Laura got off the elevator laughing.  “You are incorrigible Scotty Baldwin,” she giggled.  “Where was it you wanted to meet night?” She opened the door to her office and paused in the doorway.  The chair behind her desk swung around and she gaped in disbelief.  Stefan Cassadine sat behind her desk in her chair as if it were his own and she felt the anger churn up inside her at his audacity.  She spoke into the phone.  “I’ll call you back later, a problem has come up unexpectedly,” she conveyed tightly.  She listened for his response. “No, this one I can handle all on my own,” she assured him as she watched Stefan replace a report back on the top of the stack of papers on her desk. 

 

Laura clicked off her phone and paused for a moment to take a deep breath.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

 

“I was waiting for you,” Stefan replied evenly.

 

“So, you just make yourself at home and feel free to go through the papers on my desk?  Who the hell do you think you are?” she raged at him.

 

“Your assistant was away and Ms. Cornithos was not in her office so I came into your office to wait for you.”

 

“Waiting for me and then sneaking around and reading my personal papers are two total different things and you know it,” Laura accused.

 

“You have done an excellent job rebuilding this company and the weight of authority seems to agree with you, Laura,” Stefan replied, ignoring her reproach.

 

“I guess you never thought I could run my own company and make it work?” she questioned peevishly.

 

“On the contrary,  I always knew you could do anything you set your mind to do.”  He raised his brows in amusement.  “If you’ll remember, I told you this many times.”

 

Laura sniffed. “I’m sure that was just another lie you fed me as you lead me around by the nose and fooled me into believing in you.”

 

Stefan frowned.  “I can’t recall taking you by the nose one time.”

 

Laura gave him a long stare to see if he was laughing at her, and saw he was seriously considering her accusation.  “Oh never mind,” she sighed in irritation.  She walked over to the desk.  “I think you have my chair.” She gave him a nasty look.

“Of course.”  Stefan rose and Laura’s senses were immediately on alert as he towered above her.  She could feel her mouth go dry as she took in his lean masculinity and the stab of panic that rose up in her at the direction her thoughts were taking.  She couldn’t let him get to close to her and remember all those feelings she had managed to push down come bubbling to the surface again. There was no way she could ever let him inside her heart again and live through having her emotions ripped apart when she found out he had lied to her once again.

 

Laura sat down at the desk and made herself busy looking through her mail.  She glanced up at the man waiting patiently for her attention.  “What is it you wanted?”

 

“We need to talk about Nikolas,” he said quietly.

 

Laura threw the letter down she had in her hand and glared at him.  “How many times do I have to tell you to leave Nikolas alone to find his own way?  The more you push him, the farther away he is going to push you.  Give him time, Stefan.”

 

“That would be all fine and well, but Helena won’t give your son time,” Stefan voice rose.

 

“Here we go again with Helena,” Laura sneered.  “Do you know what you sound like Stefan?  A broken record.  You have screamed about Helena for so long you sound like chicken little and the sky is falling.  Give up and let Nikolas make up his own mind about what he wants,” Laura urged.  “Helena won’t hurt Nikolas.  I know she’s warped and evil but I can’t believe she would hurt Stavros’s son.”

 

Stefan placed both hands on her desk and leaned down into her face.  “You think not?” he derided.  “When I came home, she was poised to have him committed to an institution.  The papers were already drawn up,” he added at her look of disbelief.  “Oh, he  would have gotten excellent care but when he had been released your son would have been completely under her control.”

 

Laura shook her head in disbelief.  “I can’t believe she would hurt her own grandson. She didn’t  try to do anything to him when he rejected her before.”

 

Stefan gave her a pitying glance and started to pace the room.  He swung back around and came to stand before her.  “Do you remember when you tried to convince me Helena had killed Lucky in the fire?”  Laura nodded and her eyes grew shadowed for a moment.  “I didn’t believe you because I thought Helena would operate as she had always done and gloat about the deed to watch you suffer.  Leopards can change their spots, Laura.”

 

“What do you mean?”  she whispered.

 

“Lucky’s kidnaping was only the commencement of my mother’s plan.  I fear it is bigger and more complex than I had ever imagined,” Stefan returned ominously.

 

“Oh, you and Luke are all one and the same.  You see conspiracies around every corner,” Laura railed.  “You should get together and compare notes.  I don’t know who is more obsessed with Helena, you or Luke.”

“For once, Luke and I agree,” Stefan murmured.

 

Laura jumped up out of her chair and started toward the door.  “I don’t want to know anything else.  If you have a problem with your mother then solve it but keep Nikolas out of it. You need to leave.  I have work to do.”

 

Stefan reached out and pulled her into his embrace and Laura trembled in fear at the urgency she saw in his face and her body’s response to the touch of his hard body pressed up against her.

 

“There is nothing obsessive about comprehending the lengths my mother will go in order to gain control of Nikolas and destroy you and your family,” he growled.  He shook her slightly. “Have you forgotten everything she has done or have your mental capacities dwindled to the perspicacity of seaweed?”

 

Laura flushed in anger at his dig at her intelligence.  “I am not stupid, but both Nikolas and Lucky are fine.  All Nikolas wants is to live the kind of life he chooses and not one that someone else wants him to lead. And contrary to what Luke says, I have seen nothing that tells me that anything is wrong with Lucky.  He works for me and I would know if something was wrong with him.”

 

“Would you?” Stefan questioned sharply.

 

“Of course I would,” Laura returned in agitation.  “I know my own son!”

 

“What if Lucky doesn’t even know?”

 

“What....what are you saying?” Laura yelled hysterically.

 

“Now is not the time to have another one of your mental breakdowns,” Stefan cautioned. 

 

“You bastard!”  Laura hissed.  “This is my son you are talking about and it’s you and your damn family that continue to try to drive me insane with your plots and insinuations against me and my family!”

 

Stefan laughed harshly, his lips inches from her own.  “I have never done anything to you Laura but try to protect and love you, but what did that get me in the end?  Nothing but accusations and a slap for all my troubles.”

 

The denial was ready to spring out of her mouth but then she noticed how close his face was to hers and a wave of weakness swept over her body.  Laura eyed the sensual fullness of his lower lip and swayed closer, the anger dredging up old memories and emotions she had wanted to forget.

 

Stefan’s eyes darkened at the invitation Laura presented him and mentally cursing at his weakness lowered his head and took her lips forcibly.  His hand reached up to grasp the back of her head to keep her from breaking the kiss.  The last thing on her mind was resisting him and she opened her mouth to his probing tongue to return the kiss as urgently as he demanded.  Her hands went up into his hair to twine her fingers though his golden locks and pull him even closer into her embrace.  They continued to kiss deeper and slower until Laura felt her knees start to buckle and she started pulling him down on the floor.  Stefan resisted with a groan, breaking the kiss and pulling her hands down and holding them tightly in his own.  He closed his eyes briefly in anguish and opened them up to examination the glazed passion he saw in her face.

 

“No.  I won’t do this again,” he rasped to her surprise and disappointment. “I’ve wasted half my life loving a woman that didn’t exist and I’m not going to waste anymore time on the impossible.”

 

Laura blinked in startled dismay and tried to squash all the emotions their embrace had reopened with a vengeance. “You kissed me,” she demurred.

 

Stefan smiled bitterly.  “Still as delusional as ever, I see. I merely took you up on what you were offering.”

 

Laura flushed in embarrassment knowing he was right but not willing to admit it. “You held my head and I had to kiss you,” she complained.

 

“Is that why you started to pull me to the floor?  Would you have said later that I forced you to have sex with me?” Stefan commented in wry amusement.  “What is it?  Baldwin doesn’t fulfill your needs or is it just you need more than one man to worship at the altar of Laura Spencer?”

 

“That’s a nasty thing to say and it’s not true,” Laura protested.

 

“Isn’t it?”  He eyed her in distaste.  “Did you ever really love me, Laura?  Or was I just revenge for all the pain my family inflicted on you?  After all, what better way to strike out than to seduce the younger brother of the man you were forced to marry and hated, and then turn him against that brother and into your willing slave and accomplice?”

 

Laura gasped at the picture he depicted of her.  “You paint me as a scheming, manipulative woman.  You know it wasn’t like that at all.  I did love you.”

 

“Did I ever know the real Laura? You used me then and you used me to get back at Luke. When he no longer accepted your lies and turned away from you that is when you turned to me.  I was merely a substitute for what you couldn’t have.” He gave her a hard searching look.  “What was it?  Did you think Luke would come running back to you when he saw you consorting with the enemy?  Did you think he would be so jealous you would get him back?”

 

“No,” Laura whispered.  “It wasn’t like that at all.  You know that,” she pleaded.

“I know nothing of the sort, only that you are as cold and empty as my mother but disguised it under the visage of a warm smile. You were magnificent in your role, playing the poor defenseless prisoner who befriended the lonely outcast who was starved for affection.  And then here in Port Charles holding me at arms length and giving me just enough hope to keep me enthralled.  You played your part to perfection.  Honey catches more flies. That is something my mother could learn from you.” His lips twisted into an embittered smile.

 

Laura was both horrified and indignant at his description of her. “You know you were more to me than just a substitute,” she forced herself to say quietly.  “When we met on the island I felt like I had finally found someone who really knew me.”  She struggled to make him see her differently.  “I saw myself in you,” she replied then continued at the frown that marred his face.  “You were as damaged emotionally as I and although I didn’t understand it at the time, I think I sensed you were the one person who would understand me and care for me no matter what I did.” Her voice trembled slightly.  “And you always did,” she whispered.  A part of me always loved you even when I denied it.  All the years we were apart I could never put you completely out of my thoughts and my heart no matter how hard I tried,”  she confessed.  “I should have returned to the island.”

 

“But you didn’t,” Stefan broke in, not willing to let himself be swayed by her confession.  “You wanted Luke more than you wanted your own flesh and blood child and you were willing to abandon him for that man!”

 

“I tried...” Laura began.

 

“Stop this delusion you have of yourself as the victim,” Stefan interrupted harshly.  “You could have come back but you didn’t want to.  I don’t blame you entirely for wanting to stay far away from Stavros and Helena but I do blame you for giving up on Nikolas so easily. You never once attempted to call me to inquire about your son.  That I find hard to swallow since you so want to be known as the good mother,” he sneered.

 

Laura exploded.  “You are angry because I didn’t come back to you!  That’s what this is all about!  My God, I thought Helena killed my mother! Was I supposed to try over and over again and let her kill more members of my family?  Once Luke knew I was alive, do you think he would have let me go without coming after me?  I made a choice to keep you and Nikolas safe from him and the war I knew he would wage against you to get my child for me.”

 

“Are you so certain that is the reason you kept me and your son a secret all these years, Laura?  Was it that you knew as you knew now that Luke would never have accepted a Cassadine child and in finding that out you would have discovered where your true loyalties really lay?  Could you have stayed with a man who rejected your child because he was sired by the enemy?  That very fact broke up your marriage to Spencer.  What would have done years ago?  You didn’t want to know the truth because deep inside you knew the answer so you ran away from your responsibilities.”

 

She was shaken to the core as peeled back another layer of guilt she had lied to herself about and denied for so long about what her real motives had been.  “I guess I’m not as noble as you,” Laura muttered sarcastically under her breath, not willing to admit to him he was right.

Stefan heard her anyway.  “I didn’t want you to be noble but to love your son enough to come back to him.  Do you know how hard it was to look him in the face and answer his questions about a mother who didn’t care anything about his well-being?  The hope he expressed when he spoke of you and questions of when you would come home to him?”  Stefan’s face was a mask of agony.  “As he got older and it became a reality you were never going to return I had to tell him he had a mother who didn’t care for him to keep him from longing for something I thought he would never have.  Do you know what it did to me to tell a child he wasn’t important enough to his own mother that she wouldn’t come home to him?”  Stefan turned away from Laura so she couldn’t see the tears in his eyes.  “It was like a knife in my heart to see the pain my words caused him and to know his mother cared as much for him as much as my own did about me.  I had hoped to spare him continued pain and dreams that would never see the light of day.  But unfortunately he was his mother’s son and was as impulsive and head strong as you.  I instilled your heart in him and I should have known, like mother like son.  I should have realized the day would come when he would turn his back on me and look at me with his mother’s eyes and find me wanting.”  He stood with his back to her, his shoulders slightly hunched over as if in defeat, deep into the darkness of the pain of losing the two people he had loved more than life itself.

 

Laura was moved to tears.  She was responsible in part for Nikolas not forgiving Stefan and she owed him more than she could ever express to him.  What he had just said came from his heart and she knew it had nothing to do with manipulation or really trying to hurt her but to make her see his point of view.  He was all alone now.  Nikolas had told her what he had done to Chloe Morgan and how she had turned on him.  Alexis had taken her friend’s side and her son was hurt that Stefan would let him think he was dead.  All the lies Stefan had told all for years had finally caught up with him and even though she could see why he had done what he did to a certain extent, she also knew a person could only take so much before they snapped.  It didn’t matter to Nikolas that Stefan was just trying to protect him anymore, hearing the truth was more important to him.  And how much more could Stefan take before he exploded into something so dark he could never hope to recover?  She knew he had a darkness inside him that lay just under the surface.  How much longer would it be before he felt he had nothing to lose but to let all of that darkness out to battle Helena?  Laura shivered when she thought of the few times she had seen that kind of coldness in him.  Stefan could be just as cruel as his mother and just as manipulative but he had a conscience that kept him in check.  What if he felt he had no where else to turn but to battle Helena on her own level?  The man she had loved and the one Nikolas needed would be forever lost to them.  Laura sighed, as much as she wanted to stay out of this battle she had no choice but to at least listen to what Stefan wanted to say.  She owed him that much.

 

“Stefan, we have gotten off the subject you first came to talk about and that was Nikolas.  I think it’s time you told me what you suspect Helena is doing to both of my sons,” Laura voiced calmly and gently.

 

Stefan straightened up and squared his shoulders and turned to her with a gleam of hope in his eyes. “Will you listen to me and keep an open mind?” he asked quietly.

 

“Yes,” Laura replied as she rounded the sofa and sat down.  She patted the cushion beside her.  “Come and sit down.  I suspect this will take a while.”

Stefan sat down stiffly wondering about her change of heart. He sat there silently for a moment not knowing where to begin.

 

“Well,” Laura prompted.  “I thought we were going to compare conspiracy theories,” she teased faintly to lighten his mood.

 

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a smile.  “I was gathering my thoughts as to where to begin.”

 

“Stefan?” 

 

He looked into her face.

 

“For once in your life trust me and tell me the truth,” Laura urged.  “I know I may not deserve it but if you want my help I must know it all.”

 

“It must stay in this room Laura.”  As she started to protest he cut her off.  “You can’t go running to Luke.  Not yet.  He will go to Helena with guns blazing and then she will know everything I know and change her plans accordingly.  I must have your word before I tell you anything,” he insisted.

 

Laura searched his face for a moment then was satisfied he was willing to be honest with her.  “I promise,” she agreed reluctantly.

 

Stefan stroked his goatee for a moment then began.  “I kidnaped Chloe Morgan because of the dreams she was having.  As strange and incredible as it seems she could see through my mother’s eyes.”

 

Laura looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

 

“I know how impossible it sounds and at first I didn’t believe it, but she saw my mother drug me and knew details only Helena and I were privy too.  There were other dreams I became aware of and I felt if I could get her on my side she would help me anticipate Helena’s actions. At that  time I wasn’t sure what my mother’s  motives exactly were in kidnaping Lucky.  Jasper Jax left Chloe completely vulnerable to attack by my mother when he left her to look for Brenda Barrett so I felt justified in kidnaping her to save her life.”

 

Laura eyed him in disgust.  “You sent Jax on that wild goose chase though, didn’t you?”

 

Stefan started to deny it but saw the look in Laura’s eyes.  This was a test and if he failed she wouldn’t hear him out.  “Yes,” he sighed.  “It was all too easy.  However, it was his choice and he failed Chloe by not seeing she was protected after he knew of the attempts my mother had made on her life.”

 

Laura frowned, not liking the softening of his voice when he spoke of Chloe Morgan.  Just what had she been to him?

 

“I told Chloe my mother had drugged and kidnaped me and brought me to the island.  She naively believed my explanation. I convinced her that her dreams were the key to us escaping the island.  She had several dreams that made me aware that my time was running short on finding out what Helena’s plan was and how she meant to implement it.  There was one dream she had in particular about a safety deposit box, discs and a note from Caesar Fasion.”

 

Laura looked at him with startled eyes. 

 

Stefan smiled and nodded.  “Yes, the CD’s Luke now has in his possession.  I knew they were somewhere in Istanbul but got embroiled in other business when we returned to Port Charles and failed to try and retrieve them.  Chloe started going blind on the island and I found I couldn’t let her lose her eyesight even if it meant I would finally defeat my mother.”  He started fiddling with the heavy signet ring on his middle finger.  “So I staged our escape from the island.”

 

Laura’s eyes narrowed.  Despite herself she didn’t like his sudden interest and compassion for this other woman. The possessive feelings she always felt when he had been interested in another woman came bursting to the surface and she jealously thought about the day Chloe came to her office. Chloe had been full of admiration for Stefan and glowed when she spoke of him. She had an air about her of a woman in love.  Laura had made a snide remark about Stefan talking about her on the island, she recalled.  Chloe hadn’t seemed to be worried about his past lover so that meant Stefan and her......  Laura didn’t like the direction her thoughts were taking her and looked up to see Stefan watching her. 

 

“Are you listening?”  At Laura’s terse nod he explained.  “You seemed far away.”

 

“I was just thinking about what you said,” she lied. “What about what you did to Luke?”

 

Stefan sighed,  “I wondered when you would ask that question.  I loosely set Luke up as my murderer because I needed Helena free and not under suspicion to continue with her plans.  Luke played right into my hands threatening my life in front of Mac Scorpio and not coming forward with his alibi.  I knew he would run.  He always does when there is a crisis.  I also knew Mac Scorpio would want him to be guilty out of revenge for stealing his wife and wouldn’t look to closely at the evidence. And then when the yacht keys showed up in Luke’s possession I knew Helena would think Scorpio was setting Luke up too.”

 

“You just thought of everything, didn’t you?” Laura vented sarcastically. She had gotten over her anger at Stefan’s framing Luke a long time ago but his casualness about it still managed to gall her.  “What about that letter?”

“I wanted the bond Nikolas and Lucky shared to continue, for them to be brothers and my murder not come between them.  With Luke either on the run or in prison you would be free to love your son without having to deal with Luke’s hatred of him.  I planned on ridding you and Nikolas both of Helena so you would have been free to have lived your lives free of her and the threat Luke posed to your son.”

 

“What about when you returned?”  Laura challenged.  “Luke would have been exonerated.”

 

“I wasn’t going to return,” Stefan replied quietly.

 

“What? You were going to let Nikolas live his life thinking you were dead?” Laura couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

 

“Yes.  Nikolas had made it plain he no longer trusted me and I felt if I stayed away he could live his life free of the past hatred between the two families.”

 

“Why do I find this hard to believe?”  Laura’s eyebrow arched into her bangs.

 

“What did I have in Port Charles, Laura?  Nothing!  I had a son who despised me and a former lover who hated me and didn’t believe a word I spoke.  My sister had her own life and didn’t need me.”  He looked at her earnestly.  “Tell me, did any of the citizens of Port Charles mourn my death?  Was there any huge outpouring of grief at my demise?” 

 

Laura looked ashamed.  She and Nikolas had never even had a memorial service for Stefan. She hadn’t mourned him like she should have.  How could she when she hadn’t believed in her heart he was really dead?  She had also been too busy chasing after Luke to get her family back and what she thought she had missed.  Nikolas had mourned Stefan briefly but he had been caught up with the troubles of his friends.  They had failed Stefan.

 

“I see by your silence I was right.  I wasn’t missed,” Stefan observed.

 

“I’m sorry,” Laura whispered.

 

“It’s the story of my life.  Always disregarded and an afterthought.  Never paramount in anyone’s thoughts or heart.” Stefan tried to make light, but she saw the hurt deep in his eyes.

 

“Then what happened,” Laura whispered, wanting to forget all the guilt she was feeling.

 

“It all exploded in my face when Chloe dreamed the confrontation I had with Helena and confessed to my mother what I had done.  She came and confronted me and told me I was as twisted and as sick as my mother.”

 

Laura could hear in his voice how the sting of Chloe’s words had affected him.  Impulsively she grabbed his hands and gave them a squeeze.  “You’re not like Helena,” she protested.

 

Stefan looked down at her hands in surprise and into her face then quickly looked away.  “But I am.  I was willing to use an innocent woman to defeat my mother.  At the time I kidnaped her I didn’t care if she lived or died but only what use she was to me,” he whispered harshly.

Laura pulled her hands away and gazed at him with apprehension.  “What changed?”

 

Stefan exhaled.  “I was in such a dark place when she came to the island.  No one cared about me and I wanted to defeat my mother by any means necessary.  Chloe brought me back faith in my own humanity.  No matter what happened she always looked on the positive.  She listened to me and made me look inside myself and what I saw I didn’t like.  She never gave up trying to escape and was willing to go blind in the end to help me defeat my mother.  Her capacity for unselfishness was endless.  I couldn’t help but admire her tenacity and spirit.”

 

“You fell in love with her,” Laura asserted, her heart sinking.

 

Stefan crossed his arms tightly across his chest and was silent for a moment.  “I fell in love with her because she was you. Everything about her reminded me of you on the island years ago.  How you were always plotting to escape, your playfulness, how you always saw a silver lining in every cloud, and how you always reminded me I was better than my family.  Chloe brought it all back to me what I had missed out in my life.  She believed in me just as you did until she found out I had lied to her.  She wants no part of me now.”

 

“Perhaps she will forgive you in time?” Laura inquired softly.

 

Stefan shook his head.  “No,” he smiled slightly.  “I was chasing a dream and Chloe was a substitute for what I cannot have.  Ironic that I accuse you of substituting me for Luke when I have done the same with so many women.  I was meant to be alone and I’ve finally accepted my fate.”

 

Laura grabbed his face and turned on him fiercely.  “Don’t you ever say that again, Stefan Cassadine.  Just because I treated you badly doesn’t mean that you aren’t worthy of being loved. Someday you’ll meet a woman who will love you the way you deserve to be loved.”

 

Stefan gazed into her face that blazed with the passion of her convictions and suddenly they both felt the pull between them and it frightened them.  Laura let her hands drop and looked down in confusion.  Everything she thought had died was still there but she had to think this through and she couldn’t with Stefan in such close proximity.  For the first time in a year Stefan had hope that Laura still had enough feeling left for him to give him another chance, but he was wary.  Laura’s emotions were as mercurial as the wind and he couldn’t let himself be pulled into another disastrous affair with her again only to have his heart broken one more time.

 

Stefan cleared his throat.  “Where was I?” He struggled to put his emotions aside and get back to the business at hand.

 

“The CD’s, I think,” Laura replied in relief that she wouldn’t have to face any plea by him to give them another chance at that moment.

 

“I need to go back,” Stefan frowned.  “After mothers’ initial shock of finding me alive she made several cryptic remarks about destroying your family.  I discovered she was going to have Nikolas committed and stopped her.  Several times on the docks I witnessed she and Lucky having conversations and that made me uneasy.  Why would Lucky talk to Helena if she didn’t still have some kind of control over him?  Why wouldn’t he just walk away? I confronted her about a theory of mine and although she denied it, she was shaken by my observation.  I believe Lucky was a test case for her.”

 

“What?  And in what way?”  Laura asked in confusion.

 

“She wanted to know if she could brainwash someone and make it work so she used Lucky as the proverbial guinea pig.”

 

Laura frowned.  “Then who was her real target?”

 

“Nikolas,” Stefan announced quietly.

 

Laura gazed at him in horror.  “But why....?”  Then realized what Helena was doing.  “She could control Nikolas easily and he wouldn’t fight her anymore,” she breathed.  “Helena would gain everything she had always wanted.”

 

Stefan nodded, “Yes, and no one would have been the wiser for it.”

 

“How do the CD’s fit into all of this?”  Laura wondered.

 

“They are the key to a higher level of programing is my theory.  Without them Helena can’t go forward with her plans. I am not exactly sure what those plans are but it involves Lucky.  Her initial plan was to use your son to destroy you but I fear it has a multi layered design. Each step forward gets her closer to the ultimate goal.  Part of that is controlling Nikolas but there is more.”

 

“And Luke has the CD’s,” comprehension dawning in her eyes. She jumped up.  “We have to tell Luke!” she voiced.

 

Stefan pulled her back down.  “He already has an idea of their worth.”

 

Laura’s eyes narrowed.  “What do you mean?”

 

“I found he and my mother making a deal one night on the yacht. They were negotiating over something she wanted that he had and he wanted cash for whatever it was.  Helena was frantic to get me to leave and for me not to find out what it was all about.  Later I visited Luke and told him I would double whatever Helena offered him and suggested he go back and bleed her for more money.”

 

“You did what?” Laura eyed him in astonishment.  “Why?”

 

Stefan smiled mischievously.  “To torture my mother and to make Luke know I was serious about my offer.”  His eyes grew solemn.  “Luke showed me two CD’s and asked me if I knew what they were worth.  I already knew he had them but he thought he was being facetious in showing them to me.”

 

“Well, do you have them now?”  Laura demanded.

 

“No.  Luke double crossed me and took one million dollars from Helena.  I assume he threatened Helena  with telling me what he was going to sell to her and then blackmailed her for his silence.”

 

“Luke had them the other day at my house,” Laura recalled.  “He wanted Lucky to help him some way and Lucky refused.”  Laura frowned.  “Now that I think about it the CD’s made Lucky nervous.  He couldn’t wait to leave.”

 

“The discs are encrypted and Luke needs help breaking the code.”

 

“How do you know this?”  Laura eyed him suspiciously.

 

Stefan sighed at her lack of faith in him.  “Fasion was a master at what he did and would have encoded safeguards in them. If Luke knew what was on the discs he wouldn’t have been trying to sell them to my mother.”

 

“Yes, that makes sense.” Laura nodded. “What do you want from me?”

 

“I need your help in trying to get Luke to work with me and not against me.  We both want to stop my mother and we are working at cross purposes and wasting precious time.  I need to get  him to put aside his prejudice for once and trust me. Unlike my mother I don’t make war on children.  Lucky is Nikolas’s brother and hurting him would be hurting Nikolas.  By working together we can help both your sons.”

 

“You think Helena still has Lucky brainwashed then?”  Laura asked in dismay.

 

“Unfortunately for Lucky, yes.  It is not like mother to have planned her revenge without guarantees of success.  And she is too smug about destroying the Spencers for me to think she is just bluffing.”

 

Laura sighed.  “When will it all end?  I had hoped it was all over and we could live our lives without the threat of Helena always hanging over our heads.”

 

“It will never end until she is finally stripped of all her power and destroyed,” he asserted darkly.

 

“I will see what I can do with Luke.  Is that all?”

 

Stefan’s eyes darkened.  “Nikolas has served me with papers renouncing his title, inheritance, and name.  I want you to convince him not to continue with this madness.”

 

Laura sighed.  “Stefan, if he doesn’t want to be the prince why don’t you just let it go?  You were willing to do that when you thought he was your son.  What is the difference now?”

 

“As my son he wasn’t entitled to the legacy but I would have kept silent about that so he could have had what I never could.  But he is the prince and it is his heritage and his birthright. He was groomed for the job since he was a child.  I spent half of my life making sure he would be a different power than those before him. As the head of the family he could take us in a new direction, reinvent us, and make the Cassadine name one of honor again.”

 

“But that’s not what he sees as making him happy.  Surely you want him to be happy Stefan?”

 

“He has a duty to fulfill,” Stefan insisted stubbornly.  “As the first born son of a first born son it is his obligation to do what is right.  He is young and foolish. Nikolas is angry with me now and will throw away his future on a childish temper tantrum.  It’s time he grew up.”

 

“Perhaps, or maybe he sees what all this has done to you and you’re not happy.  Look at all you have sacrificed and all the battles you have waged for him.  I think he is weary of all the fighting over him.  You need to give him time to sort through all his emotions.  He will forgive you but you must use that patience of yours and let time heal.”

 

“We don’t have time.  Not with Helena plotting to destroy your family and seize the Cassadine legacy. If you could convince Nikolas to just wait before finalizing the renunciation papers and give me time to talk to him. He also wants to change his name to Nikolas Spencer,” Stefan closed his eyes at the distress that caused him.

 

“What?...Why?”

 

“He said his mother, brother and sister were his family now,” Stefan voiced painfully.

 

“Doesn’t he know that changing his name won’t make him any less a Cassadine?”  Laura asked sadly.

 

“He won’t listen to me but perhaps he would listen to you?”  Stefan appealed hopefully.

 

Laura opened her mouth to reply but the door opened and she turned to see Nikolas standing in the doorway staring in hatred at Stefan.  They both stood up and faced the angry young man.

 

“Are you here bothering my mother now?  Are you threatening her again?”  Nikolas’s voice rose shrilly.  “You’re not satisfied with threatening Alexis, so you have to come here and do the same?  Alexis told me she gave you the papers yesterday and when I sign them I don’t ever want to see you or Helena again.  Now get out and leave my mother alone!”

 

Stefan waited a moment for Laura to speak and when she didn’t his shoulders slumped in defeat.  Laura watched in indecision as Stefan made his way to the door.  Nikolas again turned on the man who had been the only father he had ever known.

“Nikolas....”  Stefan began and was cut off.

 

“If you ever come around any of my family again, I’ll have you arrested,” Nikolas bellowed.

 

Stefan paused at the door to listen to Nikolas’s tirade against him.  His face was unemotional but Laura saw how his hand clutched the door and how white the knuckles on his hand turned.  It was the only outward sign of his distress.  His hand gripping the door seemed to be the only thing holding him up.  As he turned back around to leave Laura saw the agonizing grief flash in his eyes before he recovered his composure and his face resumed a smooth mask. 

 

“Stefan, come back in and close the door,” Laura ordered gently.  “Nikolas.”  She gave her son a look that told him she wouldn’t take a refusal.  “Come and sit down.  Your father and I need to talk to you.”

 

Stefan turned back around not daring to hope and their eyes met across the room.  The glance Laura gave him was all he required and he felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.  There had been reassurance and an affirmation in her look.  And in the blink of an eye life’s problems didn’t seem so dark and insurmountable after all.  The dreams he thought had perished suddenly came to life again and a possibility.