astonishment.

With that, she left, never wanting to see Luke Spencer again as long as she lived.

* * * * *

"When do I get to leave this place?" Nikolas asked, gesturing around his room in General Hospital. "I’m feeling better."

"As soon as Tony says you can," Laura informed her son. "You had a very bad reaction to those sedatives, and we don’t want you suffering a relapse. Although when you do get out, you’re coming to Wyndemere to stay with us for a while."

"Dad . . ." he started to say.

Amused by his son’s persistence, Stefan shook his head. "You heard your mother."

Sighing, he laid back. He knew that his parents and Dr. Jones were just worried about his health, but it was a pain, being cooped up.

"Did I hear that someone wants to leave?" Tony asked as he walked into the room.

Nikolas nodded. "Please."

"Well, I have some good news. Your last blood test came back clean, and since you haven’t had any further complications, you can leave this afternoon."

"Thank God!"

Laughing, Laura patted her son’s hand. "That’s good to hear."

"Have the new DNA tests come back?" Stefan asked.

"Yes. Dr. Fenmore called to say he was on his way up with the results." Then Tony paused momentarily. "Also, Stefan, I have the results on the tests I ran on your mother."

Stefan glanced over at Laura. "And?"

"The toxicology screen came back completely clean. Whatever led to Helena’s condition, it doesn’t seem to be any sort of poison. I can’t find any sign that clearly points to a stroke either, but that seems to be the only possibility left." Tony sighed – he hated it when he couldn’t figure out what caused ailments in patients, even if it was someone like Helena Cassadine. "There doesn’t seem to be an indication that her condition will ever change either. I’d say your only options are either hire a private nurse to take care of her or put her in a home. I’m sorry."

"Thank you, Doctor. After Fenmore delivers his results to us, I’d like to see her."

"Of course. I’ll be down at the nurse’s station. Just come find me."

As Tony turned to leave the room, he stepped aside to allow Dr. Fenmore to enter. The DNA specialist held several pieces of paper.

"Doctor Fenmore," Stefan greeted.

"Mr. Cassadine, Mrs. Cassadine, Nikolas. I have the results."

"Did Stefan father Lesley Lu and Nikolas?" Laura asked before he could say anything more.

"Based on my findings, yes, Stefan is the father of both Lesley Lu and Nikolas." As Stefan and Laura squeezed each other’s hand in relief, Fenmore placed the papers on the table that swung out over Nikolas’ bed. On the first one, there were several bands running down the page, like bar codes. Each bar was labeled with the name of the corresponding person. "Let me explain this to you. I ran the specimens from you three, Lesley Lu and Luke Spencer through the analysis process and used Laura’s markers as a benchmark. As you can see, you share certain markers with both Lesley Lu and Nikolas – there’s no doubt you’re their mother." He then pointed to the second page for a moment. "However, if you look at the analysis from the young man who claimed to be Nikolas, you can see that there are no shared markers. There was no way he was even related to you, Laura, much less Stefan."

Returning to the first page, he ran a finger along the farthest left bar. "Now, I could immediately discount Mr. Spencer in considering Lesley Lu’s paternity. Not only is he sterile as you suspected, but none of his markers match Lesley Lu; however, if you look at Stefan’s line, he shares certain markers with each of the children. And both children share the markers with each other both maternally and paternally, which makes them full siblings. If they were half siblings as originally thought, they would have markers in common only through Laura, not both of you. So, based on this and the blood type comparisons, the certainty of Stefan’s paternity is ninety-eight point ninety-nine percent."

"So that’s why I was a match for Lu when she was sick and Lucky wasn’t," Nikolas commented. "I always thought it was strange for a half sibling to be a better match than a full sibling."

"You’re going to need these papers if you plan to file for a change in Lesley Lu’s birth certificate," Fenmore said, pushing the papers toward Stefan. "And I’ll make sure that Mr. Spencer gets a copy of the results."

"Thank you," Laura said..

"Congratulations."

Once he was gone, the three of them looked at each other.

"So that’s it," Nikolas said. "There’s no more question. I’m your son."

"Yes," Stefan said. "However, no matter what those papers had said, there never would have been any question for me. You were always my son."

"But it’s nice to know that it’s biologically true."

"Yes," he agreed. "Yes, it is."

* * * * *

Standing at the foot of the hospital bed, Alexis couldn’t help but stare. Until this moment, she hadn’t actually believed it even though she and Jax had heard it reported on the news, along with the arrest of the actor impersonating Nikolas. Helena was truly paralyzed, unable to move anything except her eyes.

"The impossible has finally happened," she said. "The great Helena Cassadine has finally been felled." Walking over the seat next to the bed, she sat down, taking no notice of the fire burning in the other woman’s eyes. "You know, when I was younger, there was no one I feared more in the world than you. Stavros . . . he was just a bully. But you . . . oh, you were the most evil person I had ever met because you treated me like trash and picked on me, and I never knew why. I never understood what I might have done to rate such treatment. Although I know now."

Stefan had just reached the room and was about to enter when he heard his sister’s voice within, talking to Helena. Wondering what she was saying, he quietly stood outside to eavesdrop on the rest of Alexis’ monologue.

"But you want to know the thing that gets me . . . the thing that grieves me more than any punishment you ever inflicted on me?" she continued. "It’s that so many times, I’ve foolishly let you use me to hurt Stefan. He was the only person that really cared for me on that damned island, and I’ve paid him back by betraying him time and again because of you and your traps. Like those paternity documents and that actor. I should have known—should have known those papers were fakes. Stefan was right – you would never have doctored results against Stavros. But I let myself be blinded. I just hope that Stefan can forgive me."

She rose from the chair and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "And I hope that you live a very, very long time like this. Enjoy your new life, Helena. You deserve every moment of it."

Walking out of the room, Alexis was surprised to find her brother standing there. They paused for a few moments and just stared at each other until she finally said, "How long have you been standing here."

"Long enough," he answered, his tone making it perfectly clear that he had been listening.

"So . . . can you forgive me, Stefan? I don’t know what it is that causes me to keep falling into her traps, but I’m sorry. I really thought I was doing the right thing."

"I know you did, Little Dove." Reaching out, he touched his sister’s face. "Helena was nothing if manipulative. However, the truth has finally been discovered. There is no question that Nikolas is my son. And we’ve learned that Lesley Lu is my daughter, also thanks to Helena’s tricks. But our family is free of her now, and we shall start anew. All of us."

Nodding, she hugged him tightly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. When they stepped back from one another, she said, "I have to go now. Jax is waiting for me downstairs."

"Just how long is this charade of yours going to go on anyway?"

"It’s already over. Ned and Chloe have decided they want to stay together, and Jax and I . . . we want the same thing. I don’t know how to explain what happened, but . . ." Trailing off, she shrugged, the lawyer actually finding herself incapable of putting it into words.

Stefan shook his head in amazement. "So this means I have to put up with Mr. Jacks as a brother-in-law, does it?"

"Fair trade since I get Laura as a sister-in-law."

"One of these days, you will come to realize what a wonderful woman Laura really is."

"And you’ll come to like Jax, I’m sure."

As Alexis left, Stefan watched after her until she had disappeared at the end of the corridor then entered Helena’s room, the door swinging shut behind him. The sight of his mother lying so still among the machines monitoring her lifesigns and providing her with the nutrition to keep her alive was somewhat disconcerting. Never in his life had he seen her looking so helpless. It would have been so easy to take one of the pillows and smother her, but he was not an assassin. He was not anything like his mother or his brother. He had finally freed the Cassadines of the curse that had plagued them, and he was not going to destroy everything by murdering in cold blood.

"Hello, Mother," he said in his gentle, low voice. "I just talked to Doctor Jones, and he says that he can’t figure out what happened to you. But he’s fairly certain the condition is permanent. You’re going to remain paralyzed for the rest of your life."

First that little bastard Natasha, now her damned son. Helena wanted so badly to reach out and strangle Stefan for the way he talked to her, for everything he had done to her. But even as her mind screamed out, her body remained where it was, limp and useless. She had no doubt that he was responsible for this – this living prison. She should have killed him when she had had the chance. Silently, she cursed him.

She was still in there, he could see from the way her blue eyes flashed at him when he spoke to her. The thought of remaining in this condition for the rest of her life must have been pure torture to her. It took everything Stefan had to keep from cracking a smile. "When I was younger, I adored you, did you know that? All I ever wanted from you was your love and pride, like you gave to Stavros. But over and over again, all I received was your disdain and malice. I never understood why. What did I do to you, Mother, to deserve such hatred?"

You were born, she thought bitterly.

"I resigned myself a long time ago to the fact that you would never look kindly on me, no matter what I did, and I withstood your attempts to destroy me. But then you tried to hurt those I love more than anything in this world. You have abused Alexis and used her in your plots since she was a child. You tried to take Nikolas away from me, make him think he was something he’s not. And I know what you did to Laura, what you did to bring Lesley Lu into this world. Maybe I should be thankful – because of you, I have a daughter. But that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done to that sweet little girl, what you’ve done to all of us.

"Tomorrow, you’re being transferred to a long-term care facility. You’re finally going to pay for your crimes, and your punishment is a lifetime with your own thoughts." Leaning over, he planted a kiss on her forehead, the first time he had even been able to bestow such a token on her. After that brief moment, he straightened up and walked to the door.

"Goodbye, Mother."

With the truth finally sorted out, Stefan and Laura knew that they needed to tell Lesley Lu about her relationship to Stefan before he filed for her birth certificate to be amended. They didn’t want someone else to end up telling her and knew that the sooner they told her, the better. So after dinner, they sat down in the great room – all four of them, including Nikolas.

"Lesley Lu," Laura said, picking her up and sitting her in her lap. "We have something very important to tell you."

The little girl glanced between Stefan and Laura. "What? When is Lucky coming home?"

"We don’t know, Sweetie. As soon as he gets better."

"I hope that’s soon."

"We all do. But there’s something else that we have to tell you." Reaching over, she took Stefan’s hand. This was something good, but it was still so hard. "Stefan and I found out something earlier today. We found out that Stefan is your daddy. Your real daddy."

Lesley Lu’s eyes opened wide. "My real daddy? Like when Niky found out you were his daddy?"

"Yes, exactly like that," Stefan replied.

"What about . . . my other daddy?"

Sighing, Laura stroked her daughter’s hair with her free hand. This was the hardest part. "He’s going away, honey. He loved you very much, but he’s not going to be around anymore. I promise to explain more when you’re older."

At this, Stefan let go of Laura’s hand and took Lu’s. "Lesley Lu, you’re my daughter, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me to know that. I love you very much. And we’re going to let everyone know that. Where it says who your father is in your files, my name is going to be listed."

"Is my name going to change? My friend Carrie got a new daddy, and her name changed."

"Yes, your name will change, Sweetie," Laura told her. "Instead of Spencer, your last name will be Cassadine. The same as Stefan, Nikolas and me."

Her forehead wrinkled as though in thought for a moment, making her parents wonder what was going through her mind. Finally, she asked, "Can I change my whole name?"

"You mean you don’t want to be Lesley Lu?" Laura responded.

"Lesley Lu Cassadine sounds stupid."

"What would you want change it to?"

Suddenly, she became a little shy. "I . . . want Poppa Stefan to pick a name."

Surprised and pleased, Stefan looked over at Laura, not wanting to say anything unless it was all right with her. His wife smiled and nodded back. "Well, let’s see. One of the names some Greek parents give their daughters is Lisandra, and I like that name quite a lot. But you were given the name Lesley when you were born, and it would be a shame not to have at least some of that in your new name. So what do you think of Lesandra Stefanevna Cassadine?"

Lu’s eyes opened wide as a beaming smile crossed her face. "That’s pretty."

"Then Lesandra Stefanevna Cassadine it is," Laura proclaimed.

* * * * *

After they had tucked Lu into bed with Foster keeping watch over her and Nikolas had turned in for the night, Laura and Stefan went to his study, where the chest that V’s search team had found at the compound sat on the desk, still unopened and locked. It was a relatively small chest, made of richly polished wood with gold ornamentation and embellishments. A plate on top had an elaborate C engraved into it; and its lock looked heavy and strong. When Stefan pulled it to him and studied it for a moment, his eyes lost focus as though remembering something.

"Stefan?" Laura asked, touching his shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"I know this chest," he responded. "I’ve seen it before."

"When?"

"When I was a child. I was walking past my mother’s rooms, and her door was open. I had never been allowed inside her suite, but I wanted to know what it looked like, so I walked over to peek in. Just as I reached the doorway, Stavros caught me. He pushed me away, so hard that I hit the ground, then went into and slammed the door. But I remember, just before it shut completely, I saw this chest."

"Any idea what could be in it?"

He shook his head. "There’s only one way to find out."

Picking up the chest, he raised it up above his head and threw it to the floor. It hit with a loud crash, the wood splintering and the hinges coming away. Both of them dropped to their knees as Stefan carefully lifted the now-broken lid to reveal a set of papers. He pulled them out, wondering why his mother would have kept them separated from the other documents they had found on her yacht. His eyes skimmed over them, and suddenly, he went very quiet. Laura moved around to try to see what those papers contained.

"Stefan? Are those what I think they are?"

"Medical documents. For Stavros." He lifted up the top sheet to read the pages underneath, almost unable to breath. "Stavros . . . Mikkos wasn’t his father."

"What? Then who was?"

He shook his head. "This doesn’t say. It’s just documentation that my father couldn’t have sired my brother. Stavros was no doubt the son of one of her lovers; however, she passed him off as Mikkos’, presumably to protect herself. My father had many lovers, but he wouldn’t have tolerated my mother having any."

"Stefan, this means you’re the true prince," she pointed out.

As this fact sank in, something instantly made sense to him. He felt his heart constrict painfully. "No wonder she hated me so much."

"Because you’re the prince?"

"Yes . . . you see, at the time my parents were young, Cassadine marriages were still arranged, and most of the men always had mistresses. I happen to know that my mother despised the fact that my father continued this tradition, so she had affairs herself. She might have even fallen in love with the man who sired my brother. When she gave birth to Stavros, she passed him off as the prince, most likely as a form of revenge against my father for his transgressions against her." Getting up from the floor, he walked over to the window, trying to maintain his composure. "Because Stavros was her favorite, the object of her abject adoration, any threat to him was despised. With my birth, the birth of the true Cassadine heir, Stavros’ position could be challenged if the truth was ever found out. I was a threat, and therefore, she abhorred me."

Based on what Laura’s own experiences with Helena, what he said made sense. Helena wanted to give Stavros everything in the world, everything he wanted, even things that weren’t his to have – like Laura herself. Standing up, she walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his back. "That’s in the past now."

"All I ever wanted from her was her love," he said quietly. "From her and my brother."

"I know. But don’t dwell on it. Look to the future. You have your family and the opportunity to mold the future of the Cassadine Empire. Leave a legacy that means something to our children. Don’t let Helena and Stavros have a hold on you for the rest of your life. Make that your revenge against them for the pain they inflicted on you."

Clasping his hands over hers, he said, "I don’t know what I’d do without you."

"Neither do I. And I intend to never find out."

* * * * *

The next morning, Laura and Stefan left Lu with Nikolas at Wyndemere and headed to the Port Charles courthouse to file the papers to change their daughter’s birth certificate. After informing them that there would be a hearing in front of the family court judge before the changes could be made and the new certificate filed, the clerk scheduled the court date for early January.

"After the hearing, I’ll need to go Greece both for several days to stake claim my position as Prince of the empire," Stefan said as they left the clerk’s office. "I know you haven’t been there since you left, and it probably doesn’t have the best of memories for you, but will you come with me to the island? I want the children to come along as well."

"Of course." When she had married Stefan, she had known that one day, she would have to face the island and the memories it held.

Taking each other’s hand, they descended the staircase to the main floor where the courts were located just in time to see Lesley Webber, accompanied by a couple of bailiffs, come out through one of the doors. She and Laura noticed each other at the same moment and locked eyes, neither of them moving from the spot where they had stopped.

"Laura," Lesley finally said.

"Mom."

She moved forward but stayed a couple of feet away. "Look . . . I know you’re furious at me, but I just want to say I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Biting down on her lip, Laura took a deep breath. "I’m not sure. It’s going to take a while. What you did really hurt me."

"I never meant to hurt you, Baby. I love you."

"I know you do."

"Lesley Lu is safe?"

"Yes, she’s fine." She and Stefan exchanged glances. "We were just filing some papers concerning her birth certificate."

"Why?"

"Because—," she took a deep breath, "because Stefan is her biological father. We’re petitioning the court to change the certificate to reflect this and to change her name to Lesandra Cassadine."

Lesley’s eyes opened wide. "Stefan . . . ? How is he . . . ?"

"Let’s just say it has to do Helena and leave it at that. All of us have fallen victim to her schemes and manipulations."

"Why are you changing her first name? It’s not because I—?"

"No . . ." Laura interrupted. "It was Lu’s decision."

"Laura, I know I probably don’t have any right to ask this, but please don’t shut me out of your life. I don’t think I could bear to lose you again."

"I—I don’t want to lose you either. It’s just . . . I just need some time, Mom."

Tilting her head, she said sadly, "I understand. Please, call me when you’re ready."

Without answering, Laura nodded. Lesley reached out and gently stroked her daughter’s face then turned around and left the courthouse.

"Santa’s come!"

Lu’s excited voice rang through the corridor, accompanied by Foster’s excited barking and followed moments later by rapid-fire knocking on the bedroom door, which left the room’s occupants no choice but to get up. Slowly, Laura opened her eyes to see Stefan was awake, a broad grin lighting up his face.

"She seems rather impatient," he noted, placing a kiss on her lips.

"Welcome to Christmas, Lesandra Cassadine-style. The first of many . . . Dad." Tossing back the covers, Laura was about to slip out of bed when two strong arms encircled her waist and pulled her back. "Hey . . . unless you want a full-scale invasion from the troops . . ."

"I just want a few more Christmas moments alone with my wife." He held her tightly but gently as he began kissing her neck.

"We’ll have plenty of those," she promised. "Now, come one . . . before she gets the battering ram out."

After they put their robes on – Laura insisted to Stefan it was tradition to stay in pajamas for the gift opening – and stole one more kiss, they ventured out into the hallway just in time to see Lu leading a still half-asleep Nikolas, who had stayed overnight at Wyndemere, out of his room. His eyelids partially closed, he waved to his parents then ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in all directions.

"Mommy! Poppa!" Lu chirped with joy as she ran over to hug them. Stefan reached down and scooped her up in his arms. "Merry Christmas!"

"And Merry Christmas to you, Sasha," he said, tweaking her nose as he used the nickname he had taken to calling her in the last month because of Luke’s connection to the name of Lu. "Did I hear you say that Santa Claus has been here?"

"Yeah! He left a lot of presents downstairs."

"Well, then I guess we ought to go see what he left, shall we?"

Lu nodded vigorously in response, and so the four of them and Foster traipsed downstairs to the Great Room where a large tree towered above their heads, covered in old-fashioned Victorian-style decorations and surrounded by presents. Most of them were, of course, for Lu, and she began tearing into them with great relish, delight lighting up her small face at the sight of the new toys, dresses and Cassadine medallion, which Stefan fastened around her neck. Foster played in ever-growing mound of discarded wrapping paper, burrowing in and rolling around.

As Laura watched their daughter, Stefan noticed an air of sadness about his wife. He could tell what she was thinking about because the expression on her face was the same one she used to get every so often after the fire at Morgan’s Garage. Reaching over, he took her hand and whispered, "Thinking of Lucky?"

She nodded. "It seems so strange without him here. Like something’s missing."

"He’ll be here next year. I have faith in Doctor Collins’ ability to help him."

"Me too," she responded, squeezing his hand.

"Mommy, look!" Lu exclaimed, holding up a hard-to-find retired beanie baby she had been searching for to add to her collection for months.

"Wow, you must have been a very good girl this year."

"Thank you, Poppa!"

As Nikolas handed his sister another present, this one from him, Laura said to her husband, "You know, you’re going to spoil her."

"Just think of it as catching up on several missed Christmases," he told her with a chuckle. "Sasha, I think there’s a present there for you from Santa that you haven’t opened. I can see it behind the tree. Nikolas, will you get it for her?"

Once Nikolas had retrieved it, Lu saw that this one had a message. "Can you help me read this?" she asked her brother. "It has some big words."

"’Dear Lesandra – a very nice police sheriff asked me if I would drop this off for you when I came by your house. Merry Christmas, Santa Claus."

Wondering what it could be, Lu opened the box and let out a squeal, "Andromeda!" Sure enough, the package contained her stuffed horse. "Santa found her!" She tugged Andromeda out of the box and hugged her tightly.

"I think that’s the best present she could have gotten," Laura whispered in Stefan’s ear, "besides having you as a father."

Once all the presents were opened – including a beautiful gold locket, which Stefan presented to Laura, that contained a miniaturized picture of the portrait of Lu, Nikolas and Lucky that Liz had painted on one side and a small photo of Stefan on the other – Mrs. Landsbury served breakfast. Afterwards, Lu went back to play with her new toys, accompanied by Stefan and Nikolas. Meanwhile, Laura went into the study, where she picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, Lesley Webber," her mother’s voice answered. She was still in Port Charles, her probation requiring that she live there for at least the first six months, especially since Luke’s trial hadn’t taken place yet.

"Mom . . . it’s me."

"Laura! I’m so glad to hear your voice."

"I just wanted . . . I just wanted to say Merry Christmas."

There was a pause though Laura thought she heard Lesley sniffling slightly in the background. "Merry Christmas to you, too, Baby. How are Nikolas and Lulu?" She knew about Lucky being in the hospital.

"They’re fine. Having a wonderful day."

"And . . . Stefan?"

Looking heavenwards, Laura smiled and wiped a tear from her eye. Was this the first step? "He’s great. I think he’s having the time of his life. It’s his first Christmas with his daughter."

"Will you explain this whole thing concerning him being Lulu’s father to me one of these days?"

"Yes."

"I also hope that I can see you and the children sometime."

"Sometime . . . soon. I promise."

"Thank you, Baby."

A shriek of laughter floated through the closed door, causing Laura to say, "I have to go now."

"All right. I love you, Laura."

"I love you, too."

* * * * *

That night, while Stefan talked Nikolas into staying another night to avoid driving in the snow that had begun to fall when the sun went down, Laura tried to get an excited Lu ready for bed. Not seeming the least bit tired, she wanted to talk about the whole day, from the presents to the visit from Aunt Alexis and Uncle Jax for dinner to the snow. But after a bit of work, she finally got her daughter to settle down, and soon, she was sleeping peacefully in her four-poster canopied bed, Andromeda tucked in beside her, Foster stretched out at her feet.

Sneaking out of the room, Laura headed downstairs to find Stefan, snagging something from her closet in the master bedroom along the way. She searched for a few minutes until she discovered him in the conservatory by the window, gazing out at the falling snow. For a moment, Laura stood at the entrance, just observing him. His lips were curved into a gentle smile, and he appeared to be lost in deep thought.

"I love watching the snow," he stated. "It’s so peaceful."

He always did seem to know when she was around, no matter how quietly she attempted to enter a room. Crossing over to him, she commented, "Sounds just like a person raised in a warm climate. Just wait . . . pretty soon, the novelty of snow will wear off."

With a laugh, he circled an arm about her waist and pulled her close to bestow a kiss on her lips. "Then I’ll enjoy it while I can."

"Mmmm . . ." she murmured. "Me or the snow?"

"Both," he answered, leaning in to kiss her again. When they finally parted again, Laura took a step back and held out a present. "What’s this?"

"Your last Christmas gift. I wanted to wait until we were alone to give it to you. It may be a little cliché, but here."

Tilting his head down slightly and raising his eyebrows, he reached out and accepted the gift from her. There was a card on top, so he opened that to read first.

"My Beloved Prince – we’re finally together as, I know, you dreamed of when we were on the island. We’ve been through so much – so many tragedies, so many deceptions, so many lies – to reach this point, but through it all, one thing has remained true. Your unfaltering, deep love . . ."

Here, Stefan felt his composure begin to crack, and his voice suddenly failed him. So Laura finished reciting what she had written, remembering every word, "I don’t know what I ever did to deserve what you give to me every day, but I will always treasure that, especially as we start our new life with our children. All our children. All my love forever, Lasha."

"Lasha—," he rasped.

"Shhh . . . don’t say anything yet. Just open the gift."

After ripping the paper off the box, he opened the box to find, nestled within brightly colored tissue paper, a baby rattle. He stared at it for a moment, its meaning dawning on him like the bright sun on a new day. "You’re pregnant."

She nodded, her beautiful smile lighting up her face. "That’s why I was sick that night. It wasn’t stress. It was the baby."

With a great laugh of happiness, Stefan grabbed her and whirled her around, much like he had done the night they had become engaged. They were going to have another child! And this time, there would be no hiding, no secret plans. This time was completely theirs.

Then, setting her gently down, he kissed her passionately. "I love you, Lasha."

"I love you, too, Stefan."

Sitting down together in the conservatory window seat, they watched the snow as Stefan rested his head on his wife’s abdomen to listen for the sounds of their unborn child.