A/N: This is a sequel to Black Rain, but it can also stand alone so if you haven't read Black Rain you should still be able to follow along with this one, well.

Learning How to Breathe

Chapter One

Five years after Black Rain…

Sunlight flittered in, in a wash of color against the soft blues and browns that adorned the west walls. It was so beautiful that Kristina had been roused at the first signs of the morning glow through the curtains. She stood, bathed in that light, arms wrapped delicately around herself.

It was mid fall but the sheer brightness seemed to warm her to the core despite being in only a pale pink camisole and matching panties. She narrowed her eyes as her tongue darted across her lips, catching the faint darkness on the horizon. It had been a long a night and the morning that was brightening her mood also heralded a storm to come. Kristina could feel it. It wasn't just weather, something dark.

She remembered the last time this feeling snuck up on her and gingerly she let trembling fingers comb over the bullet scar hidden behind her ear. Her smile waned as the warmth was leeched from the room.

"Penny for your thoughts." Kristina turned with a slight jump as Ethan groggily made his way out of the bed, blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms and the blanket around the both of them, pulling her tightly against him.

"I was enjoying the sun." She smiled, tying to get her mind off the storm and the feeling tugging at her soul. It was stupid. Nothing like that could happen again, could it?

"You were somewhere far far away." Ethan's breath was hot against her neck, chasing the cold away as she felt his lips brush against her hair, a soft kiss closing his observation.

"I was." She smirked, smiling as she held on to his arms. He always saw through her, could read her better than anyone. "Do you believe in intuition?"

"I believe in instinct. I know it's not the same thing, but I think instinct is often mistaken for intuition." Ethan chuckled. "Philosophical sort of morning, Love."

"I've just got this feeling." Kristina almost wished she hadn't given it a voice, but it was nagging at her and Ethan had already picked up on her mood just by looking at her.

"Instinct…the alarm didn't go off." He smirked against her ear. "We're both late." he felt her jerk in his arms as she looked to the clock in horror and Ethan laughed, tugging her around to face him in the tangle of arms and blankets.

"Oh My God." Kristina swore under her breath, not believing that they were running so late. How long had she been standing there? She should have realized. Holy crap! She turned in Ethan's arms but was instantly beginning to pull away only to have him tug her back.

"No need to rush now." Ethan caught her lips passionately and the sudden worry and panic began to dissipate as she melted into the embrace and kiss. "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, Love." the breathy whisper ghosted over her lips just before Kristina dived into another kiss believing every word.

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"Mom, says hi." Kristina jumped. She'd been half dazed starring at the computer screen and the e-mail that had yet to be sent. She'd been having these spells of zoning out far too often as of late, that and dizziness and a whole host of other ickiness that she swore just meant that her monthly was going to be a doozy. Maybe it was combination of that and the anniversary of her coma and ordeal and the fact that Alexis and Molly were now in New York. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no. I was just lost in E-mail hell. You just startled me." Kristina smirked up at Sam, rising to envelope her obviously pregnant sister. As they disentwined Kristina laid a loving hand on Sam's baby bump. "Hi precious." She told the baby as well. "You ready for lunch?"

"Absolutely." Sam brightened immediately. Kristina quickly grabbed her purse from the back of her chair and headed out the office of the gallery. She had picked up a lovely management position right out of college with some glowing recommendations from her professors. Now she practically ran the Garner-Stahl gallery. They were currently doing a photo exhibit that had the halls packed day and night, a boom and award winning success for Kristina.

She and Sam worked their way through the throngs of people and Kristina gave the security guard, Dale Owens, a wave before they made it out the door. "So you talked to Mom?"

"Yeah, she was unpacking." Sam replied evenly as they continued their conversation once they were out in the open. "She starts Monday." She arched both eyebrows in excitement.

"She nervous?" Kristina smiled, excited for her mother as well. "She's the youngest judge in the district, I'd be nervous."

"Only on the inside, you'd be as fearless as Mom will appear, I'm sure." Sam corrected her as they walked down the side walk towards the bistro a few doors down. Kristina gave a nod at that with a smile. Sam had it right, she was sure. She waited until they were seated in the courtyard before she asked about Molly.

"So I'm sure you left Molly out on purpose. What's up?" Kristina asked her, knowing that Molly had been the biggest drama queen int he western world as of late considering she was being uprooted in the middle of her senior year. Sam lost her smile and licked at her lips nervously at the question. "Sam?"

"She's moving in with me and Jason so she can finish out her senior year here." Sam finally looked up from the menu and met her eyes, confessing the truth.

"What? How did I miss that?" Kristina's eyes widened in wild wonder.

"You've been busy with the gallery and Mom didn't want to burden you with it. Plus I'm at home for now and I'll need the help with the baby with Jason and Spinelli keeping the hours they've been keeping to keep the PI office open. It just seemed like a good fit." Sam explained. Jason had quit the business a few years back after a hit on Sonny nearly cost him his life and Sonny had even pulled back on running the show. He was off trying to find himself somewhere in the Caribbean at the moment. Ethan was more convinced that he was having a midlife crisis, but Kristina wasn't sure. She thought this last attempt on his life had really rocked him.

"So no one even told me?" Kristina asked in horror.

"I'm telling you now." Sam wrinkled her nose seeing Kristina exhale sharply, trying to squelch her anger. "She's helping Mom this weekend but she'll be back on Sunday night."

"It's been five years, Sam. I'm not that fragile wisp that had to be followed around the world and rescued." Kristina wasn't having much luck with the squelching. She hated that everyone coddled her and had for the last few years. It was like they thought she was permanently wounded, unable to take anything. Ethan was the only one who didn't treat her like she was broken. "You guys have to stop trying to protect me. I hate feeling out of the loop."

"Whoa, it really wasn't like that. We just didn't gets chance to talk to you about it." Sam defended herself as she met Kristina's eyes worriedly. " And so what if I'm a little protective of you. It's not about Kyros and Valentin, it's about you being my little sister and me wanting to make sure you're okay."

"Well, I'm fine." Kristina retorted heatedly.

"Great!" Sam spat out.

"It is." Kristina nodded, her anger slowly losing steam as they met each other's eyes again and suddenly realized how ridiculous they must look, the matter striking them both in growing humor as the laughter bubbled out. Finally it died down enough for them to both make their orders and Sam shook her head at Kristina in amusement.

"I swear you are getting as moody as I am." Sam chided her.

"It's not moodiness, it's just…I don't know maybe it is." Kristina sighed. A long moment of thoughtful silence passed between them and they met each other's eyes again a little more alert to the statement just made. "No…I mean I can't be…"

"Can't you?" Sam blinked at her, her voice hushed as though someone might soon figure out what they were talking about.

"No, I'm on birth…" Kristina's voice trailed off as she realized that a couple of months back…

"You had that ear infection!" Sam brought it up just as it was coming to Kristina. "Did you use any other protection?"

"No." Kristina breathed the word out and felt that dizziness hit her all at once. "Oh My God."

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"Seriously?" Ethan narrowed his eyes and angled his head as he looked at the monitor with a slow shake of his head in wild wonder at the scene on the floor. "Do they really think no one is watching?" He asked as Lucky frowned in stunned silence as well.

"Maybe they're just adventurous?" Lucky replied evenly as he felt a little dirty for watching the couple who had snuck off into a darkened corner of the very public casino floor of the Haunted star in order to well…

"Very…" They both angled their heads to the left, until a static hiss from the coms broke their eerie fascination.

"I'm in the east stairwell almost to the main floor, where are they?" Dante asked over the radio.

"Back by the penny slots." Lucky replied quickly.

Over the last five years, Ethan had been running the Haunted Star while Luke went into of all things…the floral business. They all knew that it was a front for something but were wise enough not to ask. So Lucky and Ethan had joined forces when the Star gained momentum, from Ethan's inventiveness and well regular business hours. They now had the most lucrative casino in Port Charles and it had only grown. They had to completely revamp the place to house more people. While they still had the original yacht, they were now set up on the first five floors of the Metro Court, all converted to casino space with the hotel servicing patrons with rooms and conference centers.

Ethan and Lucky owned and ran the casino and Dante had come on board as head of security. Michael was also working security and Lulu was helping Carly with the hotel side of things. It was a wonderful set up.

Ethan sank back into his chair, behind his desk as Dante reached the inebriated exhibitionist and broke up their little lovers moment on the floor. "I tell you this job never gets old." he chuckled as he wound his hands behind his head, catching Lucky's smirk of mirth on his way back to his own desk. Ethan sat up straighter though when he caught a glimpse of Lulu headed towards Dante.

They stopped in the middle of the floor and She was obviously telling him something. Ethan caught the look of absolute terror mingling with joy in Dante's eyes and frowned. "What's that all about?" Ethan asked Lucky, who turned at the prompt to get a look at what he was talking about.

"I don't know." Lucky blinked though when Dante suddenly enveloped their sister in a warm hug and then they were kissing in some steamy embrace. Lucky gave them a minute and then got on the radio, wanting to know what that was all about. "Hey are we gonna have to break you two up too?" He asked half joking.

"Shut your pie whole, you're gonna be an uncle." Dante taunted him as he looked up to the security camera and placed a hand on Lulu's flat stomach. Lulu grabbed the radio with a wave to the camera as well.

"We're having a baby!" She smiled brightly.

"So that's why you've been so pukey…" Ethan smirked. "Congratulations, guys!" he spoke up over his own radio.

"Thanks, man." Dante and Lulu replied in unison before Lucky offered his own congratulations.

When they were all off the radios Lucky sank into the chair at his desk and gave a shake of his head at Ethan. "Must be in the water." Lucky chuckled. "Sam's what? four months? Lulu just found out she's pregnant. You know these things happen in threes…" Lucky gleamed at Ethan who was quickly losing his smile.

"No, see things break in three's, people don't get pregnant in three's, and if they do then you must be talking about Siobhan. Kristina and I aren't trying for kids yet." Ethan was trying not to get his hopes up, not really as nervous as he appeared, but it was the reaction everyone expected. Truth of the matter was that he would have been thrilled if Kristina wanted kids now and they were trying, but it was a topic of conversation that hadn't really been broached yet.

"Yet…so there is hope." Lucky smirked. Ethan couldn't help but smile at that.

"Sure. Somewhere in the distant future there is all kinds of hope." Ethan shrugged it off, trying to get out of the current conversation. So he was especially thrilled when his cell phone began to ring.

"Saved by the ringtone." Lucky chuckled as he went back to watching Dante and Lulu's silent celebration on screen.

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Helena Cassadine adjusted her shirt in the mirror while shifting the phone against her ear. It had been quite a profitable five years for her. Valentin met his death nearly two years ago and it had been all up hill from there. She'd even started to take an interest in ancient history. Family history as it were. And there were some beliefs out there that were just too delicious to let go of. It seemed that some Cassadines were just blessed and as such every endeavor was met with an abundance of good fortune. Seemed that Kyros for all his delusions had actually made quite the discovery.

Kristina was one such Cassadine. As such Helena had taken a keen interest in her. She wanted to groom her into the perfect Cassadine, but to do that, she needed her to come to her on her own terms and in order to foster that event, Helena head set all kinds in motion. Alexis was in New York and Sonny was gone…now she just had to put a wedge between Kristina and the rest of her family and get rid of Ethan…

Not a problem.

"Is everything in order?" She asked over the phone as a smile slowly crept across her face from the response she was given.