June 1, 2006

ICU: Hallway

“You give a kid a little freedom and look what happens,” Felicia sighs as she pulled her daughter out of Robin’s room. “What paternity mess?” she asked.

“Come on, Mom, I’m nineteen,” Maxie rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to be involved in every decision in my life–”

“Maria Maximilliana Jones, do not make me ask you again,” Felicia tapped her foot. “You still live under my roof and I pay your tuition at school. If you want to see daylight again or possibly your future, you will tell me what’s going on right this second.”

Truthfully, Maxie was more than ready to hand this over to someone else. Her mother was as good as anyone else. “Fine,” she sighed. “But we can’t leave Robin alone. Where’s Brenda?”

“Checking in at the Metro Court.” Felicia took Maxie’s elbow and all but dragged her down the hall to the waiting room. She tossed open the door and hesitated when he saw the lone person sprawled out in a chair, his head tilted back and his eyes closed. “That’s probably the first bit of sleep Patrick’s had in two days.”

“Well, then I’ll just go sit with Robin until he wakes up–” Maxie made a brief attempt at escape but Felicia’s grip on her arm was firm.

“He can sleep in Robin’s room.” Felicia crossed the room and tapped Patrick. Never a light sleeper, he woke immediately.

“I wasn’t sleeping, I was resting my eyes,” he said immediately. He blinked and looked around. “Oh. I’m not in anatomy class anymore.”

“Right,” Felicia drawled, somewhat amused. “Listen, can you go sit with Robin? It’s Maxie’s turn but she and I have a few things to discuss.”

“Uh…sure.” Patrick rubbed his eyes and made his exit before they could change their minds or that crazy lunatic Brenda came back and he lost his turn altogether.

“Start,” Felicia demanded when the door had closed behind him.

Maxie coughed. “Well, it’s a funny story actually–”

“Oh, like ‘Mom, it’s a funny story–Dillon and I got married while you were in Texas.’ Or ‘Mom, it’s a funny story, I didn’t mean to go on the run with a possible fugitive.’ Oh, and there’s always ‘Mom, it’s a funny story, I was hiding a fugitive in my room instead of going to Prom.’ And my personal repeat favorite, ‘Mom, it’s a funny story. I didn’t mean to get arrested for underage drinking.’ Maxie, if I had a dime for every time you girls thought to start one of your confessions with ‘it’s a funny story’ I’d be able to retire.” Felicia arched an eyebrow. “You really want to use that phrase?”

“Well, no, not now,” Maxie muttered. “Okay, so I was doing the mail here at the hospital and there was a blank envelope in Robin’s mail slot. Monica told me to go ahead and open it to make sure it was at the right mail slot and if not, to send it to the right doctor. I opened it, and it turned out to be results for a paternity test.” Maxie shifted. “The test was for Jax’s son, John. And it had Nikolas listed as the father.”

“Dear God,” Felicia sighed. “And I bet you didn’t come clean with either of them. No, that would be too easy.”

Maxie frowned. “Well…I made some stupid mistakes but I finally decided I wasn’t old enough to deal with this–”

“Define stupid mistakes,” Felicia cut in. “You’re not glossing over anything, Maxie.”

Maxie huffed. “Okay, so I tried to blackmail Jax so I could get money for a new car after Mac took mine away. It was stupid–”

“Oh my God, I’ve raised a pair of psychos,” Felicia groaned, collapsing into her seat. “Georgie’s off getting married and committing adultery with a felon and you’re blackmailing billionaires.”

“Well, then I was going to tell Nikolas but that went all wrong,” Maxie continued, ignoring her mother’s histrionics. “So I decided that Robin would know what to do.”

“Robin?” Felicia sprang up. “You involved Robin in a paternity mess? One that involves Carly? Have you lost what little mind you have left?”

Maxie folded her arms and glared at her mother. “I knew she’d know the right thing to do–”

“After what Jason and Carly put her through with Michael, I cannot believe you’d be so selfish as to involve Robin in something like this,” Felicia interrupted. “Do you ever think about anyone else but yourself?”

“Hey, you don’t have to get all hostile,” Maxie retorted. “I know I made a few wrong turns–”

“No, no, Maxie, a few wrong turns is breaking curfew and maybe sneaking a cigarette. You have gone completely off the track.” Felicia took a deep breath. “Honey, I know you’ve been going through a rough time, with losing Jesse but you have got to get a grip.”‘

Maxie scowled. “You’re not very supportive, Mother. I’m telling you the truth now, so you can fix it and Robin doesn’t have to worry about it or fight with Patrick about it.” She sniffled. “It’s all my fault, you know. She and Patrick had a fight and it had to be about the paternity and he invited her over last night to apologize.”

“Maxie…” Felicia gripped her daughter’s shoulders. “It’s not your fault that Robin and Patrick were fighting no more than it is Patrick’s fault for leaving her alone in the hotel room. The only person who is it at fault here is the son of a bitch that shot her, okay?”

“Okay.” Maxie bit her lip. “I don’t want to do the stupid things I do, Mom. I know Jesse would be disappointed in me and I hate that–”

“Honey…” Felicia folded Maxie in her arms. “When this is all over, you, me and Georgie are going to sit down and we’re going to fix this.”

“At least I’m not committing adultery with a felon,” Maxie pointed out with a watery smile.

“Yes, thank God you only blackmailed someone,” Felicia remarked wryly. “We’ll fix this, sweetie.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“We have reason to believe that Lucky is not responsible for Robin’s shooting,” Mac sat behind his desk.

Robert leaned against Mac’s office door. “How long have you had this reason?” he demanded.

“Robert, don’t bite Mac’s head off. He’s not required to tell us everything about an ongoing investigation,” Anna chastised.

Mac ignored the duo and kept his eyes focused on a still ashen Elizabeth. “When Detective Rodriguez found Lucky, Lucky made a lot of remarks about someone threatening him, threatening Cameron if he told them what he saw. Now, it’s clear that Lucky has taken too many of his pain meds and it’s fed into the fear he must feel. We believe that Lucky did go into the room that night and saw Robin lying in the bed. When he saw the blood and how she didn’t move, he assumed that she was dead. He had gone there expecting to see you and he still doesn’t realize that you are in fact, alive and that it was Robin that was injured.”

Anna frowned. “But Robin didn’t pass out until after the 911 call. If Lucky is to believed, the assailant stayed in the room and watched her. He knew she was still alive. That doesn’t feel right to me.”

“Unless he didn’t want Robin dead.” Robert frowned. “Or he didn’t want whomever he thought it was in the bed dead. We’re not clear on whether Robin was the target or not. Apparently, Dr. Drake has quite the reputation–”

“No,” Elizabeth shook her head woodenly. “No, he doesn’t. That’s why Lucky’s claims of my having an affair with him were so…odd. He hasn’t dated anyone in months. It’s been Robin for him.” She bit her lip. “In fact, the hospital gossip was that Robin had tamed him. The nurses were jealous because he didn’t flirt with them the way he had before.” She rubbed her hand over her lips. “I’m not sure if that helps, Mac–”

“No, it does. We have to be sure who the target was because otherwise we go in different directions. And considering the fact that Robin was in a room that wasn’t registered to her doesn’t completely put my mind at ease that it wasn’t Patrick Drake who was the target.”

“Well, if it wasn’t Lucky Spencer trying to kill his adulterous wife, then who was it?” Robert demanded, aggravated.

There was a knock on the door and Robert moved away. He pulled open the door and Rodriguez stepped inside. “Commissioner–”

“I thought I told you go to home, get some sleep,” Mac stood. “Did the lab having something then?”

“Well, we’ve got quite a bit for you actually.” Rodriguez closed the door behind him and pulled several prints out of his pocket. “Part of it relates to the Corinthos shooting but we do have confirmation that Lucky entered Drake’s hotel room at 10:07 last night. The footage shows someone at 9:50 P.M. entering the room which is why we thought it was Lucky Spencer. Lucky came into the hotel only five minutes before the first person. But Lucky never entered the room until after Robin called 911.”

Elizabeth released long breath. “So he didn’t shoot her.”

“No, but it still doesn’t clear him completely,” Rodriguez said apologetically. “He could be an accessory after the fact or he may have gone there with that intent and someone beat him to it.” While Elizabeth mulled over that terrifying possibility, he detective looked back to Mac. “Commissioner, there’s something you should know about the Corinthos shooting.”

Mac scrubbed his hands over his face. “Just tell me you can ID the shooter so I can close something.”

“Well,” the detective set the print of the shooter on the desk. “That’s the shooter. Mel–” he coughed. “Detectives Horowitz and Sullivan were only able to get a profile. We’ll circulate it among the employees and guests. But ah…” he set the other print down. “He walked past the office window shortly before the shooter.”

Mac stared at it for a long moment before dragging his tired eyes up to meet those of his officer. “Freaking Cassadines. Don’t they know how to stay dead?”

General Hospital: Carly’s Room

“I’m never going to be able to wear a bikini again,” Carly sighed, leaning back against her pillows. “This is going to scar.”

“Is that really what you’re worried about here?” Jax said impatiently. He stood and crossed the room to peer out the window at the view Carly’s room gave him of the parking garage. “Jesus, Carly, that’s two shootings at the hotel in less than twenty-four hours. And you could have been killed.”

“Jax–”

“And the fact that it happened so close together…” Jax shook his head. “There has to be a reason, Carly.”

Carly shifted and winched from the pinch in her side. “Robin and I don’t even have anything in common except our mutual loathing for each other. I think you’re being paranoid–”

“You both know about John,” Jax said softly. He turned to look at her, a strange look in his eyes. “Robin gets shot after we have an argument about him and then you got get shot after we talk about coming clean. These aren’t coincidences, Carly.”

“It does sound odd when you put them together,” Carly said after a moment. “But you know…the running theory is that Robin wasn’t even the target. They think it was my cousin Lucky because he thought Elizabeth was having an affair with Patrick.”

“And you?” Jax prompted. “Who would shoot you?”

“Well…” Carly frowned. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t exactly inspire love and loyalty from most of Port Charles but I didn’t think I inspired homicidal rage either. Jax…there could be a hundred reasons why Robin and I were both shot and none of them have anything to do with Little John,” she reached for his hand and he held it.

“That is true,” Jax said slowly, “but all the same I think I’d like let Mac know the possibility.”

“It would mean telling him about Nikolas,” Carly pointed out. “Are you ready for that?”

“I love John,” Jax said after a moment. “But I can’t live like this anymore. If the truth is going to come out, I’d like it to be on my own terms.”

ICU: Robin’s Room

Food was beginning to feel like a distant memory to Patrick. He was becoming painfully aware of the fact that he hadn’t eaten since a quick lunch at the hospital before he’d left the day before. He and Robin hadn’t eaten dinner and he hadn’t been able to think about anything but Robin in the intervening hours.

But as he sat next to her bed and felt the listlessness in his limbs, he knew that he was close to crashing. No sleep, no food and a constant state of panic and fear–all of those factors were going to combine and kick his ass.

But not right now. Not until someone came to relieve him. When Robin woke, she would be disoriented, scared and in pain and he wasn’t about to let her go through that alone. He could wait to eat, wait to sleep. None of those things felt important anyway.

He wasn’t able to stifle a yawn though and the sound echoed like a gunshot in the room. He closed his eyes for just a moment and then just like that, he was asleep.

Robin’s first thought was pain. Sheer and utter gut-wrenching pain. She pried her eyes open and moaned a little. “Patrick,” she breathed. Where was he? Was he hurt? She couldn’t remember anything past his apology at the nurse’s station earlier. What had happened? “Patrick?” she repeated, her voice a little stronger.

Patrick snapped to attention. “I wasn’t looking at her, I swear,” he said automatically before realizing that he wasn’t at his teenaged best friend’s house and hadn’t just been caught peeking in at Steve’s older sister. He rubbed his eyes and focused on a confused Robin peering back at him. “You’re awake.”

“W-what happened?” she closed her eyes but forced them back open. Why couldn’t she move? What was wrong? “Patrick–” her voice was more desperate. “Patrick, why can’t I move?”

“Shh…” Patrick took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the inside of her palm. “Deep breaths, Robin. You’ve been unconscious for almost a day and you’ve had some surgery, you’re not going to be able to move much for a while.”

“What-what happened? Tell me–”

“I’m going to tell you anything until you calm down,” Patrick said sternly. His expression softened. “Are you in pain? I should get your doctor–”

“Patrick,” Robin gripped his hand as hard as she could which wasn’t all that hard at all actually. “Please.”

He sighed. “What do you remember?”

Robin bit her lip. “I–we were at the nurse’s station. And you were being–” she had to stop. She shook her head. “No. You asked me to come over.”

“Right,” Patrick agreed. “Nothing after that?”

Robin blinked at him but then her eyes focused and she nodded. “I saw Helena Cassadine.”

General Hospital: Records Room

“We should just move in here,” Dillon said sarcastically as he put the familiar chair in place. “I can’t imagine what we think we’re going to find.”

“Oh…be quiet.” Lulu set herself up at one of the work stations and punched in some keys to bring up Jesse Beaudry’s medical files. “We’re just doing some more background. There’s got to be something that connects it all together.”

“Seriously, Lu, we are over our heads,” Dillon twisted the knob to make sure it was locked before joining her at the computer. “We need to find help.”

“And who are we going to ask for help?” Lulu remarked. She looked at him. “Robin’s uncle? The only laws that been broken so far are by us.”

Dillon hesitated. “Fair point. Okay, so not Mac. How about someone who cares about Robin but not necessarily about the law or codes of procedure?”

“Who do you have in mind?” Lulu asked.

“Well, Patrick Drake,” Dillon suggested. “He ignored a court injunction to operate on Sam when he didn’t even know her. And he’s a doctor. Plus he’s crazy about Robin. So maybe he’d know what to do with this paternity stuff.”

“That’s good point.” Lulu sighed and peered at Jesse’s file. “Nothing about him being a Casssadine that I can see though it would be been too easy if it had just been listed, right?” She tapped her nails against the desk absently. “Born May 12, 1980. He would have been twenty-six this year.”

“What?” Dillon leaned forward. “Oh. We were out of town.” He bit his lip. “I hope someone was with Maxie that day.”

“Anyway…” Lulu bit her lip. “You’re right. Patrick would probably be the best bet. At any rate, he could probably run a paternity test for us that would say definitely who John Jacks’ father is.”

“Or at this rate, who it isn’t,” Dillon replied wryly.

Petersen Clinic: Lounge

Alexis Davis lowered herself into an uncomfortable chair, her eyes trained on a door in the distance. “It’s all surreal,” she murmured.

Her nephew sighed and looked at her with a concerned expression. “I’m glad you called, Alexis.”

“I’m sorry to take you away from your search for Lucky,” she patted Nikolas’s hand. “But I needed–I needed my family. You, Ric, the girls…I needed you.”

“Have you thought about what you want to do yet?” Nikolas asked quietly. “How you want to handle this?”

“I don’t know. I can’t begin to imagine the next step.” Alexis shifted. “Though I am glad not to be in Port Charles right now. How awful it must be for Robin and her family.”

“She was in stable condition when I last called the hospital.” Nikolas shook his head. “I don’t know what to think, Alexis. I don’t want to believe my brother to be capable of such a horrendous act but I saw his face when I gave him those photos–”

“I don’t believe for one second believe that Elizabeth cheated on Lucky,” Alexis cut in. “And even if I thought her capable of that, it would have been Jason or someone she had actual history with, a connection to. Not a man she barely knows. Where is your common sense, Nikolas?”

“I thought that I could believe that. I thought that I knew Elizabeth but I saw those photos with my own eyes,” Nikolas replied. “I don’t–I know she and Lucky have had some rough times with his injuries, the kidnapping and the money problems. I can certainly understand how she’d be driven to turn to someone else but I wouldn’t have thought she’d turn to Patrick. Especially since Robin told me she was seeing him.”

“Well, there’s your answer right there,” Alexis said with a faint smile. “Elizabeth would never do that to another woman. Especially after what Lucky put her through with Sarah. Nikolas, you’re thinking first of your loyalty to Lucky and not thinking it through logically.”

“It’s hard when they’re both on opposite sides,” Nikolas admitted. “Because if I believe Lucky, I lose all faith in Elizabeth and if I believe Elizabeth, I’ve betrayed my brother.”

“Cheer up, Nikolas,” Alexis sighed. “It can hardly get worse.”

Jason chose that moment to make his entrance. His eyes narrowed when he found Nikolas but he dismissed him after another moment and focused on Alexis. “Where is she? I want to see her.”

Alexis stood and nervously wiped her hands on her jeans. “Jason…there are some things we have to discuss first–” She looked to Nikolas. “Ah…can you tell us the situation at home first?”

Jason sighed, impatiently before looking at the Cassadine prince. “Lucky was found with Cameron over the Canadian border. He’s at the PCPD. You should probably go and apologize to Elizabeth for being an ass. Robin’s in stable condition, she’s going to be fine and Carly was shot. Is there anything else or can you tell me how Sam is?”

Nikolas coughed and kissed his aunt on the cheek. “Call me.”

When he’d left, Alexis swallowed nervously. “Jason, there’s nothing I’d love more right now than to let you go in there and see her and if you still want to when I finish talking, then it’s completely up to you–”

“Alexis,” Jason cut in sharply. “Just say it.”

“Sam has brain damage,” Alexis blurted out. “She doesn’t remember anything.”

ICU: Robin’s Room

Patrick stared at her for a long moment. “Helena Cassadine.”

Robin nodded. She shifted and bit her lip hard. “I–can’t–I saw her and there…” she shook her head. “I don’t remember what happened after that. I–I know she said something and I said something but…I remember going to your hotel room.” A ghostly smile flitted across her face. “I remember what we did in your hotel room.”

“Well, at least there’s a bright side.” Patrick hesitated. “Do you remember what happened when I left?”

“It’s…blurry…” Robin bit her lip harder. The pain was getting worse and there was black around the edges of her vision. She would be out again soon. “I remember pain. And a voice. I can’t—I can’t remember what they said or who it was but I knew the voice.” Her grip on his hand tightened.

“I’m going to get you some pain medication,” Patrick leaned across her and pressed the call button. “Just relax, baby. You’re going to be okay now.”

“Patrick…I knew the voice,” Robin repeated. “But…he’s dead. So it can’t be him.”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned living in Port Charles, it’s that dead is usually a figurative rather than literal term,” Patrick said. “Relax, Robin. You don’t have to worry about anything right now.”

“I do,” Robin said intently. “But–I just can’t remember what.” She was frustrated. Her mind couldn’t focus, she couldn’t move and there was this blinding pain. And she didn’t have any idea what was going on.

Wyndemere: A Bedroom

It had never been his intention to kill the Scorpio girl.

Stefan Cassadine buttoned his silk shirt and adjusted the cuffs, pinning them with a gold stud pin in each sleeve.

He had been obliged to return from his place of residence on Cyprus when it became apparent to him that Nikolas required his assistance. He had been careful to keep his survival to himself, knowing that Helena was still on the loose and still a potential danger.

He had kept himself a secret in some of Nikolas’ worse times, knowing that he had raised a man who could take care of himself, that could look out for himself and did not require parental supervision to run his life.

But Stefan had kept a close eye on him nonetheless and had made it a point to know that Courtney Jacks was not in fact carrying her estranged husband’s child, but the heir to the Cassadine family. Stefan had waited, albeit somewhat impatiently, for the knowledge to reveal itself.

But Courtney had died and the boy had gone home with a man not his father. Stefan had vowed to love Nikolas as his own, to treat him as his own. And a man did not allow his child to be duped into losing his firstborn son.

It was only right that those who sought to keep Nikolas’s child from him would have to pay the price. Even if it meant coming out of hiding.

Stefan tugged a suit jacket over his shirt and was about to exit the bedroom when a panel slid open and Luke Spencer stepped out.

“I should have brought popcorn,” he remarked with a grin. “It’s my favorite two movies rolled into one. Back from the Dead and The Undead. Must be my lucky day.”

June 1, 2006

Wyndemere: Bedroom

Stefan stared at him for a long moment and finally broke eye contact. “Spencer,” he said disgusted. “You are a plague.”

Luke considered this and found it to be generally true, “Okay, I’ll buy that. Spanky’s called me worse.” He strode forward and closed the doorway to the passage. “I’ll make this quick, Vlad. Why you framing my kid?” He smirked. “Or is that a rhetorical question since he’s a Spencer and you’re a Cassadine?”

“It’s hardly my fault if the incompetent police department chose to focus its investigation on your son.” Stefan sighed. “I am disappointed in the boy, myself. He once held such…potential.”

Luke narrowed his eyes. It was one thing for his daughter to insinuate that Lucky had fallen short of expectations but for a Cassadine? “You’re hardly one to talk about someone not living up to their potential. You and the Dark Prince are Cassadines in name only. Hell, even Natasha has more evil in her than you.” He pushed aside the heavy velvet curtains to peer out over the harbor. “So if you didn’t want Lucky to take the rap, what’s the use of shooting Junior Scorpio?”

“You never change, Spencer.” Stefan sighed. “The world does not revolve around you or your family. This business has nothing to do with you and if your son would learn to stay out of rooms that do not belong to him, he would not have been involved at all.”

Luke narrowed his eyes. “I don’t hear you denying you played a hand in this, Chocula.”

Stefan smirked. “No, you don’t. Rest assured, Luke, I do not wish any interaction between us other than what is necessary. It no longer matters if your son keeps quiet. This has begun to play out as I anticipated and I no longer require his help.”

“In English, Stiffin,” Luke snarled, intentionally mispronouncing Stefan’s name, a quirk of his that never failed to rile the dark one.

“I am pleased that Dr. Scorpio seems to be making a full recovery,” Stefan remarked. “It was never my intention for her to die. Only to…suffer.”

“And letting Lucky think his wife was dead?” Luke growled. “You don’t think that’s suffering?”

“No, but it was an added side benefit. You can let yourself out the way you entered.” Stefan left the room and Luke glared after him for a moment before reaching into his pocket and removing the small recorder he’d brought with him.

Petersen Clinic: Lounge

“Sam has brain damage,” Alexis blurted out. “She doesn’t remember anything.”

Jason heard the words but it took a few moments for the meaning to sink into his head. And still, he tried denial. Clearing his throat, “She doesn’t remember the shooting?” he tried.

Alexis shook her head and twisted her hands together. “She doesn’t remember anything, Jason. Her mind is a clean slate. There’s nothing–nothing about her life before Port Charles, nothing since…there’s nothing. And she keeps looking at me like I should have the answers…” She placed a hand over her mouth and took a deep breath. “The doctors think she will make a full recovery but not her memory.”

He could now put himself in the place of his parents, of his family after the accident a decade ago. He wondered if they had felt this twisting in the gut, this hollow emptiness when Tony Jones had taken away any hope that Jason Quartermaine would return.

“I want to see her,” Jason said, dismissing the voices in his head that told him to turn around and go home. He could be of use in Port Charles. He could help investigate the shootings, he could continue talking sense into his sister. There were a thousand things he could do in Port Charles but instead, he followed Alexis down the hallway and to the room.

Sam lay on the hospital bed, her skin as pale as he’d ever seen it and a vacant stare in her eyes. When the door slid open, she turned to look at them and frowned. “Who are you are?” she asked quietly. She looked to Alexis. “Who is he?”

“A friend,” Alexis answered when Jason couldn’t find the words. “He’s a friend from where we live in Port Charles, sweetheart. Sam, this is Jason Morgan.”

He waited for the name to mean something to her, to see any kind of recognition dawn in her eyes. But the vacant stare remained and when he said nothing, her frowned deepened. “And?” she prompted. “How do we know each other?”

There was a lump in his throat that kept him from speaking so again Alexis took pity on him. “Jason…he was your fiancé, Sam.”

Sam’s eyes darkened and then she looked at Jason again. “Oh.” Color flooded her cheeks. “Oh. I’m–I’m sorry. I d-don’t remember.” When he still didn’t speak, she pursed her lips. “Why…why aren’t you talking?”

“I’m sorry.” His voice sounded disembodied and he didn’t feel like he’d even said the words. “I–I have to go.”

He turned and walked out.

“I’ll be right back,” Alexis promised to a bewildered Sam before hurrying after him. “Jason–”

“I’m going back to Port Charles,” Jason said, not turning around. “She should focus on her recovery…not on a life that she doesn’t know anymore.”

“But–”

Jason whirled around and Alexis squeaked as she almost ran into him. “You’ve got what you want, Alexis. She doesn’t remember me. This is her chance to get out of this life, to have a new one.”

“Jason–this isn’t what I wanted–” she stopped him from leaving, putting a hand on his forearm. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I didn’t–I wanted this to be your decision, I wanted her to want a new life. I didn’t want this.”

“Well…you’ve got it, regardless.” Jason exhaled slowly. “I’m needed in Port Charles. There are people there that do remember me–I can’t sit here and pretend things are going to change. I can’t. I won’t. I won’t be like the Quartermaines, begging for scraps and wanting something that’s never going to happen. I won’t do that to myself, Alexis.”

And with that, he turned again and strode out of the clinic.

ICU: Robin’s Room

Monica set her stethoscope back around her neck and smiled warmly at her exhausted patient. “I have never been happier than I am right now to tell a patient they’re on the mend.”

There was a collective sound of three breaths being released at the same time as Mac, Anna and Robert heard from the doctor that Robin would recover.

Monica patted Robin’s hand. “When you’re a little stronger, we’ll talk about the long term ramifications of the injuries.”

Robin blinked and looked away. “Too much to hope for that it’d just heal and I’d be back to normal, huh?” she asked quietly.

“I wish it were that simple, honey,” Monica replied. “Unfortunately, your protocol is going to be reevaluated, your system took a bad hit with this. And the position of the injuries opens you to the possibilities of back problems and even heart problems in the future. But I want to wait until you’re a bit more on your feet and then we’ll see where we’re at.”

Once Monica had left (first giving a stern warning to the visitors that Robin needed her rest), Mac sat next to Robin in a chair that had seen more than its fair share of people in the last twenty-four hours. “Sweetheart, I’m going to ask you a few questions but I want you stop me whenever you’re not feeling good or too tired.”

“Okay.” Robin sighed and rested her head back against the pillows. “Is someone making sure that Patrick’s sleeping?”

Anna smiled softly. “I saw Noah marching him towards the break room a few minutes ago. The poor boy was on the verge of crashing–starting to fall asleep if he wasn’t moving.” She touched Robert’s arm. “We should leave her and Mac alone–”

“I want to hear–Ow!” Robert broke off as Anna pinched him. “Yes, dear.”

After the two were gone, Mac cleared his throat. “Speaking of Drake…who knew you would be at the hotel last night?”

Robin hesitated, biting her lip. “No one, really. Elizabeth, I guess, since she was studying and I think Patrick said she helped him set up the room. But it was really kind of a last minute…” she paused. “But I guess it wouldn’t be that hard to predict.” Her cheeks flushed. “We’ve been trading between each other’s places the last week or so and the night before, we were at mine so…I mean, we didn’t plan it to work out that way, it just did.”

Deciding he would rather not be thinking about Robin’s sex life anymore than he had to, Mac changed the subject. “When did you definitely decide to go to the Metro Court?”

“We’d have a fight that morning,” Robin said slowly. “And we both apologized–well, more so he apologized but I guess neither one of us felt like it was resolved because–well, it wasn’t. So he invited me over to talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” Mac asked, praying it wouldn’t be something wholly embarrassing or humiliating for either of them.

“I can’t really say,” Robin remarked. “It’s not like it’s a…” she hesitated. “It’s not my secret to tell, Uncle Mac. Let me make sure it’s okay to tell before I get into it. Suffice to say that whatever it was, it was kind of taking over my life. And I only told Patrick in a moment–” she coughed again. “A moment of weakness, so to speak. I guess he was a little annoyed that I didn’t spend more time thinking about him. He’s a little self-centered that way. Anyway, it wasn’t even a bad argument but I think we were both at the end of the line. It was going to have to come out and I think that’s what we would have discussed…” she hesitated. “After he invited me over, I ran into Helena Cassadine.”

Mac’s eyebrows shot up as he realized that having both Stefan and Helena in the same town at the same time would be a thousand different kinds of bad. “And what did the dark queen have to say?”

“I don’t remember,” Robin muttered. “The rest of the day is mostly a blur right now. I don’t remember much until I got to Patrick’s room. Something happened in that time, Uncle Mac. I can’t figure out what, but I went there and we didn’t talk–” she broke off and fiddled with the edge of her blanket. “We sort of–to the bed–right–” she coughed uncomfortably. “We went right to bed.”

“I get the picture,” Mac mumbled. “Okay, so–after all that stuff we’re not going to talk about…Patrick got called to the hospital.”

“It gets blurry again. He asked me to stay and then…I remember a lot of pain…” Robin furrowed her brow. “And there was a voice. A familiar voice–it sounded like Stefan Cassadine.”

Mac’s pen stilled and he looked up at her. “Stefan.”

Robin nodded. “But he’s dead,” she said softly. “So that’s not possible, right?”

He set his pen and note pad aside. “It looks like that might not be the case anymore, sweetheart. He was present at the hotel right before Carly was shot. Now if you heard his voice in your room last night…that means the two shootings are connected.”

Robin shook her head. “No…that’s impossible. There’s no one that would want us both dead.” She frowned. “Right?”

He sighed, troubled by the idea that Robin had been targeted by the Cassadine family. “I don’t know, Robin. But I promise you I will find out.”

June 2, 2006

General Hospital: Hallway

“Doc said that Spencer hasn’t been on the pills long enough to worry about withdrawal,” Rodriguez remarked to Mac as they approached the room where Lucky was situated. “Once he came down from the high, he was remarkably coherent and I think he’s ready to answer questions.”

“Well, he’d better have one damn good explanation,” Mac muttered, tugging the door open.

Lucky sat up in the hospital bed, staring out the window, his eyes troubled and his face shadowed. He’d walked around in a haze of pain medication for nearly a month and for the first time, he could see his life clearly.

And he was beginning to realize why he’d taken the pills to shut out his life. The never ending cycle of debt, the disappointment in Elizabeth’s eyes and the choking feeling that he’d never measure up to everyone’s expectations of Luke Spencer’s son.

It had all seemed so easy once. He wondered when that had changed.

“Mac,” Lucky said quietly. “I’m glad you came early. I’ll feel better once I get this all out of my head.”

Mac sat and studied his former officer for a long moment. “I wish you had come to me,” he said. “I wish that I could have helped you, that I could have fixed this.” He took a deep breath. “I want you to tell me everything you think I need to know and then we’ll go from here.”

Lucky nodded and he lifted himself off the bed, feeling restless. He dragged his hands through his short hair. “I’m not sure now why I thought Elizabeth and Patrick Drake were having an affair but I remember feeling absolutely certain of it. Even before Nikolas brought me those photos.” He stopped at the windows and peered out at the view of the parking garage. “I thought they’d be at the Metro Court because Elizabeth said she’d been called into work suddenly. I wanted to talk to her, Mac, I swear.” He exhaled slowly. “I went into the hotel and I took the stairs. I wanted time to think.” He chucked bitterly. “I don’t know what good that would do because I haven’t really had a clear thought in weeks.”

“When I got to Drake’s room, it was already ajar. I went in–” he sucked in a deep breath, “and she was in the bed. She was lying there and there was blood everywhere–”

“Lucky, you know that it wasn’t Elizabeth, right?” Rodriguez broke in. “It was Robin Scorpio.”

“I know that now,” Lucky said flatly. “But at that moment, at that second in time, I thought that it was my wife. I thought it was Elizabeth, lying dead in that bed. I was saying her name, over and over. And then…there was a sound from the other side of the room.”

Mac tensed. “What was the sound?”

“A sound of a glass clinking,” Lucky murmured. “Like someone setting it against other glasses.”

Mac and Rodriguez traded looks, realizing that explained the single glass of bourbon that had been poured at the minibar but not finished. There had been only Patrick Drake’s prints on it, and they had assumed it was his but the assailant could have worn gloves.

“And then he spoke.” Lucky took a deep breath and faced the other men. “Stefan Cassadine.”

Corroboration, Mac said absently. Two people separately placed the man in the room and a video placed him at the Carly shooting. “What did he say?”

“He was standing by the bar, sipping a drink,” Lucky said emotionlessly, “and he told me that it was a shame. That she had moved at the last second and the bullet had gone in the wrong direction, that instead of being merely injured, she was dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it.” His lips twisted. “He sat there, drinking bourbon, while Robin lay dying just a few feet away. I didn’t think about it then, I didn’t register that his words meant that whoever was in the bed was still alive. I just…I thought she was dead.”

“What happened after that?” Mac asked.

“He said that if I told anyone what happened, that if I even breathed a word, he wouldn’t stop at killing my wife. He’d kill me and he’d kill Cameron.” Lucky shook his head. “I’m not proud of myself, Mac. Not for anything. But I couldn’t let anything happen to Cameron. I thought Elizabeth was gone and I knew she’d want Cam protected. So I just kept that in my head the whole time and I went to Audrey’s to get him. He was in the crib she’s got in the living room and Audrey was in the kitchen making something. I just called out to her that I was picking him up–that Elizabeth was held up.” He exhaled harshly. “She never even saw me.”

“And then you headed for the border.”

“Right. I stayed there until Rodriguez found me the next morning.” Lucky met Mac’s eyes. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Mac, and I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not proud of. But I would never hurt Elizabeth. Even if she’d been having an affair and I know now that would never happen. I love her. She’s my life. I would never hurt her. I went there to talk to her.”

Mac wasn’t sure if he believed him because he quite simply needed to or because he thought Lucky was actually telling the truth. But he did believe him. He flipped his notebook shut. “You’ve got a tough road ahead of you, Lucky. And I don’t mean about the pain pills–”

“Elizabeth is never going to forgive me,” Lucky cut in softly. “It doesn’t matter that I was on pain medication. I took her trust in me and I shattered it. And I deserve whatever I get coming to me because of that.”

General Hospital: Hallway

Patrick emerged from the locker room, dressed in his scrubs and ready to do some actual work instead of just floating through his rounds like a dead man. His father had forced him into the break room against his will and while he was still kind of irritated about it, the second his head had hit a pillow, he’d passed out and hadn’t woken until just an hour ago. He’d showered and changed but he still hadn’t left the hospital.

The last time he’d left the hospital, he’d gone to the Metro Court to grab some of his things and he’d seen that room. Somehow, the hospital felt safer. More secure.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Lulu and Dillon leaning against the opposite wall. “The two of you aren’t looking for me right?” he asked hopefully, remembering the last time they were in together and that it had resulted in a not so fun adventure.

“Doctor Hottie, have we got a story for you,” Lulu remarked brightly. She wound her arm through his and started to lead him down the hall. If he thought he’d hit rock bottom the day before with the passing out he’d done on available surface, being led around by a kid pretty much topped that.

He listened as the perky blonde explained that they had their own theory about Robin’s shooting and that it led back to John Jacks’s paternity–a thought which hadn’t really crossed Patrick’s mind since he’d never pegged Jasper Jacks as the homicidal type. But Lulu’s explanation made scary sense as he realized the chain of events was very disturbing–coupled with the fact that Robin had had a run in with Helena the day of the shooting.

When Lulu had finished her explanation, Patrick frowned at her before looking at her resigned companion. “And what is it that you need from me?” he asked curiously.

“Well…” Lulu sighed. “We’re kind of over our heads with this. For one thing, we don’t even know who John’s father is for sure. And what Robin might have been thinking yesterday. Plus, there’s this weird thing about Jesse being connected to the Cassadines, so we were hoping to borrow your expertise.”

“My expertise…” Patrick repeated. “To do what, exactly? Why can’t you take this to Mac?”

“Well, for one, thing we have no proof that any crime has been committed,” Lulu pointed out.

“Except by us when we broke into the records,” Dillon admitted sheepishly.

“Yeah…” Patrick drawled. “We’re going to have to have a discussion about that when this is all over.” He sighed. “And you’re dumping this on me because…?”

“Well, we had to think of someone who could help us, who cares what happens to Robin and isn’t exactly too worried about blurring the lines of the law,” Lulu explained. She grinned. “You could be a hero.”

“I thought we talked about this,” Dillon hissed. “He’s too old for you to flirt with to get your way.”

“That’s silly…” Lulu smiled up at him and for a second, Patrick felt a little dizzy. At seventeen, this girl had a bright future as either a con artist or a heartbreaker ahead of her, he decided. “I’m not flirting to get my way. Patrick understands that it’s in Robin’s best interest that we find out what’s going on with this.”

Patrick narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you didn’t get the memo about how I don’t do anything that doesn’t benefit me in the end.”

Dillon rolled his eyes but Lulu wasn’t deterred. “Well, even I’ve heard the gossip about you and Robin and I’m willing to bet that if you help catch the idiot who did this, it’s going to mean some sex for you.”

Dillon’s jaw dropped and smacked her shoulder. “Lu!”

“What?” she huffed. “It benefits him right? He wants to play this like we don’t all know he’s crazy about Robin then we’ll just appeal to the man whore in him.”

Torn between being amused and offended, Patrick crossed his arms. “Yeah, you’re not winning your case here, cupcake.”

“C’mon!” Lulu stamped her foot. “Why am I the only one this is driving crazy? I have to know! I have to know why there’s a third test that Robin accessed just hours before getting shot and I want to know who else hacked into the records! Why doesn’t anyone else want to get to the bottom of this?”

“If you help, she’ll shut up,” Dillon supplied. “I think by now, that should be reason enough.”

Patrick sighed. He’d never broken the law or blurred the line of ethics before coming to Port Charles and now he was on his third round in less than a four months. Life had definitely been simpler before Port Charles and Robin Scorpio. “Fine,” he said resigned. “I’ll run a paternity test. Give me the test details.”

Lu brightened and happily handed over the list of tests, the user accesses and the results of each. Patrick scanned them idly but hesitated over the mysterious third test that listed neither Jacks nor Cassadine as the father. “Robin didn’t access this the other day.”

Dillon frowned. “Yeah–it says right there–”

“No…” Patrick frowned. “She created it and then backdated it. This test wasn’t performed in February, it was created May 31. And it wasn’t actually performed so much as Robin just entered the values.”

“So, wait…Robin created a test that said neither of them were the father?” Lulu said. “That’s crazy. Why would she do that?”

She’d created it after her meeting with Helena, Patrick realized with a sense of dread. He’d never had the pleasure of meeting the crazy Cassadine matriarch but it was difficult to live in Port Charles for any length of time and not hear the lengthy tale of the Cassadine family legacy. Helena, while not being especially successful in the last few years, had a history of bad deeds and ominous threats.

And one of those threats had scared Robin so badly she’d decided to create this test. Suddenly, Patrick wanted to get to the bottom of this as badly as the impatient blonde girl in front of him.

ICU: Robin’s Room

It had taken fifteen minutes for Monica to get Brenda out of the room and the ex-model had been very vehement about her god-given right to stay in her little sister’s room until the very end.

But when Robin had politely requested some time alone, her best friend had reluctantly acquiesced to the request and now Robin was alone.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Not to sleep, but to force herself to remember the events of May 31. There was something in the hours between Patrick’s invitation and her arrival at the hotel that was significant and if it took the rest of her life, she’d remember it.

She’d been on the docks, she could remember that much. She’d wanted to go see Nikolas, Robin realized. To tell him the truth. Because she’d realized Patrick was right–not for the reasons he wanted to be right but it was way past time for her to start concentrating on her own life and if she wanted this…whatever it was between her and Patrick…if she wanted it to work, she’d have to put the effort in and if she kept dividing her concentration, it wouldn’t.

But Helena had stepped out from the shadows and the more Robin pictured the scene, the more the words came together for her. Phrases came to mind and she fought to put them in order. To make some sense out of them.

“It’s a shame that he’s not my Nikolas’s child. I could have had such plans.”

“He’s just a child–“

“Though I wonder…if it’s possible…I suppose I could just find out for myself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I could just take him, find out for sure.”

“And if he’s not?”

“Dispose of him, I imagine.”

The words were jumbled and she couldn’t be sure that they were even right but the more Robin thought about it, the more she pieced it together. Helena had threatened to kidnap John and kill him if he turned out not to be Nikolas’s son. Even though Robin was mostly sure about the paternity, it was a chance she wasn’t willing to take.

She closed her eyes and wished she had more strength. That she could move or that she could get out of this bed and get on with her life.

There was a creak and Robin opened her eyes, wondering which of her family members hadn’t received the memo about her needing some alone time.

Instead, Helena stood here, with a smirk on her face. “Hello, my dear. As usual, my darling son can’t manage to carry off even the simplest of orders.”

Robin opened her mouth but the talking she’d done all morning had left her hoarse and somewhat weak. She couldn’t move her hand to the call button; she couldn’t call out for help.

She could only watch in horror as Helena took a syringe from her purse and injected it into her IV.

“Sleep well, my dear Dr. Scorpio,” Helena murmured. She watched as Robin’s eyes slid closed and then she watched as Robin’s vitals slowed and when the heart line flattened, the machines started to shriek.

She took that as her cue to leave, exiting the room as Audrey Hardy’s panicked voice sounded over the speaker.

Code Blue, Room 314. Code Blue, Room 314.

June 2, 2006

ICU: Hallway

Code Blue, Room 314. Code Blue, Room 314

Patrick halted, the blood draining from his face. “Robin.”

Lulu grabbed Dillon’s sleeve and tugged. “Robin’s in room 314?” she demanded. “What does code blue mean?”

For someone who grew up during the era of ER and Chicago Hope, Dillon just swallowed. “It’s a code, it means Robin’s heart has stopped, basically.”

Lulu’s eyes bulged and she turned to look at Patrick, but he had already taken off, covering the short distance between their position by the elevators and Robin’s room at the end of the hall. The waiting room door spilled open and Robin’s various relatives flooded out. A movement caught Lulu’s attention and she turned to see someone slipping into the emergency stairwell.

“Someone just went into that stairwell,” Lulu hissed. She tugged his sleeve again. “Come on!”

“What about Robin–” Dillon began.

“I’ve got a bad feeling that whoever just snuck away has something to do with Robin’s current condition,” Lulu remarked.

“Oh, your Spencer senses are tingling?” Dillon retorted. “Well, gee, because that’s never got us into trouble before!”

“You really have to stop pretending you’re not enjoying this,” Lulu rolled her eyes. “I’m going after the strange person in the stairwell, why don’t you decide if you’re a man or a mouse.” She slipped into the stairwell and left Dillon to glare after her.

“You totally ruined that movie quote,” he muttered more to himself than to her and then followed her into the stairwell. He’d followed Spencers into worse situations before.

ICU: Robin’s Room

He’d learned this procedure during the summer he’d worked as lifeguard at the community pool in Long Island. He remembered standing with his friends and laughing as the instructor fumbled with life sized dolls for them to practice on.

He’d been lucky that he’d never had the chance to use this, never had someone’s life in his hands like this. He was cool and confident working on a stranger as long as he had a scalpel in his hands but standing here, in this ICU, pressing down hard on the chest a woman that he’d just begun to…

There was nothing cool and confident about Patrick Drake in this moment as he frantically tried to keep Robin Scorpio from slipping away.

He heard the door swing open behind him and realized that the crash team had arrived. He knew that he had to cease his ministrations and step back so that they could do what they were trained to do but in the back of his mind, he honestly felt that if he stepped away, if he stopped for even a moment, Robin would be gone forever.

“Dr. Drake!” Megan Jennings’ sharp voice finally broke through the haze that panic had created and Patrick stepped aside, stepping back and watching with an almost detached curiosity as a nurse handed Megan the paddles and the doctor placed them on Robin’s chest.

“What’s going on?” a panicked voice demanded as Megan gave orders to bump it up. Robin’s body jerked and moved slightly into the air.

“Again!” Megan ordered. She looked at Patrick. “Get them out of here!”

It was then that Patrick realized that Robin’s aunt and cousins had flooded the doorway. And just like that, he was in control again. He led Felicia, Maxie, Georgie and Brenda in the hallway. “Let them do their work–” he began.

“She was fine!” Maxie cried. “She was awake, she was talking! What happened?”

Patrick swallowed roughly. “I don’t know.”

PCPD: Commissioner’s Office

“Make this quick,” Mac remarked, taking a seat behind his desk. “I’ve got a full plate today–”

Jax shifted in his chair and glanced at Robert and Anna Scorpio as they hovered behind Mac. This was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult moments of his life. “I thought you should know that there is a link between Robin and Carly.”

“Besides the fact that they despise each other and were both shot at the Metro Court?” Anna demanded. “Because we already knew–”

“They are among the handful of people who are aware that my son, John, is actually Nikolas Cassadine’s son,” Jax said painfully. “I–I wanted to protect him from Helena Cassadine so I lied and I covered up his paternity.”

Robert’s back stiffened. “Robin would have said something–”

“She did,” Jax sighed. “She’s known for about a week and has been trying to convince me to come clean to Nikolas. I refused and then finally yesterday, she reached the end of her patience. She told me that if I didn’t tell Nikolas, she would.”

“That sounds like excellent motive,” Anna mused. “Are you here to confess?”

“No,” Jax said, irritated. “I didn’t even think one had anything to do with the other until Carly was shot as well and it was the only link between the two that I could come up with.”

“The Cassadine family would do anything to protect its own,” Robert said. He looked at his brother and then his ex-wife as the three reached a similar conclusion. “And they’ve killed in the past.”

Jax frowned. “But Nikolas knows nothing of this, Helena couldn’t possibly and Alexis–”

“Stefan Cassadine was spotted on the grounds of the hotel shortly before Carly was wounded,” Mac reluctantly said. “That shot was designed to wound, not kill and Lucky Spencer’s statement says that the man in the room admitted he hadn’t intended on killing Robin, only wounding her but she moved at the last second.”

“Stefan–” Jax shook his head. “No, he’s supposed to be dead–”

“So am I,” Robert said dryly. “Death, in Port Charles, is usually exaggerated.” He sighed. “If Stefan Cassadine thought he was avenging his nephew by causing great pains to those who kept Nikolas’s son from him, I think that would push him over the edge–if a Cassadine needs an actual motive to go over the edge.”

Anna arched an eyebrow and smirked at Jax. “Which makes me wonder what he has in store for you.”

“He’s not going to get a chance,” Mac stood. “We’ll put protection on you and we’ll drag Nikolas Cassadine in here to find out exactly what he knows about the latest Cassadine to rise from the grave.”

Anna’s cell chirped and she tugged it out. “Devane.” Her face paled and she hung up after a moment. “That was Felicia–Robin crashed again.”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Elizabeth tapped her pen nervously. “I wish I’d been assigned to the ICU today,” she remarked, waiting for her phone to ring and for her grandmother to give her an update on Robin’s condition. Since the code blue five minutes ago, there’d been no word.

“What I can’t figure out is why she’d code at all,” Emily remarked. “She was stable–no signs of infection. She was up, she was alert.” She set a medical text down on the counter. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Very little has made sense for the past forty-eight hours,” Elizabeth replied.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Emily sighed. “First Robin gets shot, and they suspect Lucky–who’s disappeared with Cameron. Then Sam wakes up, has lost all her memory, Carly gets shot, Lucky reappears and was the witness to Robin’s shooting, thought you were dead–” she shook her head. “Life was a lot less dramatic when I lived with my biological mother.” She glanced at Elizabeth. “Have you been to see Lucky since he’s been in the hospital?”

“No,” Elizabeth said softly. “I have my son back, that’s all I’m worried about right now. I mean…I’m not angry with Lucky for taking Cameron, because I know he was just trying to protect him but I’m just not sure I can get past the fact that Lucky was in that room in the first place because he thought I would be there. I mean, I would never sleep with Patrick–I’m married and he’s crazy about Robin and even if I weren’t married, it would still be wrong because…” she wrinkled her nose. “I just don’t see him that way.”

“And when you factor in the drugs, the fact that he had Nikolas hire someone to follow you around…the trust is gone,” Emily replied. She flipped her text open. “Well, then it’s a good thing you and Jason are friends again because between your marriage falling apart and Sam losing her memory, you’re going to need each other.”

“Don’t I know it…” The phone rang and Elizabeth snatched up the receiver. “Gram?” Her shoulders sagged and she closed her eyes. “Thank God.” She hung up the phone and turned back to Emily. “They were able to get Robin’s heart started again, she’s going to be okay.”

General Hospital: Sub-Basement 3

After third time Dillon saw the sign indicating that they were, indeed, in the third sub-basement of General Hospital, he stopped in the middle of the hall and sat down. Lulu didn’t realize he’d stopped moving and was a few feet way before she stopped to look back. “What are you doing?”

“I’m staying right here,” Dillon said with a firm nod. “Someone will eventually come by and they will lead me back to civilization.”

Lulu rolled her eyes and slid to the floor next to him. “You’re such a pain in the ass,” she sighed dramatically. “I wish you could admit to yourself that you’re enjoying this.”

“If I were having fun,” Dillon drawled, “I would admit it. I am not having fun.”

“Please,” Lulu scoffed. “You refuse to admit it because if you do, you’ll have to admit that you love our adventures, that you enjoy our little capers and if you admit that, you’ll have to admit that the reason you keep–” she used air quotes for her next words “–giving them up is because Georgie dislikes you being focused on anything but her.”

“That’s…” Dillon shook his head. “That’s just a false theory, right there.” He snorted and looked away.

“Right.” Lulu folded her arms across her chest. “So you’ve never had fun with me or my father. Then what are you doing here right now?”

“I’m keeping you out of trouble,” Dillon muttered. “Though my technique could use some work.” He shifted, wishing he’d worn something thicker than his khaki shorts that day. The cement floor was awfully chilly. “The next time your Spencer senses tingle, just say no.”

Lulu gasped and smacked him. “You say that like I’m a drug! I am not a drug–” she broke off and grinned. “I mean, if you’re saying I’m addictive, well then I can’t argue with that.”

“That–I never–that’s not even close to what I was inferring,” Dillon sputtered. “You’ve gone off the deep end entirely.”

Lulu ignored that. “Anyway, in ten years, I am totally going to outshine my father. My Spencer senses, as you term them, are fabulous and I’m just–” she shrugged. “I’m having an off day. I know I saw someone go through that door, they’re probably just–” her eyes lit up and her back straightened.

“Oh, God, I know that look.”

“Helena Cassadine! Of course, she wants to shut Robin up because Robin will tell everyone that Helena shot her. So she injected something into Robin’s IV to make her heart stop and then she escaped through one of those tunnels–you know back when she brought Stavros Cassadine back from the dead, there were all these tunnels that connected Wyndemere and the hospital–”

“See, I know where this is going and now I’m scared.”

Lulu lunged to her feet and Dillon reluctantly stood. “So I bet she escaped and went back to Wyndemere, so you know what we gotta do right?”

“Find a way out of here and never do this again?” Dillon asked hopefully.

“We gotta find those tunnels!”

Dillon sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

ICU: Hallway

Megan stepped out of the room and rubbed the side of her face, a little started that the small group had grown into a much larger one. Patrick, Felicia, Brenda, Maxie and Georgie had been joined by Noah, Audrey, Robert, Anna, Mac and Jax.

She cleared her throat. “Robin’s stable, again. We’re not sure what happened but this was a close one. If Dr. Drake hadn’t been so close and kept her going until my team arrived…” she coughed. “Well, anyway, it was a close call but Robin’s stable and it shouldn’t affect her recovery all that much.”

The group broke up as Felicia, Brenda and the girls crowded into Robin’s room and Audrey returned to her post at the nurse’s station.

“Has Nikolas Cassadine been back to the hospital?” Mac asked Patrick.

“Not that I’ve seen,” Patrick answered. “Why?”

“Because we think he might know where his psychotic uncle is,” Robert snarled. “He’s the one who shot Robin–”

“We think he might be responsible for the shooting,” Mac clarified. “It seems that Robin was aware that John wasn’t Jax’s son–”

“She knew about the paternity, yeah, but why would any of the Cassadines go after Robin?” Patrick asked, confused. “She wanted Jax to tell the truth–”

“Stefan Cassadine was obsessively protective of his nephew,” Jax sighed. “He might want to take revenge on anyone he thought kept John away from Nikolas.”

Patrick’s eyes narrowed. “Let me get this straight–Carly gets a little scratch, you don’t get hurt at all and Robin–the only person who wanted to come clean about this entire situation–has almost died because you kidnapped the Cassadine baby?”

While everyone was somewhat surprised, no one really blamed Patrick when he lunged for Jax’s throat.

Wyndemere: Nikolas’s Study

Nikolas rubbed his eyes and sifted through the last of his mail, hoping to get the paperwork out of the way so he could go to the hospital and sort out the drama there. He had to visit with Lucky, patch things up with Elizabeth and of course, stop in to visit with Robin. He had been relieved to find out she’d been upgraded to stable condition and that his brother had been cleared of the crime though he’d been unable to find out what the current theory of said crime was.

He heard footsteps in the corridor by the study and his head snapped up just in time to see his uncle step into the room.

His dead uncle.

Nikolas shot up. “What the–”

“We have a few situations that we need to correct immediately,” Stefan said, striding forward. “Yes, I am still in the land of the living, can we please table the shock, the anger and the accusations until after we see to these problems?”

There weren’t words, Nikolas realized. He’d watched his uncle rise from the dead before and after no body had been found, he really should have known better but he’d grieved anyway. He just stared as Stefan pulled out a slim folder and opened it.

“First order of business, we have to bring John Jacks into this family.” Stefan sniffed. “A Cassadine heir does not use a commoner’s name so he will have to be rechristened–” His lips curved into almost a chilling smile. “He is your son, by the way. I have punished those who kept him from you. Except Jasper Jacks. I have something special in mind for him.”

The shock was beginning to pass and Nikolas was beginning to understand what his uncle was telling him. He had shot Carly–and Robin? “Did you–why would you shoot Robin?” he demanded.

“That is no longer important,” Stefan said, glancing at him over his glasses the way he had done since Nikolas was a small child. “What is important is bringing your son into this family and cleaning up Alexis’s mess.”

“Alexis’s–” Nikolas shook his head. “I don’t understand–”

“Nor do I. I cannot believe my sister has not had a blood test performed. I will not allow that street urchin to pass herself off as a Cassadine relation,” Stefan sniffed.

“Wait–” Nikolas held up a hand. “You shot Robin and Carly and now you’re saying that Sam isn’t Alexis’s daughter?”

“Precisely.” Stefan sighed. “Please try to keep up, Nikolas.”

June 2, 2006

Wyndemere: Study

As a member of the Cassadine family, Nikolas had long ago accepted that his was not a normal family. It would always be just this side of eccentric–if not outright insane. His grandfather had tried to freeze the world, his father had kidnapped his mother, his grandmother had brought her son back from the dead and had brainwashed his brother.

His family was not normal but until that moment, even with some of things Stefan had done in the past, Nikolas had known he was not alone in being disgusted by his family’s history.

But his uncle sat in front of him, a dossier in his hands regarding the recent tragedies to hit the family and had outright admitted to nearly killing Robin.

For the first time in his life, Nikolas felt truly alone.

“I want an explanation and I want it now,” Nikolas said coldly. “Why you shot Robin, why you shot Carly and what the hell is going on with Alexis. I want answers, Uncle.”

Stefan sighed, slightly exasperated. “Nikolas, everything I have ever done was to protect you, to protect this family. Robin Scorpio was supposed to be your friend, was supposed to be loyal to you. Instead, she perpetrated this fraud with Carly Corinthos and Jasper Jacks, she kept your son from you. She had to suffer.”

“So you tried to kill her?” Nikolas snarled. “You framed my brother for this–I don’t give a damn about Carly or Jax but Robin didn’t deserve this and Lucky–”

“Lucky stumbled into the room, clearly under the influence of some type of drug,” Stefan cut in sharply. “I took advantage of his presence, of his belief that the woman in the bed was his wife but I did not set out to frame him. Nikolas, whether you like it or not, whether you love your brother or not, the Spencers will always be the enemies of the Cassadines. It is a fact and you cannot make it go away.”

“There is no feud,” Nikolas retorted. “The feud was carried on by Helena and by you. And Luke. Lucky, Lulu and I are not our parents and we do not intend to repeat those mistakes. The Spencer/Cassadine war died the moment Lucky and I accepted each other as brothers. And perhaps you didn’t intend to frame him, but neither have you helped to exonerate him. How dare you–”

“How dare you have so little regard for your own family?” Stefan accused. “John Jacks is your son and you sit here and you argue with my right to defend my family and punish those that kept him from you–”

“If Robin knew the truth and didn’t tell me, I’m sure it was because Jax is her friend as well,” Nikolas said calmly. “She wouldn’t have wanted to hurt him like that–”

“You are so willing to believe the best in people that you fail to see what is right in font of your face.” Stefan shook his head. “I’m disappointed in you, Nikolas. I thought I raised you better.”

“You raised me to be better than the rest of the Cassadines, to be future of this family.” Nikolas swallowed hard. “Go to Greece, Uncle. And disappear. That is the most I am willing to do to protect you.”

“You would turn your own flesh and blood into the authorities?” Stefan demanded. “Have I taught you nothing about loyalty?”

“You taught me everything about loyalty and the first rule is that you are always loyal to those who are loyal to you.” Nikolas slowly took his seat and squared his shoulders. “Robin is loyal to me. My brother is loyal to me. You, Uncle, are your mother’s son. And you can no longer be trusted.” He picked up his mail to finish going through it, but really he was disguising the trembling in his hands. “Go to Greece, Uncle. If you are still in this room ten minutes from now, I will call Mac myself.”

Somewhere Under Port Charles

“Do you smell the water yet?” Lulu raised her nose in the air and sniffed. “Because if you can smell the water, we should be closer.”

Dillon sniffed and wrinkled his nose. “If that’s water I smell, then I am never drinking the Port Charles water again.”

“I don’t think I’m doing this right,” Lulu remarked. “Because every time my dad does this, he doesn’t end up wandering tunnels under Port Charles for hours.”

“Yeah, but to be fair, Lu, your dad has had much more practice at this,” Dillon pointed out. “I’m sure he didn’t run his own caper right away.”

“We should carry like granola bars and water with us at all times,” Lulu decided. “Just in case this comes up again.” She rubbed her abdomen. “I haven’t eaten in like–forever.”

“How often do you think this is going to come up?” Dillon demanded. “How many reasons are we gonna find to wander the catacombs under Port Charles?”

“Hey, my half-brother is Nikolas Cassadine,” Lulu pointed out. “You’d be surprised how many excuses I could find to wander around down here. He might be sane, but there is some crazy stuff that happens around him all the time.”

Dillon fished in his back pocket and retrieved a somewhat crushed bag of chips. “Here, I was saving these but you can have them.”

“You’re too kind,” Lulu said dryly, but she eagerly tore the bag open anyway. She didn’t care if they were starting to go stale or even that the biggest piece was the size of her nail. She was a growing girl and she needed her food. After crunching for a few moments, she paused thoughtfully. “I bet my father has maps of these catacombs.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Dillon replied, skirting the carcass of what he thought was a rat but decided not to give too much attention to. He was going to need at least eight showers to feel clean after this excursion.

“Do you smell water yet?” Lulu asked, sniffing the air again.

“I really hope that’s not water,” Dillon sighed. “It smells like onions.”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

The elevator doors slid open ad Jason stepped onto the hospital floor, his eyes searching the immediate surroundings. His sister stood at the nurse’s station and she waved to let him know she was there.

He approached her. “Hey, I was looking for Elizabeth,” he told her.

Emily pursed her lips, surprised. “Ah, she went to see Lucky. Why? Did something else happen to Sam?”

“No, no,” Jason shook his head. “I mean, other than the obvious, I guess. I just wanted to check in with her–she’s been keeping me updated with Robin and Carly since I left the hospital.”

“Oh,” Emily reached for the computer. “Well, I can do that. Robin’s in stable condition, she had an episode a little while ago but it’s all cleared up now. Carly’s also stable, they’re probably going to release her next week.” She glanced at her brother. “Are you, ah, doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jason said, dismissively and Emily knew that would be the end of the conversation. “What about the investigation?”

“Well, I don’t really know anything about that. They don’t tell us that stuff. But since Lucky’s involved, Liz would probably know.” She tapped a few more keys, trying to ignore the tension between herself and Jason. She wasn’t sorry she’d stood up for what she wanted but she would always regret that there was this rift between them now, an irreparable breach.

“You can wait for her if you want,” Emily offered. “But she’s with Lucky, so I don’t know how long she’ll be.”

Jason nodded. “Can you just tell her to call me?”

“Sure,” Emily agreed. She watched him stride towards the elevators and wished again that her choices and her decisions had been different.

General Hospital: Lucky’s Room

She’d been fourteen when she’d fallen for Lucky Spencer outside of Kelly’s. He’d been cool and confident and had an air of certainty around him, she’d been drawn to him from the moment they’d met. But it had been another year before she’d learned the meaning of love and how deep it could be.

It been almost nine years since she’d arrived in Port Charles–it felt like a life time more than that–but in all those times, her heart had always belonged to this man lying in the hospital bed. Not always her entire heart, but a piece had been reserved for him, her first love, her sweetest love and in the end, her most destructive love. She’d had the courage to leave Ric and the courage to leave Jason.

But she’d always lacked the courage to abandon Lucky, even when he’d pushed her away, and when he’d treated her badly and when he’d forgotten their love. She’d never been able to put him in her past and say goodbye and that was always because he’d been the one to find her in the snow all those years ago.

He’d been the one that picked her up, took her home and made her feel safe again. He’d put the pieces back together and with Lucky, she’d felt clean and loved and secure.

But Elizabeth was tired of being grateful to him for that and tired of feeling obligated to stay by him. She would always love Lucky Spencer, but for her own sanity, her own peace of mind, she had to leave him.

She stood just inside the door silent, but Lucky sensed her and turned his head towards her. His face was pale and his eyes were tired but he still looked like her Lucky–she could still see that boy that she’d loved so selflessly once.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said quietly.

Elizabeth lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug and sighed. “You’re my husband. If nothing else, we have to deal with that.”

Resigned, he nodded and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry that I made you fear for Cameron. If I had been thinking clearly, if I’d been thinking at all, I would have left him with Audrey.”

“You were trying to protect him, so for that I forgive you,” Elizabeth said softly. “And for the drugs, I forgive you. Because I understand that we all have our flaws and we all have our weaknesses.” She paused. “But you didn’t trust me. And you went to that room because you thought I would be there.”

“I know,” Lucky said. He pulled himself to his feet, exhausted but determined to finish this conversation no matter what it led them. “And I wish I could tell you why. I wish I could explain but the only thing that I can come up with is that you can do better.”

Elizabeth frowned and stared at him for a long moment. “Better? I don’t…I don’t understand.”

“You can do better than me, you deserve better than me,” Lucky clarified. “I have brought you nothing but pain from the day we met.”

“No–” Elizabeth shook her head. “Lucky, please don’t–”

“You were raped because I didn’t keep my word to you, because I didn’t go to the dance with you.” Lucky swallowed hard. “And you had to mourn my death for an entire year because of my family’s history. You had to fake your own death to save my life. And I repaid you by allowing that sham of a ceremony to go on. And then I slept with your sister and that’s not even going into how badly I treated you while I was under Helena’s influence–”

“Lucky, the past is just that–it’s the past.” Elizabeth hesitated. “I won’t deny that you’ve hurt me. And I sat and I took it because you saved me once. But that doesn’t change the fact that I love you, and I’m not sorry that we took this chance and tried again. I’m not sorry that we got married and tried to build a life together.” She exhaled slowly. “But no matter how much I love you, I love my son more. And I have to start putting him first and putting me first. Lucky, I love you, I will always love you but I cannot be with you.”

Lucky stared at his hands. “I know.”

“I want a divorce,” Elizabeth said softly. “I need a divorce. I need to stand on my own two feet and be by myself. But most of all, I need to be away from you.” She hesitated another moment but finally turned and left the room.

ICU: Waiting Room

Patrick glared at Jax from across the room, wishing that Mac and Robert hadn’t torn him away from the son of a bitch. They’d hesitated a moment–because he was sure he’d only done what they’d been thinking about doing themselves, but in the end, he’d been pulled away from the man responsible for Robin lying in a hospital bed.

Mac stepped back inside the room and shoved his cell into his pocket. “Nikolas is on his way, he already knew about Stefan but didn’t elaborate.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Jax, you’re going to want to bring the baby to the hospital. And do it before I think twice about filing kidnapping charges.”

Jax paled but nodded and left the room, one of Mac’s officers escorting him.

“If Nikolas Cassadines knows about his uncle’s involvement, you’d better believe that Stefan is already headed for Greece, soon to disappear,” Robert said, irritated.

“Probably,” Mac nodded. “But we’ll have our answers and…” he hesitated. “Cassadines take care of their own.”

“What about Helena Cassadine?” Patrick questioned. “Robin had a meeting with her right before she came to the room. Isn’t she involved?”

“We can’t track her down either,” Mac said, clearly disgusted by the entire situation. “I hate the Cassadines.”

“Speaking of the Cassadines,” Georgie remarked, “or not actually since this has nothing to do with them, but has anyone seen Dillon in the last…oh…two days?”

“Ah…” Patrick scratched the back of his neck and looked to Mac. “Right. I didn’t get the chance to mention this but Dillon and Lulu Spencer were with me when Robin coded. I don’t know where they disappeared to but they came up with the same theory–that Robin’s shooting was connected to John’s paternity.”

“Dillon was with Lulu?” Georgie said through clenched teeth.

Mac narrowed his eyes. “And how exactly did they formulate this theory?” he demanded.

“Ah, can I plead the fifth now or do I have to wait until I’m in a courtroom?” Patrick asked, weakly thinking of the hospital policies he’d violated in not reporting Dillon and Lulu’s use of the hospital records and his own unauthorized testing.

“Well, that still doesn’t answer the question of where the hell Dillon and his freaking precious Lulu are!” Georgie seethed.

ICU: Robin’s Room

Robin forced her eyes open and turned her head wearily to the side, relieved to find her cousin Maxie slumped in a chair. “Maxie,” she said hoarsely.

Maxie snapped up and scooted closer. “You’re awake! Thank God! Let me get the doctors–”

“Wait–” Robin’s hand snaked out and grasped Maxie’s arm. “Wait. You have to tell Uncle Mac that Helena Cassadine is going to kidnap John Jacks. She just tried to kill me.”

Somewhere Under Port Charles

“Okay, that’s definitely water, right?” Lulu sniffed again. “It’s less onion-y.”

“It smells more like water than anything else has in the last few hours.” Dillon picked at his clothes, resolving to burn them as soon as this was over.

“Oh, and that’s light isn’t it?” Lulu squinted and quickened her pace, though how she had any energy after five hours of wandering these catacombs, Dillon didn’t know. Perhaps those potato chips had been super potato chips. Regardless, Dillon took longer steps to catch up with the blonde.

Lulu’s glimpse of light was indeed the cliché–light at the end of the tunnel. It led to a sewer outlet in an unfamiliar swamp like setting.

“I’ve never seen so happy to see the sun in my entire life,” Dillon said, raising his face to the celestial body.

“I wonder where we are,” Lulu narrowed her eyes and studied their surroundings.

“Why, Spoon Island, of course.”

At the sound of her voice, the teens spun around and saw Helena Cassadine standing behind them, a chilling smile spread across her thin lips.

“Yeah, Lulu?” Dillon remarked. “You’ll let me know when we’re supposed to start having fun right?”

June 2, 2006

Spoon Island

Helena clasped her hands in front of her and continued to smile in a way that made Dillon feel like she was already devouring him and planning where to hide the body. He shifted and wondered what made him think he could take the Cassadines on with nothing more than a crazy stepsister at his side.

He was going to move to Iowa. There probably weren’t any Cassadines in Iowa.

“You do look like your mother, my darling Lesley Lu,” Helena murmured. “So much. The same hair, the same fire in the eyes.” She arched an eyebrow. “The same inherent weakness.”

Ever her father’s daughter, Lulu scoffed at this. “That’s the best you can do, Hels? C’mon, I’m disappointed — my dad always gave you more credit.”

“What are you doing?” Dillon hissed, tugging on her arm. “You do not antagonize the crazy woman.”

“She’s not armed, Dillon,” Lulu told him, keeping her eyes on Helena. “And while she wants us to think we’re probably surrounded by men with big guns, we’re not. Because if this is Spoon Island, then all that extra body heat would have shown up on my brother’s radar.” She smirked. “You do know that Nikolas installed radar after the last time you infiltrated the island, right? He also has instructions for his security team to investigate all suspicious activity so I bet they’ll be coming along any time now.”

“Not unless I’ve bribed them to work for me,” Helena replied.

“Which is impossible because you don’t have any accounts for yourself and you can only siphon so much from Nikolas without him noticing,” Lulu returned. “You’re not as scary as you think you are,” she boasted.

“What about me, Lulu?” Stefan said silkily from behind the cheeky teenager. “Am I as scary as you thought?”

The click of gun behind them created a moment for Dillon that he thought only happened in movies. He swallowed. “God damn the Cassadines,” he muttered. “They just never stay dead.”

“Well–” Lulu began.

“And before you speak, remember that I have already shot Robin Scorpio and Carly Corinthos and helped to destroy your beloved brother,” he warned.

Lulu turned and eyed the older man carefully. “You’re not going to shoot me, though,” she said, careful to keep her voice as breezy as it had been with Helena. “You might shoot Dillon, but you’d never shoot me.”

“Hey, do not offer me up like a sacrifice,” Dillon cut in. “Please don’t shoot me,” he said to Stefan. “She roped me into this.”

The Cassadine son ignored the boy and kept his eyes on Lulu. “And why wouldn’t I shoot you, Lulu?” he asked coldly.

“Because I look like my mother,” Lulu said, playing her trump card. “And you could never shoot Laura.”

ICU: Robin’s Room

“After Helena told me that she was going to kidnap John, I was terrified,” Robin admitted to her uncle. She looked to Jax with an apologetic expression. “So I created the third paternity test to make it look like neither you nor Nikolas was John’s father. I thought if I could get that test into her hands and make her believe it, he’d be safe.”

“Thank you for trying to protect him,” Jax said solemnly. He kissed her forehead.

Patrick glared at the Australian with barely hidden malevolence. All that he’d gone through in the last forty-eight hours–all the fear and the pain and the exhaustion, it could all be laid at this man’s doorstep. If he was ever alone with Jasper Jacks, he might actually commit murder. “Yeah, thanks for nearly getting yourself killed,” he muttered.

Mac sighed impatiently and glanced at the doctor with annoyance. “You’re only in here because Robin wouldn’t let me kick you out, so be quiet.” He looked back to Robin. “So you created the third test and left it in the computer.”

“Right,” Robin said. “I had plans with Patrick and I thought he might have some ideas on how to get the test into Helena’s hands. I was going to tell you,” this she directed at Patrick. “I thought we’d have more time.”

He shoved his hands in pockets. “I would have told you to tell Nikolas the truth and let him deal with his homicidal grandmother.”

Robin ignored that. “But you know the rest. I didn’t tell Patrick, and he was paged to the hospital. I fell asleep and didn’t even wake up until I felt all the pain.” She hesitated. “I didn’t think I’d been that injured until I was reaching for the phone and saw all the blood all over the flowers.”

Mac nodded and noted this down. “And today, when you crashed–you said it was Helena.”

“She came in and injected something into my IV,” Robin said. “I can only guess it was something to stop my heart.”

“But it didn’t work because Patrick was right outside and performed CPR until the crash team arrived,” Mac told her.

Patrick frowned. “Wait…if I was right outside–Helena couldn’t been that far away. How did she get out?” He frowned. “And what happened to Dillon and Lulu? They were with me until the code.”

“Helena probably used the stairs and went to the underground tunnels,” Robin told her uncle. “Lulu might have seen her go into the stairwell.”

“And no Spencer can resist that lure,” Jax said ruefully. “She probably dragged the poor Quartermaine down there with her.”

“If she went into the underground tunnels, they’re probably on the island.” Mac closed his notebook. “As soon as Nikolas gets here, I’ll send men over to the island to keep a look out for them but I can’t really chase down a Spencer. I’ve spent half my career chasing after her father.” He motioned to Jax. “We can go wait for Nikolas in the waiting room.” He turned to Robin. “How long do you want me to tell Felicia and Brenda to wait before they storm the room?”

“Ten minutes,” Robin answered, “which means Brenda will give us seven.”

After they were gone, Patrick scowled. “From now on, life threatening news before sex.”

“I never meant to drag you into this–” Robin began.

“You didn’t even drag yourself into this, your cousin did that for you,” he argued. He scrubbed his hands over his face. “And I dragged myself into this. So much for the romantic evening.”

“Hey…” Robin’s hand slid over the covers and reached out to touch his knee. “We were having a great time until the pager, okay? Thank you for going to all that trouble.”

“If I had suggested dinner out or even going to your place–”

“This isn’t your fault,” she argued. She hesitated. “Is this the part where you give me the speech about casual relationships and flings?”

“You mean the one where you’ve ruined me for both?” Patrick asked with a weary smile. “Relax, Scorpio. Bullet wounds aren’t going to scare me away.”

General Hospital: ICU Hallway

When Jax stepped out of Robin’s room, he found Nikolas down the hall near the door to the waiting room, just staring down at the child in his arms. Jax fought the urge to rush down the hall and tear John from his biological father and disappear.

He had done what he believed was right and protected Courtney’s child with everything inside of him, but Carly had been right. These secrets will always come out and this particular one had cost too much. It had nearly killed Robin, destroyed a marriage, wounded Carly and brought the deadly side of the Cassadine family to the forefront.

For the first time in nearly a year, a weight lifted from Jax’s shoulders. He met Nikolas’s gaze head on, nodded and then turned to walk away. It was the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do, and yet somehow, it was the easiest.

“He’s beautiful,” Maxie said from the doorway of the waiting room. She stepped forward and touched John’s cheek. “I’m glad you know the truth.”

Nikolas narrowed his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. “You had more than one opportunity.”

“I know,” Maxie sighed. “I tried to tell you, I wanted to tell you but I just couldn’t make the words come out right so I told Robin, thinking she would be able to fix it but that just made everything worse.” She shoved her hair off her forehead. “But it worked out okay, right? I mean, you have your son and everyone’s alive.”

Thinking of his uncle and hoping that he had left for Greece, Nikolas shook his head. “You have no idea.”

General Hospital: Outside Lucky’s Room

Elizabeth leaned against the closed door and closed her eyes. It had been the worst moment in her life–to look into the eyes of the boy she’d loved her whole life and walk away.

“Hey.”

Her eyes snapped open and she found Jason standing in front of her, looking concerned. “Hey,” she replied. “When did you get back from the clinic?”

“A while ago.” He shifted. “Emily said she didn’t know how long you would be so I wasn’t going to wait but I wanted to check on Robin.” Jason scratched the corner of his eyebrow. “I saw you standing here. Have you been inside?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth exhaled slowly and looked at him. “I told him I wanted a divorce.” She hesitated. “Emily told me about…Sam.”

“It’s fine,” Jason said roughly. “She’s going to recover and she’s going to get a chance at a better life. She deserves that.”

“She deserves to have the life she wanted,” Elizabeth argued, but her heart wasn’t in it. She was too tired, too overwhelmed to care about Sam McCall and what she may or may not deserve. She cared about Jason and his reaction to the news was what mattered. “I can sympathize a little. I know what it’s like to look into someone’s eyes and know they don’t remember their love for you.”

“She didn’t even know me,” Jason replied. “It’s barely been a year since I put her through this. I don’t how she managed to stick by me and stay sane.”

“She did what was right for her,” Elizabeth said. “Just like you did what was right for you by leaving her at the clinic and when you walked away from the Quartermaines. That’s all you can really do, Jason.”

“Sometimes the right thing just doesn’t seem worth it,” he said roughly.

Spoon Island

“That’s your big plan?” Dillon demanded, feeling slightly hysterical. “Pull the Laura card? For Christ’s sake, Lulu, I don’t look like her!”

“You’ve become tiresome,” Helena sighed to the Quartermaine teen. “Stefan, shoot him.”

Lulu’s remark about Laura had clearly unnerved Stefan and he didn’t immediately make a move. Dillon took the presented opportunity and quite shamelessly ducked behind Lulu for protection. “All I wanted to do was prove that my brother didn’t shoot Robin,” Lulu said. “I really don’t care if you get away or if you turn yourself in, but shooting Dillon isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Damn right,” Dillon agreed fervently.

“But it will make me feel better,” Helena drawled. “Stefan, for once in your worthless life, do what you’re told,” she snapped when her youngest son continued to stand motionless.

“Yeah, do what your mommy tells you,” Lulu taunted. “We all know how much you worship your beloved mother.”

“Hey, you might have a death wish but I want to live,” Dillon protested. “Do not what do what your mother tells you. Fight the urge. Do not obey!”

“Shut up,” Stefan said shortly. “I’m not interested in shooting either of you,” he informed them. “I came to Port Charles for one reason and one reason only–to correct certain mistakes that have been made. Nikolas has his son back and the second is being corrected as we speak. I have accomplished my goals, killing either one of you would only make things more complicated.”

“Clearly you are a wise man,” Dillon said soberly. “I’ve always thought Luke underestimated you.”

“Ah, young Spielberg, you disappoint me,” Luke sighed, appearing in the clearing. “Sucking up to the vampire to save your own skin, it’s unworthy of you.”

“People make sacrifices to keep breathing,” Dillon replied. “Especially when one person has a gun and the other has a very annoying stepsister that keeps antagonizing the crazy people.”

“If you don’t lower the weapon, Stiffin,” Luke drawled, “and stop pointing it at my gumdrop, I’m going to be forced to smack you silly. I’m a little tired from trekking through the woods, so can’t we just skip that part?”

“Stefan, shoot someone,” Helena snapped. “Preferably Spencer. I grow weary of listening to his rambling.”

“Mother,” Stefan arched an eyebrow. “Simply because I agreed to help you get rid of the unfortunate urchin and pull the Cassadine heir back in the family fold, it does not in any way indicate that I give a damn about you or what you want.” He readjusted the aim of his gun and Helena found herself staring down the dark barrel. “If I discover that you have stepped within a hundred feet of Nikolas or his son, I will kill you.”

“You would never–” Helena began but closed her mouth when Stefan cocked the trigger. “You are a stain on this family’s legacy,” she hissed. “If Mikkos could have known how you would turn out, he would have strangled you in the nursery.”

“I do not doubt that,” Stefan nodded, “but the fact remains that he is dead. My brother is dead. You are alone in this world, Mother. I would make your future choices a little more wisely than you have done in the past.”

“So you expect me to walk out of my grandson’s life? Abandon my great-grandson?” Helena demanded.

“Yes, Mother, I expect just that.” As if to demonstrate the point, he pulled the trigger and the bullet whizzed past her hair, ruffling the white strands. “Do I make myself clear?”

Helena smiled slowly. “Perhaps you are a bit more cold blooded than I gave you credit for.” She stepped backwards. “This is not over,” she warned Luke. “I will never rest until I have wiped the world clean of you and yours.”

“I’ll be watching for you, Cruella,” Luke nodded. “But you are getting on in years, my dear, so forgive me if I’m not exactly shaking in my shoes.”

“You were always were a very stupid man,” Helena said, her last words as she slowly turned and disappeared into the trees.

“You realize that she’s not really backing down, right?” Luke said, in one of the most civil tones he’d ever used with his mortal enemy.

Stefan finally lowered the gun and slid it into the holster underneath his jacket. “I would be stupid if I believed that,” he murmured. He looked back at Lulu. “It’s uncanny. You have your mother’s beauty and courage, but your father’s inability to keep his damn mouth shut. You were right, of course. I would never have hurt you.”

He looked at Luke. “Until we meet again, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I’ll be looking for you, Stiffin,” Luke replied. “You can be sure of that.”

Stefan nodded and followed the trail his mother had taken.

“I knew this was going to turn into a Cassadine thing,” Dillon sighed. “The second Lulu found that damn letter, I just knew this was going to happen.”

“Stop complaining,” Lulu smacked him in the arm. “You loved every minute of it.”

“Go easy on the kid, Cupcake,” Luke chided his daughter. “Not everyone takes to this kind of thing the first time around. Give him a few more tries, he’ll get it eventually.”

“I’m going into retirement,” Dillon grumbled. “No more capers.”

Lulu snorted. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”

June 15, 2006

Quartermaine Mansion: Pool

Right in the middle of sipping a frothy pink concoction, Lulu sat straight up in her lounge chair and shoved her sunglasses to the top of her head. “Oh my God!”

Dillon, seated on the opposite lounge chair, glanced up from his Robert Altman biography and blanched. “Oh, God. Not that look.”

“Do you know what I just realized?” Lulu said, excitedly. She tucked her knees under her body and leaned anxiously toward her stepbrother. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.”

“My nerves are just beginning to recover from the Cassadines,” Dillon grumbled.

“We never figured out Jesse’s connection!” Lulu smacked him in the arm. “How could we overlook that?”

“How indeed.”

“Don’t be sarcastic with me.”

“I’m not being sarcastic, I’m….” Dillon fumbled for the right word. “Resigned. Yes, resigned is what I’m feeling. I should have known we weren’t finished with the Cassadines. You’re a Spencer after all. Hunting Cassadine is in your blood.”

“Exactly.” Lulu got to her feet. “Come on, we have work to do.” She tugged on Dillon’s arm. “I’m going to find out how Jesse Beaudry is connected to the Cassadines if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Knowing my luck and your skills, it probably will be,” he said soberly. “Ow!” he yelped as Lulu smacked him upside the head.

Petersen Clinic: Outside Sam’s Room

Alexis stared at the doctor in disbelief before turning her gaze to an equally bewildered Ric. “There has to be some kind of mistake.”

The doctor shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Davis, but the tests are quite clear. There is no way that Samantha McCall is your daughter.”

“But–” Alexis dragged her hands through her hair. “That doesn’t make any sense. All the connections are there. She was born on May 12, 1980 at the same clinic where I had my daughter–”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Davis, but the tests were clear,” the doctor repeated apologetically. “There is no way, biologically speaking, that the woman in that bed is your daughter.”

Alexis turned to look through the window into Sam’s room to find the woman in question laying in her bed, staring at the wall. “Then what really happened to my daughter?” she murmured.

Hardy House: Front Porch

Elizabeth pulled open her front door and arched an eyebrow at the man standing in front of her. “What?” she asked bluntly.

“I understand that you’re angry with me,” Nikolas began, “but you have to understand that I was just looking out for my brother–”

“What I understand is that your first loyalty is to Lucky,” Elizabeth said coolly. “You will always take his side over mine.”

“He’s my brother–”

“You were supposed to be my friend, too. Separate from Lucky. I guess that was just a lie.”

“Elizabeth–”

Nikolas’s protest was cut off when Elizabeth abruptly slammed the door in his face.

She turned away from the door and returned to her seat on the couch. She set Cameron on her lap and smiled at her companion. “Where were we?” she asked.

“I was telling you about the light in Venice,” Jason replied.

General Hospital: Elevator

The elevator doors slid open and Robin scowled as Jax wheeled Carly in next to her.

“I thought you were released last week,” she grumbled, crossing her arms. Patrick pinched her upper arm.

“Civility is a virtue.”

“Is not,” Robin retorted.

“I was here to have my stitches removed and there was some bleeding yesterday,” Carly said primly. “I stayed overnight for observation. Is that all right with you, Miss Priss?”

“Too bad the bullet wasn’t a few inches to the north,” Robin muttered.

“Right back at you,” Carly snapped.

“Back to business as usual,” Jax sighed. “Some things will never change,” he said to Patrick, who hadn’t quite forgiven the billionaire for his past transgressions.

“If I cared less about my hands, I’d rip your throat out,” the neurosurgeon growled.

Jax blinked. “Fair enough.”

“What was that about civility and virtues?” Robin asked Patrick, batting her eyelashes.

“It’s overrated,” Patrick said. The doors opened to the lobby and Patrick wheeled Robin out.

“I wish Stefan Cassadine had better aim,” Carly remarked as Jax pushed her out after the duo.

“I wish he’d stay dead,” Jax replied.

“He’s a Cassadine. Even when they’re dead, they come back.”

Somewhere On a Yacht

The young man blinked his eyes and slowly opened them to find an elderly woman staring at him. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

“Hello, darling.” Helena Cassadine clasped her hands together. “I didn’t think you’d ever come around.”

“Who are you?” Jesse Beaudry demanded.

“I am your beloved stepgrandmother,” Helena cooed. “And you, my darling, being three months older than my darling Nikolas, are my Cassadine heir.”