Written in 20 minutes. It might be terrible. Who knows.

“Shouldn’t we go back to the flat?” Patrick asked as Anna docked the boat, and Robert and Jason began lifting Elizabeth carefully to avoid jarring her. “We have to rethink—”

“No, Laura, Sonny, and Spinelli are already at the airport, and the flat may be compromised.” Anna turned to her son-in-law. “We have everything need on the plane and in our kits.”

“Even for an emergency transfusion?” Patrick demanded. “Damn it—and where hell is Luke and Lucky? I need someone to punch—”

“And mess with those hands?” Robin asked as he offered a hand for her to climb from the boat to the dock. “We’re gonna need them.”

Patrick looked at his wife—his miraculous wife who was standing in front of him as if the nightmare of the last year hadn’t happened—and swallowed hard. “She didn’t even get the chance to see Jake. Not really.”

“What happened to the man that did brain surgery by flash light?” Robin’s teasing tone fell short as she climbed into the van, looking away from Jason, cradling Elizabeth in the back seat. “Patrick—”

“I never should have let her come,” Patrick muttered. “We should have locked her up.” He took a deep breath. “But she’s like Cam and would have found a way to come anyway. Emma helped tie up your cousin, by the way.”

“Which knots did she use?” Robin asked.

—

The airport on Mykonos was still within sighting distance of Cassadine Island and Laura found herself watching the land, waiting for something.

“I thought you said the guards were coming to the marina,” she said to Spinelli as the tech scowled at his computer screens. “How much time do we have to get in the air?”

“I don’t know. I can’t track the boats, and I can’t—” Spinelli hissed as one of his screens went dark. “Damn it—” He turned as Sonny emerged from the bathroom, Jake still in his arms. Laura’s face softened.

“Jake. I didn’t get a chance to even look at you,” she murmured. “Thanks, Sonny.”

“You’re my grandma,” Jake said as Sonny set him on the ground. The little boy sniffed and swiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Uncle Nikolas showed me lots of pictures.”

“That’s how you knew your parents,” Sonny said. He exhaled slowly. “He went to Jason and Elizabeth,” he murmured to Spinelli. “If we’d known that, we could have kept Elizabeth home.”

“They’re on their way to the hangar now,” Spinelli said. He hesitated. “But Robert didn’t sound hopeful. It’s bad.” He turned back to Laura and Jake, found it in himself to smile. “But look at Little Stone Cold. He’s here. He’s alive. And he’s okay. That’s something. And they got Doctor Robin, didn’t they? Mission accomplished.”

There was a screech of wheels of the van pulled into the hangar. Laura stepped in front of Jake and Sonny hurried over to her. “We should get him on the plane before—”

“Mommy?” Jake said, his voice worried. “Why is Daddy carrying her? She’s—” He tugged on Laura’s pant leg. “She’s hurt.”

“We need to get her on the plane so we can help her. Sonny—” Laura looked at him. “Take him on the plane. But stay away from the back. That’s where Luke has Lucky locked up.”

“Should toss him out on the way back to New York,” Sonny muttered, but lifted Jake in his arms and strode towards the plane’s steps. Spinelli went after them, still cradling his laptop looking over the security cameras.

Laura blanched as she saw the spread of dried blood on Elizabeth’s midsection as Jason carefully set her in Robert’s arms so he could get out of the van. “Robin—” Laura touched the doctor’s shoulder. “I’m so glad to see you—”

“Me, too. Patrick and I are going to get washed up. We need to be in the air, but I want to get her stabilized so we can—” Robin shook her head and went after her father, Patrick, and Anna, leaving Laura with Jason for the moment.

“She made me promise,” Laura said. “I’m sorry, Jason, she made me promise I’d go as soon as Jake was safe.” She hesitated. “Did you—what happened to Nikolas?”

“I know. It’s—” Jason started to respond, but then the ground beneath them shook, and the sun all but disappeaerd as a cloud of dust, ash, and debris blotted out the early afternoon sky. “What the—”

“The island—” Laura stepped towards it, her eyes huge. “I—” The estate had once been dimly visible, the stone towering over the trees — but now it was covered in smoke and they could see the flames licking out behind the gray.

“We need to get in the air!” Anna called. “Let’s go—”

“But Nikolas—” Laura swallowed hard, nodded. “Let’s—let’s go.”

On board the plane, in the kitchen galley area, Robin paused while scrubbing her hands. She closed her eyes. “He didn’t know if he’d make it off in time.”

“Robin?”

She looked at her husband, her eyes pale and large. “That was the plan. It was always the plan. Nikolas was going to burn the estate to the ground with all of them inside But it wasn’t supposed to happen yet. He must—he must have triggered it. Oh, God. He didn’t make it off the island.”

Grimly, Patrick dried his hands. “Then he sacrificed himself to give us time to get out of here. Let’s go make sure it wasn’t for nothing.”

+6