Dynasty – Family Matters*

"You'll have to create the future or others will do it for you."

Chapter One – Eyes Wide Shut

Sable Colby stood frozen and teetered at the edge of the now broken railing, unconsciously squeezing her daughters hand as she stared down at the macabre scene in front of her. Her cousin and her ex-husband lay sprawled below on the unforgiving floor tiles. Alexis' neck seemed to be twisted in a bizarre way as her left arm was draped in an unnatural angle under her body, or rather under Dex' body.

The gentle and good-looking man Sable had so passionately made love to, not too long ago, lay lifeless under Alexis. Had his eyes not been closed she would have thought he was dead, now, at least a part of her still hoped it wasn't so. It was true that she didn't really need him in her future life, didn't really want him there, but she had never wished for him to die.

The sound of running feet broke her daze and she stared after Adam Carrington as he shot down the stairs and headed out of the building, obviously in shock or disdain of his actions.

"My goodness," Monica mumbled next to her. "Are they dead?"

"No," Sable managed as she turned and headed for the stairs. She started to run down the steps, still shaken by the event.

Monica dutifully followed, unsure of what else to do.

The plaza beneath the balcony was crowded with people surrounding the unlucky pair on the floor so Sable had to squeeze herself through to even get a sighting of Dex and Alexis. The clerk had obviously called for an ambulance because paramedics where already swarming over her cousin and her former husband.

Sable put a hand to her mouth as the paramedic gently turned Dex' head so that he would have been watching her had his eyes not been closed. Blood was seeping out of his mouth and his breathing was labored and shallow. The medical terms was for the most part rapid and lost on her due to the state of shook she was experiencing but she caught the words severe head trauma and collapsed lung. Sable hitched on a breath as the paramedics gently placed the usually so vivid and lively man on a stretcher to rush him toward the hospital. He looked so pale, so still, so very – dead.

Sable followed Monica's gaze to her cousin and saw the paramedic gently fixing her neck and carefully draped the injured arm over her chest. Alexis didn't stir during the treatment, she didn't even moan or give any indication of being alive. Her delicate complexion white as porcelain as she too was being lifted onto a stretcher.

Sable's eyes clouded and darkened as she watched the last stretcher being wheeled out of the room. Adam Carrington was going to pay for this, of that she was certain. If not she was going to make it so.

One of the paramedics gently turned to her and kindly asked if she knew the victims but she found herself unable to answer, she just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression and heard Monica answer that they'd stay behind and that her mother needed rest.

Sable briefly closed her eyes but the image of a bloodied and lifeless Dex refused to leave her alone. Feeling the bile rise in her throat she hastily excused herself and fled to her room.

OOOOOO

Jeff Colby tried in despair to stem the flow of blood seeping through his fingers as Blake stared up at him with glazed eyes. "For goodness sake! Do something!" he shouted.

Zorelli seemed to shake out of his stupor at his sharp tone and immediately started to bark orders at the rather large amount of uniformed officers standing around. His former partner walked up to him and gently yanked his arm to take him aside for a moment.

Irritated Zorelli shot him a glare, worried about his love interests ailing father. "What!" he wheezed in frustration.

"Handler is dead," he whispered in a serious low tone. "There is something more going on around here then you've told me."

Zorelli swallowed and finally faced his former partner. "Yes," he let on.

The man's words was suddenly drowned out by the whaling siren of the arriving ambulance and Zorelli let out a relieved breath as the paramedics rushed into the mansion.

"Here, quickly!" Jeff urged and reluctantly let go of Blake to give them room to work. In frustration he ran a hand through his hair as he walked over to Zorelli.

"Will he be okay?" the officer asked in concern.

Jeff sighed. "How should I know?" he replied somewhat testily. "Wait till I get my hands on-"

Zorelli hushed him and tugged at his arm. They quietly walked further into the house, to a more secluded area. "Did you find Fallon?" he asked.

Jeff shook his head sadly. "No, there was no trace. It's like she and little Krystina has disappeared from the face of earth."

Zorelli opened his mouth to speak but Jeff continued.

"I overheard Handler telling Blake they were safe and that they'd led his goons to the treasure but I don't know where they are," he added.

"Delta Rho?" Zorelli stated.

"Yes, they must be. Not necessarily on the premises but somewhere near the lake," Jeff deduced and quizzically turned to see Blake being rushed to the ambulance. Torn between making sure Blake would be okay and finding his lost ex-wife Fallon he hesitated for a moment but then seemed to gather himself and once again turned to Zorelli. "Can I leave?"

The cop shook his head. "You're not a suspect but it would be wise for you not to wander off too far," he cautioned. "I trust my former colleague to take care of this mess but I don't trust you to go alone to Delta Rho. You don't know what you're up against."

Jeff narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the other man. "Do you?" he replied.

"What I am trying to say is that I am a trained police officer," Zorelli explained.

"I would be a lot more comfortable if I could find Dex, he used to be a commando," Jeff muttered as he followed Zorelli out of the Carrington mansion.

OOOOOO

Fallon dug furiously with her bare hands, trying to clear the debris from the opening of the tunnel, her once flawlessly manicured nails long forgotten. Krystina sat next to her in the dirt. The child tried to help by shifting small lose rocks that in the end accomplished nothing but Fallon didn't have the heart to tell her, she just encouraged her little half-sister to keep working.

"Fallon," the little child began miserably as she glanced up at her sister and friend while pulling away a strand of hair from her dirty face. "Do you think it will take long before we get out? I am scared."

Fallon smiled at her and sat back on her heels as she opened her arms so that Krystina could come sit in her lap. "Honey," Fallon began softly as she gently hugged the child. "It will be all right."

Suddenly Krystina stiffened in her arms and Fallon swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat as the world swam before her eyes. She closed her eyes in an effort to clear her mind as Krystina began to scream. Fallon moaned as the headache increased by the volume of her sister's voice until she thought it was going to explode.

Turning around to see what had Krystina so worked up she saw Dennis Grimes trying to pry off the beam that pinned him. Fallon's blood turned cold as she stared mesmerized at the bloodied and beaten man trying to waggle free. Their eyes met for a moment and she could easily see the malice radiating from him, she had seen the same malice in his father's eyes that night so many years ago when he'd tried to kill her mother. Fallon shuddered involuntarily at the memories she'd tried so hard to repress and then to find again only days before. Roger Grimes, Dennis Grimes, Tom Carrington, her mother, Krystina, all mixed together, everything entangled and twisted before her eyes.

Fallon's reverie was suddenly broken by a loud crack and a pop as the beam slid off the man. The unstable ceiling creaked forebodingly as Grimes continued to push and claw while desperately trying to free himself.

Krystina shrank back in Fallon's arms as Grimes stopped to stare at her. "Don't hurt-" she began with a whimper.

"-my mother!" Fallon suddenly shouted in anger as she felt something snap inside her. She was back in the cottage, her mind playing tricks on her. The concussion triggering memories repressed and mixed them together with reality.

Krystina ran away, suddenly afraid of her sister and her reaction. She hid behind a statue and closed her eyes as she stuck her fingers in her ears to try and block out the horridness of the outside.

As Grimes came free and was about to heave himself up off the ground Fallon unsteadily rose and stumbled as she reached for a small artwork and clubbed Grimes in the head, opening a gash in his forehead. He tried to reach out for her and she raised the artwork again but then his eyes glazed over and his head lolled to the side.

Fallon sagged with a mixture of relief and shock as she slid down the tunnel wall and let her head come to rest on her up-drawn knees. "Forgive me," she whispered. "Please forgive me."

OOOOOO

"-and take that monkey with you," Sable's sardonic tone of voice flooded over her.

Alexis moaned, trying to get away from her cousin.

"There is one thing I've never liked about you Alexis," Dex began in a harsh tone.

"No," she whispered, writhing in pain.

"Ma'am?" a man's voice asked, demanding her attention.

"This is the last time-" Adam's seething voice overrode everything else.

"No," she whispered, a little higher this time.

"Ma'am?" the man called again.

To Alexis he sounded concerned and far away, she didn't understand. All she saw was Adam launching himself at Dex and felt her ex-husband bump into her. Then there was a large crack as the railing gave way to the force directed upon it and she fell.

It felt like an eternity, like being suspended in the air, like time had stopped, before an excruciating pain took her breath away.

She moaned and opened her eyes to slits. A blur of a man appeared next to her.

"Ma'am, can you hear me?" he asked kindly.

Alexis managed a faint nod and tried to swallow but her mouth seemed so dry.

"My name is Doctor Andrew Lara. I'll be your attending physician while you're admitted here-"

Confused Alexis zoned out for a moment. Why was she in hospital? Why was she hurting so much? She moaned as a penlight suddenly flooded her right eye with a brightness that sent spikes through her skull. She recoiled from it and gasped.

"Please ma'am," the voice cautioned. "Be still and try to follow the light with your eyes."

She felt her eyes water at the brightness but she forced herself to follow the light and breathed a sigh of relief as it was taken away. "Thank you," she managed.

The doctor scribbled something down on a pad and nodded toward a nurse who quickly left the room.

Alexis stared after her, dumbfounded.

"It seems you're quite a lucky woman," Doctor Lara said with a kind smile.

"I've never counted lucky to my inherited traits," Alexis mumbled wearily.

"Please ma'am can you tell me your name?" he asked.

"Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Row-" she trailed off as she began to remember "Dex. Where is Dex?"

"Is he the man that was brought in with you Mrs-" the doctor began carefully seeing that she was becoming agitated.

"Alexis Colby," she managed between clenched teeth. "My arm is killing me and my head."

The doctor nodded for one of the nurses who quietly and quickly prepared a syringe. "The pain will get better in a moment Mrs. Colby. I promise," he said kindly. "How about neck, chest and back? Do you hurt-"

"I hurt everywhere," she interrupted in a whisper as her eyes began to close. "I don't need you anymore Dex. I've never needed you. Blake, it was all a mistake, please don't leave me."

The physician nodded for the orderlies to start rolling the hospital bed toward another examination room as he eyed his patient with concern, she was far from coherent.

"I hate you Blake," she mumbled. "Dex, I am so sorry."

OOOOOO

To be continued

*This story is AU from Catch 22 and ignores the 'Reunion'. Its main focus is Dex Dexter. I own nothing I am just borrowing a few characters for the fun of it. I do hope there are people reading in this fandom even though the show ended decades ago. Feel free to leave a comment if you want, it's always appreciated.