by CarolK
Stefan and Nikolas sat in Nik’s Jaguar outside Laura’s house in a heated discussion.
“Do you think this is the right way, Nikolas?” Stefan asked in trepidation.
“There is no good way to do this, Uncle,” Nikolas replied in exasperation. “At least here there won’t be an audience if she gets hysterical when she sees you’ve come back from the dead.”
Stefan rubbed his goateed chin in resignation. “All right, Nikolas. I will do this your way.”
As they emerged from the car and started up the walk a dark-haired bundle of energy flew out of the bushes and tackled Stefan’s legs.
“Stefan! Stefan!” Lulu screamed. “You came back! Just like Lucky! Were you an angel, too?”
Stefan knelt to embrace Lulu. “Little one, it is so good to see you again.”
“Where’s Mom, Lu?” Nikolas asked.
“She’s cooking lunch, Nikky. My favorite. Hamburgers and creamed corn. Can you stay for lunch? Please? Please? Please?” Lulu tugged on Stefan’s hand to emphasize that she included him in the invitation.
Stefan smiled at Lulu’s enthusiasm. “That will be up to your mother, Little One. She wasn’t expecting company today.”
Lulu’s face fell, then brightened. “Well, can you stay for my tea party then? I like company at my tea party.”
“I can’t promise anything, Lulu. It will be up to your mother,” Stefan replied gently.
“Let’s get this over with, Uncle. I’ll go ahead and pave the way, then I’ll take Lulu out,” Nikolas urged. “Stay out of sight until I prepare her.”
Stefan nodded his head in agreement as Nikolas mounted the front steps and knocked on the door.
Laura answered the door on the first knock. “Hello, Nikolas, did you see Lulu out there? She wasn’t in the back yard when I went to call her for lunch.”
“I’ll go get her in a minute, Mother. First, I have something to tell you. Please come sit down. This will be a shock. At least it was a shock for me, but I’ve had a little time to get used to it now.”
Laura gazed on her son with fear in her eyes. “You’re scaring me, Nikolas. Is this about Stefan?” she whispered. “Did they find his body?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
At that moment Stefan stepped through the door. Laura stared at him, too shocked to speak. She managed to croak, “Is it… is it…” before slumping to the floor in a dead faint.
Stefan and Nikolas rushed to her side. Nikolas patted her face. “Mom? Mom? Wake up, please?”
In the background Lulu started wailing. “What’s wrong with my mommy? Is she dead, too?”
“Nikolas, take care of your sister,” Stefan instructed. “Take her upstairs and calm her. Make sure she understands that her mommy is only asleep.”
Nikolas scooped Lulu into his arms and soothed her. “It’s okay, Lulu. Mom’s just taking a nap. Let’s go up to your room and I’ll read you some stories. Okay?”
Lulu nodded her assent and buried her head in Nikolas’ chest, sniffling quietly.
Stefan gathered Laura off the floor and lay her on the sofa, then got a wet cloth from the kitchen and knelt beside her placing it on her forehead. “Laura,” he rasped, “wake up. I didn’t think this would happen. I’m so sorry. Please, wake up. Laura?”
Laura opened her eyes slowly, as if she was afraid of what she would see. “Stefan? Is it really you?” She framed his face with her hands and peered at him intently. “You’re not dead. You’re not dead!” She drew him into a kiss, softly at first, then with more and more intensity.
Stefan couldn’t believe his good fortune. “She’s happy to see me,” he thought to himself. “She’s happy I’m alive. Maybe we...”
Just as quickly as she had initiated the kiss, Laura broke it off. “Wait a minute! What happened? Where were you? Why did you let us believe you were dead?” Her questions came in a rapid staccato, each one louder and more accusatory than the previous one. Laura sat up pushing Stefan back so quickly he landed on the floor in an undignified heap. She stood over him, arms folded across her chest, glaring. “I want the whole story, Buster, and I want it now!”
Stefan groaned to himself. “I should have stayed dead,” he thought. “It would have been easier than this.”
“Well?” Laura asked. “I’m waiting. Start talking. And it better be good.”
“God, she’s beautiful when she’s angry,” Stefan mused as he got to his feet. “I have a feeling she’s going to be the most beautiful woman in the world when she’s finished dragging me through the coals. And she’ll probably never speak to me again. She’ll see through my fabrication in a heartbeat, but it’s my only chance.”
Stefan motioned for Laura to sit, smiling weakly. “It’s a long story, Laura. We might as well sit down.”
Laura glared at him, defiantly continuing to stand with her arms crossed. “I’ll sit,” she said finally, “but you can stand. I wouldn’t want you to get too comfortable.” She arranged herself on the sofa, surrounding herself with cushions, looking for all the world like a queen on her throne. “I’m waiting, Stefan.”
Stefan cleared his throat, rubbed his chin and began the carefully rehearsed story of his disappearance and return.
As Stefan related the story of how his mother drugged him, imprisoned him on his father’s island, tormented him with the news that nobody was grieving his death, and later did the same to Chloe Morgan, Laura’s demeanor softened. As he apprised her of the harrowing details of their escape from the island and their difficult journey back to Port Charles with no passports and little money, Laura looked almost sympathetic. “She believes me,” he marveled. “She actually believes me.”
“So, that is how I disappeared, where I was and how I returned, Laura,” he concluded.
“But that’s only part of the story, Stefan,” she said. “Why did she do it?”
“I’m still not sure, Laura,” he admitted. “I was trying to find out what she had done to Lucky, and I baited her. I let her believe I was close to uncovering her actions. It seems she thought it would be better to get me out of the way until her plans were carried out. She may have been planning on leaving me there forever. It was torture being so far away and not able to protect those I love from her evil.”
“And Chloe Morgan? How and why did she kidnap her?”
“Miss Morgan was having dreams, visions actually, seeing through Helena’s eyes. She saw my drugging and thought Helena had killed me, so she confronted her. Helena deflected her accusations, but made plans to get rid of her, too. Mr. Jacks took Chloe to Paris to get her away from Helena. While they were there he thought he saw the dead Miss Barrett and pursued her apparition, leaving Chloe vulnerable to Helena’s men. She was drugged and awoke on the island with me.”
“Poor Stefan,” Laura cooed. “Your mother must be made to pay for this. Not only did she make you and Chloe Morgan suffer, but Nikolas, Lucky and even me, too. I accused her to her face of killing you and framing Luke. She denied it of course, but she reveled in pointing out how I had betrayed you and accused me of blaming her to absolve my own guilt. She even suggested you might have done away with yourself. I never believed that of course. You’re too strong a man to commit suicide.”
“Thank you for believing in me, Laura,” Stefan replied. “I’m not so certain myself. A few more months alone on that island and I might have…”
Laura regarded him coolly. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?”
Stefan stopped short. “What do you mean?”
Laura rose from the sofa and advanced on Stefan. “You didn’t expect me to believe that story, did you?” she asked angrily, poking him in the chest with her finger until he took a step backward. “I’ll admit, you had me going for a while. Your kidnapping was so similar to the way I was kidnapped all those years ago. I almost believed you until you got to that part about your miraculous escape. You and that little wisp of a girl overpowering four guards and stealing their boat? Managing to dodge the sniper’s bullets? Finding the mainland in the dark even though you had no idea where this island was located? Just happening to find a safe with money in it? Your mother is not that sloppy! Of course the coup-de-grace was your flight home. Coach, Stefan? Coach? You have never flown commercial airlines, let alone in coach, in your entire life! You would have called for the Cassadine jet to bring you home if you weren’t trying to make your disappearance believable.”
“I cannot change the facts, Laura,” Stefan began.
“Facts? Facts colored to put you in the most sympathetic light,” Laura said, her voice rising. “Facts with just enough truth in them to make them believable – to most people – people who don’t know you as well as I do. I don’t know why you did it or how you did it, but I know you faked your death and tried to frame Luke for it. What if he had been convicted of a death that never happened?”
“What if I had been convicted of Katherine’s supposed death? What if she had really died? Luke managed an almost perfect frame-up – assisted by Commissioner Scorpio’s zeal to convict someone, anyone for her death. No, Laura, unlike your husband—“
“My ex-husband,” Laura corrected.
“Unlike your former husband, I would never let an innocent man go to prison if I could prevent it.”
“I think I’ve heard all I can stand right now. I’ll hear the whole sordid story from you later, Stefan,” Laura muttered as she pushed him toward the door. “And you WILL tell me the whole story. I think you should leave right now and work on your next lie. Try to make it a little more believable the next time. And make sure there’s just enough truth so that you can look me in the eye. That was my first clue – you never could look me in the eye and lie to me.”
Stefan allowed himself to be pushed out the door, but as he turned to have a last word with Laura she slammed the door in his face. He glared at the door for a moment, then turned and stomped down the steps with as much dignity as he could muster. He started for Nikolas’ car, then realizing he didn’t have the keys, turned and looked back toward the house before giving up and striding down the street toward the docks.
Laura watched him leave with a satisfied smile on her face.
Nikolas emerged from the landing on the stairs where he had been hiding. “Where did he go?”
“I suspect he’s headed for Wyndemere.”
“Maybe I should go after him. It’s kind of chilly today.”
“No, Nikolas. The walk will cool him off and give him time to think. Did you hear any of what we said?”
“Mother, I think the people across the street heard you.”
“Oh, then Lulu heard, too?” Laura asked in dismay.
“She fell asleep before the shouting started. You really tore him a new one, Mom,” Nikolas chuckled. “I didn’t think you had it in you. You were vicious. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“You didn’t believe that cock-and-bull story he was telling, did you? You know him as well as I do. You know he’s never without a plan, a backup plan, and a backup for the backup plan.”
“I believe Grandmother did something to him, Mother. It had her mark all over it.”
“I know, Nikolas. Helena was too smug. She thought she had really killed him and he let her think that. He probably thought she would get careless with him out of the way.”
“That sounds just like her, but you were brutal with him. Why didn’t you cut him some slack?”
Laura smiled at her son. “It was only for his own good. He needs to be taught a lesson, once and for all. He needs to learn that I will not be lied to and I will not be kept in the dark. He can’t continue to think he can manipulate every situation – even if he is doing it for us.”
Nikolas looked at Laura knowingly. “You’re going to forgive him, aren’t you?”
“Of course I’m going to forgive him, honey. I know he thought he was trying to protect us all with what he was doing. I am going to make him tell me the entire story from start to finish, though. The unvarnished truth this time.”
“How long are you going to let him suffer?”
“Oh, until tonight I think,” Laura murmured, already planning the evening, down to the sheer black negligee she would be wearing when he found her in his bed.