She couldn't believe Carly had called her. Carly couldn't believe she had called Claudia Zacchara to help, but she did. Just thirty minutes ago Kiefer had purchased a suite and then about five minutes ago Kristina had walked straight towards the elevators hoping and praying that Carly hadn't seen her. To bad for Kristina she had. Carly watched as Claudia made her way to the front desk.
"Why'd you call me?" She asked Carly. "Your step-daughter is in trouble, I thought you might need some points with Sonny." "What's wrong with Kristina?" "Five minutes ago up the elevator most likely to the room her boyfriend purchased." Claudia's eyes got wide. This was the same mistake she had made years earlier. Her hand shot out. "Key, room number now." Carly quickly gave her the key. "321." Claudia ran toward the steps. Carly watched her, she was in heels, but the more power to her.
Claudia stopped at the door and pressed her ear up to it. Her heart stopped when she heard him yelling. She opened the door quickly, Kiefer was shaking Kristina. Kristina looked so scared with tears in her eyes. Her anger flared. Claudia slammed the door and then threw the boy off of Kristina. "Keep your hands off of my step-daughter." The boy got tears in his eyes. "Kristina I'm so sorry, I just love you so much." Claudia turned to Kristina who looked like she was believing every word of it. "Kristina don't you dare believe any of this crap. He's lying through his teeth, once he gets what he wants from you he'll leave and never come back."
Kiefer stood up. "Kristina don't listen to her, I'm not afraid of your sister or your mother. I'll stand by you." Claudia got in his face. "You may not be scared of her sister or mother, but you'd be a fool not to be scared of me, now leave." Claudia smiled at successfully making him leave with his tail in between his legs. She turned to her step daughter who was still on the floor. She pulled her off the floor. "Come on I'm getting you out of here." Claudia told her tugging at her hand. The small, feisty teen pulled away from her step mom.
"You can't tell dad, he'll hurt Kiefer." She said in a tortured whisper. "Kristina that boy needs to be punished. No one should ever grab you like that." Kristina turned away from her. Claudia saw her own reflection. "Krissy he's hit you before hasn't he?" The young girl turned back to her step mother, shock written across her face. "How'd you know?" They went over and sat on the bed.
Claudia shook her head, trying to will the tears away. "I was exactly like you Kristina. Dad didn't pay attention, wanted to please everyone, and no one pays enough attention to know what you're doing. I had a boyfriend like Kiefer actually I had a lot of boyfriends like Kiefer. Kristina sometimes when I look at you I see a mirror of me. I don't want you to end up like me, I've made a lot of mistakes that could've been avoided."
"Claudia I love him though." She looked into Claudia's eyes, sure of the explanation she had just given. "Krissy you're a teenager, you don't know what love is. I'm an adult and I don't know what love is. And if Kiefer loved you he wouldn't be hurting you." Claudia was pleading with her. She would give anything for nothing to happen to Kristina that happened to her.
"I need to show you something. I'll be right back." Kristina ran to the bathroom and started scrubbing at the makeup on her face. Claudia gasped as she saw her step daughter walk back into the room. The bruise Kiefer had given her was still there. "He did this to you?" Kristina nodded her head slowly. Claudia cursed at everything possible. "Kristina if your father finds out this boy is dead, but I think it's what he deserves." "No Claudia he just deserves to be someone else's problem. I'll be done with him if you help me."
"Of course I'll help you, what do you need." Claudia answered way more than willing to help Kristina. "Give me your cell number so I can call you if I need you. And don't tell dad about Kiefer." "Done." They shook hands and Kristina programmed Claudia's number in her phone. Number one speed dial, anytime Kristina needed anything. "Thank you." Kristina said, tears falling from her eyes, which promoted Claudia's tears to fall as well. "Anything you need you call me." Kristina wrapped her arms around Claudia. And for the first time Claudia felt something other than contempt for her step daughter.
"Do you need a ride home?" Claudia asked her as they both headed toward the door. "No I have another stop. Are you going straight home?" The young troubled teen asked as the elevator opened. Claudia shook her head. "I'm going to take a little walk. I'll see you later." Claudia informed her walking to the front desk to hand the key to Carly. As Kristina made her way to the door, ending up in the last place she thought she would. Her dad's house.
She knocked twice on the door, before Sonny told her to come in. "Kristina what are you doing here?" He asked. "I just wanted to tell you something." "Okay." He answered unsure of where this conversation was going. "I just wanted to tell you that Claudia is one of your best choices. She really nice, don't let her go dad, I think she really cares about you." Sonny was taken aback by these sudden feelings from his daughter. "What brought this on?" He asked cocking his head to the side. "Lets just say she rescued me tonight. I should get home, bye dad." She hugged her father and left. He stood there trying to figure out what Claudia had done tonight.
She tried to wipe at her eyes, and make sure that you couldn't tell she had been crying, before she walked into her living room. It didn't work, Sonny noticed immediately. "What's wrong you were crying?" Claudia smiled, he cared, that was new. "Lets just say I got a reminder from the past." She sat on the couch, putting her feet up. Sonny came and sat next to her. "Where'd you go tonight?" Claudia stared at him for awhile. "Umm to the Metro Court, I saw Kristina." "Yea she came by here saying you rescued her." Claudia tilted her head. "We just talked." She was finally going to keep a promise to someone.
"Well whatever you did I have a feeling you helped her somehow, so thank you." Claudia shook her head. "No problem. So umm about our little project, I'm okay if you don't-" "I do though, I think we should start getting a little bit more serious of else it may never be finished." Claudia smiled devilishly, happy that maybe she would finally get what she wanted.
~ ~ ~11 months later~ ~ ~ ~
Everything was good. Kristina had gone a completely different route than Claudia, thanks to Claudia herself. Kiefer had moved far, far away for his dad's work, even though Kristina knew Claudia had a hand in it. Sonny had then been told and was angry, as could only be expected, but he was eternally grateful. Kristina had been their main focus, since she was now living with them (against her mother's wishes).
But now all of that seemed to be far in the past. The mirror Claudia had once seen had disappeared and she hoped it would never return. Sonny and Claudia had grown closer and their 'project' had become more and more serious. Finally they got their reward, their baby girl. Kristina's little sister and she was in everyway possible. At points the only one that could make the baby smile was Kristina.
Claudia and Kristina both finally had the family and security they both needed.