by Cathy
Laura leaned her forehead against the cool windowpane and watched night settle over Port Charles. Bit by bit the sun sank in the west. Its flaming rays dimmed, at first slowly, then more and more rapidly until its last rays faded from the surface of the water. The first tendrils of night mist tentatively felt their way across the water toward the land. As mist drifted landward, she was reminded again of her love of the night. Even as a child she had never feared the darkness as Amy had. She loved the inky velvet feel and look of the darkened sky, the night fogs rolling in off the water, blanketing the earth, signaling respite from the busy day. On such a night as this, she had often walked alone, thinking her own thoughts.
Not too far away, on the dark streets of Port Charles, an antic sort of life began as the gentle pools of light from streetlights began to glow, followed one by one by the garish neon lights of the bars, pool halls, adult only clubs, and massage parlors in that part of town. She knew this night life too from her years with Luke. It had been her night world, because it was his. But no more.
She stood up and opened the window. The crisp scents of her autumn garden drifted into the window. The cries of happy children echoed in the distance. Halloween – once celebrated by bonfires on hilltops, sacrifices and frightened peasants in garb designed to frighten away the evil spirits, had come again. She thought briefly of those ancient celebrants terrified of the cold and dark, condemned to darkness until spring returned with light and life. She could not imagine what the world looked like to them. She knew that the darkness that brought terror into her life had all been internal, from within human hearts. But once… on such a night as this…
It was another Halloween. Lulu was trick or treating with her brothers, Lucky and Nikolas in attendance. Lonely, Laura had stopped for dinner at the Port Charles Grill. She and Amy had planned to make an evening of it, but an emergency call from the hospital had ended their pleasant evening. Now, Laura paced alone on the docks, waiting for the boys to return with Lulu. She had agreed to meet them there for a quick trip to Kelley’s for hot chocolate before taking Lulu home to bed. She heard the sound of brisk footsteps, but the fog obscured her view of the passer-by until he was very close.
The streetlight shone on his face and hair. He seemed a creation of mist and dreams, face politely quizzical, eyes almost without expression. She wondered if it were in fact a ghost who stood silently before her: accusing her, judging her. Then he spoke.
“One would think you’d seen a ghost, Lasha. It is I. Like you before me, I have returned from the realm of Hades. Are you surprised?”
“Yes,” she had managed to answer. She took a step toward him, stretching out her hand as if to touch his face.
He stepped backward quickly, as if repulsed.
“I am quite alive. There’s no need to distress yourself. No need for emotion. No need for conversation. I have places to go, and things to accomplish tonight.”
He pivoted to walk away.
“Why?” she asked quietly. “Why this charade? Did you hope to see Luke imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit? Did you intend this to punish Nikolas or me for not believing in you, for not trusting you?”
“Chloe Morgan and I have been Helena’s guests for some time on an island. Imprisoned. Alone. You’ve done me a great favor. Having failed me for the last time, as Jax failed her, she and I have found a great source of …comfort in each other.”
“Do you think that you can reappear like a spectre in the fog and walk away without explanation for what you’ve done?” she asked. “Is it so simple? You disappear leaving a letter that was no letter, but a dagger to my heart, then return and expect me to accept it as nothing out of the ordinary?”
He looked at her silently for a moment. “No, Luke leaves without explanation. Luke leaves without apology and returns to be greeted as a conquering hero. I walk, as always, alone, in the dark, without comfort or aid from those whom I love. I expect it. I have learned to embrace it.”
“I’m glad that you’re alive, Stefan. Nikolas will be glad too. Have you seen him yet?”
“I will see him later. Now I must go to Chloe. She is in the hospital. She needs me. She trusts me. She is very ill, Lasha. I cannot dally here with you. I am not the spectre here. It is you who are without form or substance.”
“I don’t understand,” she had responded simply and with as much dignity as she could muster.
“Barbara told me that you once referred to yourself as the woman Luke Spencer built. If that is who you are, then you are, as I said, without form, without substance. Not a woman at all. Perhaps not even a human. It’s no longer my concern. Goodbye.”
He turned and walked away. Within a few steps, he had been swallowed by the fog, leaving her alone with all too familiar tears trickling down her cheeks.
“Mama!” an imperative small voice rang out. Laura closed the window and turned to face Sergei and Lulu, returning from a night of Halloween revelry. She had spent a long time dreaming at the window.
She lifted Sergei in her arms carefully. His eyes were heavy, as if he’d slept on the way home. His mouth was smeared with a red stain. Fruit punch perhaps, Laura thought. She took the sleepy toddler into his room, and began undressing him for bed, while Lulu described the evening’s events.
“We had a wonderful time at the carnival. Sergei was the cutest devil there. He waved his little pitchfork just like he was supposed to.” Lulu beamed with pride, and her sleepy brother stopped in mid-yawn to smile back at her.
“It was smart to sew his pitchfork onto his sleeve though, because he got tired of waving it.”
Once the small boy was settled in bed, Laura took Lulu to her room and helped her changed out of her fairy costume before going downstairs.
Stefan waited before the fire in the conservatory. “A nightcap, my dear?” he offered.
“Yes, thank you,” she smiled.
“Your father has gone to the guest house, as exhausted and possibly as excited as the children,” Stefan observed.
Laura smiled, but her expression changed to one of dismay as she realized the proffered nightcap was, in fact, warm milk
“Next year, I’ll stay at home with our new child, and you can resume your rightful place at the school cakewalk.” Stefan smiled ruefully, and touched her swollen abdomen.
“You look tired,” he observed shrewdly, “or perhaps upset.”
“I was thinking.” She put the milk down and held her hands out to the fire, about the night you came home… on Halloween, I mean.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “I was bitter and angry that night. I thought that my only dream had been shattered finally, and beyond repair.”
She wrapped her arms around him, and held on tightly. The baby within her stirred and kicked.
“You see how wrong I was,” he laughed as he felt the impact of a kick delivered by his unborn child. “Even our small one wants to weigh in on my stupidity.”
He kissed her gently. “Because of you, I learned that nothing is ever over when there is love. Come to bed, and let me show you how much you’ve taught me.” He nuzzled her neck, then pushed a lock of hair back from her face.
“How much we’ve taught each other,” Laura corrected gently, as they left the room hand in hand.