Love, I get so lost, sometimes
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away
I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
All my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
Love, I don't like to see so much pain
So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive
And all my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution of all the fruitless searches
In your eyes
I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes
Chapter 1
Punta Carton, Venezuela, 8am, local time, February 28th, 1992
A disheveled and weary-looking man walks along the docks past a number of rundown store-fronts. It's the same scene he has seen for the last three weeks and he is growing very tired of it. He quickly glances down to the small crumpled paper in his hand and compares the numbers to those posted over each doorway. He finally finds the one he is looking for and slowly opens the unlocked door. He is entering a small dockside warehouse and walks up to the first person he sees behind a dirty and grime-covered desk, who is on the phone. The large stubby man with an equally large stubby cigar in his mouth continues his conversation in Spanish, looking at him but then completely ignoring the man who has just walked up to stand in front of his desk. With his normal level of patience being what it is, he quickly tries to interrupt the man on the phone, "excusa", he says, "excusa". The man continues to ignore him, while continuing his conversation and at times laughing on the phone, in both Spanish and broken English. As he continues to be persistent, the man turns his back on him.
The next sound is the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked, and the sight is Robert Xavier Scorpio touching the barrel of the gun to the back of the man's head and his other hand on the phone's cradle hanging up on the caller. "Since you obviously speak and understand English, put the fucking phone down and turn around slowly with your hands up". Robert waits as the man complies and stands facing him with his hands in the air. "Now, I will make this quick so that you can get back doing whatever it is you do." With the gun now pointed straight at the man's forehead, Robert pulls out two photos and slaps them both down on the desk facing toward the man, he asks, "Have you seen either of these two people and don't even try to lie to me?". Taking his eyes off of Robert, he looks down at the two photos and immediately recognizes them both. As soon as he does, his eyes briefly widen, which does not go unnoticed by Robert. The man briefly ponders how to answer then says in broken English, "How about we discuss, how do you say, price?" Robert replies, "How about I let you live?" After a brief pause and a chew on his cigar stub, "It's a deal", replies the man grudgingly. "Start talking then.", Robert states with growing impatience. "A few days ago, they here. The man came in with woman asking dock number of a ship called, um, Port Au Prince he also wanted schedule for departure. They seemed, how do you say, very odd." Robert asks, "Why would you say that?" "Well the man hold her arm tight the whole time seemed to be pushing her this way and that way. She never said a word the whole time nor did she look at me once, but before leaving, she looked at me as if", The man paused. "As if what, as if what?" Robert barks. "As if, she was crying for help with her eyes." The man responds. Robert's heart sinks as the man continues to describe their demeanor and how she looked. He goes on to say he found the whole thing very unusual that such a beautiful and elegant woman, would be with such an odd looking man and he was certain she was not with him willingly, he has seen it before. He also noticed there were about 5 or 6 heavily armed men waiting outside the store staring straight in during the entire conversation. He states that he was about to call the Police, when the man gave him 50,000 American dollars to basically forget they were there and to arrange supplies and fuel to be delivered to the ship as soon as possible. After about five minutes, lost in thought and now half-listening, Robert asks the man where the ship is now and the scheduling details as well. Once the man gives him the information and is left with a threat to his life, if he even thinks about breathing a word of him being there to anyone, Robert runs out of the door elated. For the first time in almost two months, he feels that he is closer than ever to finally getting her back.
Port Au Prince, Punta Carton, Venezuela
Cesar Faison is sitting in his state room on the phone smoking a cigar. It is tastefully decorated room, with two doors and a very large porthole window. "I told you, you have nothing to worry about, this will end with what we both want. You have done the right thing and in the end, we will both be extremely happy. Yes, I gave you my word and I intend to keep it. No, I am not interested in seeing this end in bloodshed. Yes, I know that was unfortunate, but take that as lesson. Those who betray me, no matter who they are, will face unfortunate consequences. Now please, I must get back to my guest, I will make contact with you and you will know within the next few days if our plans were successful. Please only call me if the situation changes or if you learn new information that will be useful to both of us."
Port Charles, Scorpio House
As she is hanging up the phone, an immediate feeling of dread comes over her. She has risked so much and has committed such sins that her whole life is now hanging in the balance. All of it, the deception, the lies and the betrayals are based on her one overwhelming need. "Please come home to me soon Robert." she whispers to herself. Just as she hangs up the phone, Robin comes in the front door and overhears her say her father's name. She quickly runs over to her and asks, "Was that my Dad?, Did he find Mom? Are they coming home?" Holly quickly composes herself and says, "No, no I'm sorry Robin, I was just talking to myself. That was actually, Sean and he said that he has not heard anything yet, but to be patient we should be hearing something soon." A deflated Robin, "Oh….I'm going upstairs to do my homework." Holly watches her ascend the stairs without responding. Holly begins to walk around the living room, she is looking at the pictures on the mantle, on the desk and on the coffee table. They are mostly pictures of Robert, Anna and Robin together and in every one they look extremely happy. As if on auto-pilot, she ascends the stairs and tries the door to Robert and Anna's bedroom. It is locked, which she knows has been the case these last weeks. But she is now determined. It's one of those internal doorknobs that has the little hole on the outside that just requires a push-key to unlock. With her hand she scans the top of the door frame and finds the push-key. She uses it to pop the lock and enters the room. Her eyes take in the sight before her. As her eyes scan the room, they are immediately fixed on the large bed and disheveled bed-spread. As she moves closer to the bed, she immediately notices on the left night-stand, a stunning close-up picture of Anna in a lavender dress holding a bouquet and on her left-ring finger, is a large diamond engagement ring and wedding band. She immediately assumes it is one of their recent wedding pictures. Jealousy quickly surfaces, as she stares at the bed and all the images run through her mind of Anna and Robert together in that bed. It is almost too much to bear and she is about to leave, when she notices something out of the corner of her eye, it is a white button-down dress-shirt on the other side toward the foot of the bed. She slowly walks over to it and picks it up inhaling its scent. Suddenly, the scent of Robert fills her senses and she closes her eyes. She stops and opens her eyes when she picks up another scent, it is definitely a women's perfume, subtle, but extremely feminine. She slowly pulls it away to hold it in front of her for inspection; she is just about to bring it to her face again when she notices something on the front. The first three buttons are missing and there is red lipstick smeared halfway down the front and all along the collar. She jumps as the realization hits and throws the shirt on the bed in front of her. As she stares down at the shirt, she then notices a shiny black fabric peeking out from underneath the rose-colored sheets and bedspread. She pulls at the fabric and realizes quickly that it must be Anna's and quickly lets it go. She is about to leave, when she notices the photo on what must be Anna's nightstand. It is a very intimate and candid picture of them. Anna is sitting on a desk and Robert is sitting in a chair between her legs, with his arms around her waist. She has her arms tightly around his neck, she is staring into his eyes, with what could almost could be described as a mixture of intense love, and adoration. Robert is smiling, almost laughing while looking at whoever just snapped the picture. It suddenly dawns on Holly that the look on Robert's face is something that can only be described as pure happiness. It appears as though whoever took the picture surprised them during an intimate moment. As Holly places the photo back on the nightstand , she begins to doubt herself once again that what she has done up until now has been the right thing and for the right reasons. "Is it possible, that I am not the love of Robert's life?" She thinks to herself. "Could it be that it HAS been Anna all along?" She flashes back to the conversation she had with him in New York just weeks ago, right after he found her. "I found out you were engaged to Katherine Delafield and I didn't want to intrude on your life. Then later I found out you married Anna, again. Maybe she really is the true love of your life?" "Well, I seem to recall that all happened after I thought you were dead." Suddenly, Holly realizes he never answered her, he never denied her accusation and a stricken look comes over her face. "What are you doing in my parent's room, my father locked this room?" Robin shouts at Holly. Holly recovers her composure instantly, "I'm so sorry Robin, I should've told you, but Sean asked me to search the room for more evidence that might help us find where Robert and Anna might be." She says with conviction. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell, it's just that no one has been in this room, including my father, since my mother was kidnapped." Robin responds with tears in her eyes. Holly walks up to her and tells her that she knows it's hard but we have to do everything we can to help find your parents and they walk out together relocking the door.
Port Au Prince, Punta Carton, Venezuela
After hanging up the receiver, Faison presses a button on the intercom and barks out "Simon get in here now." Just then a rather large man, with an equally large machine gun, comes through the door. "Sir?" he says. "Tell the Captain and your men that our plans have changed, and we must leave as soon as possible, we cannot wait for the rest of the supplies to get loaded." Faison states emphatically. "Sir, the fuel trucks have not arrived yet, they are due early tomorrow morning at the earliest." The man replies. With that, Faison grabs his Brandy glass and throws it against the wall in a rage. "GET THEM HERE NOW, I don't care how you do it, just do it, or I will find someone who will." He screams and with that the man nods and leaves. Faison, then tries to pull himself together, fixing his hair and straightening his jacket, he states out loud "You will not stop me this time Scorpio, you will not ever take Anna from me again."
Dockside Bar, Punta Carton, Venezuela
Newly armed with the information he was given just ten minutes ago, Robert sits nursing a drink at a table as he begins to review in his head the rescue plan and hopefully the demise of Cesar Faison in the process. He knows he has 72 hours at the most, according to the departure schedule. He looks at his watch. "It's time", he says to himself and walks over to the payphone hanging on the wall. He pulls out a slip of paper and begins to dial the number. When he is done dialing, there is a loud beep on the other end. Robert proceeds to punch in numbers in rapid succession for about 30 seconds. When he is done, he hangs up. He walks back to the table and chair where his drink is and sits back down. Now he has to wait. If his calculations are correct, it should take the maximum of 1 hour to receive a response. Suddenly he feels utter and complete exhaustion. The last 2 weeks are finally catching up to him. He has been all over the coast of Venezuela and he thinks he has seen every port in this god-forsaken country. It dawns on him he probably has had about 6 hours total sleep since he got here. Knowing he is so close, so close to seeing her again gives him the strength to continue. "Hang on Anna, it's almost over, hang on, please God hang on", he mutters under his breath. He has tears in his eyes remembering that he has not seen her face in almost two months. God, how he misses her face, her smile, and her eyes; especially her eyes. Those eyes are the windows to her soul, he thinks, in her eyes all he ever sees is love and hope and family. In her eyes his world is complete and knows with certainty that there is nothing, nothing they can't overcome. But he hasn't seen those eyes in two months and his strength is starting to fade because of it. He would give his right arm, just to hear her say, as she often does in that voice that never fails to ignite something deep inside him "Robert you're an idiot, but I love you anyway". He becomes sad again when he also realizes, it's been almost two months since they've made love. He remembers distinctly that last time, that last night together and it's that wonderful memory that has become his crutch, since she's been gone. The events of that night have also given him extra determination to find her and bring her home to her family and put an end to this nightmare once and for all.
Port Au Prince, Punta Carton, Venezuela
She hears him in the next room screaming at someone, she cannot make out what he is saying, but knows he must be throwing a tantrum again after hearing the glass shatter. Once again she dreads his impending presence. She really doesn't know how much longer she can take this. She hasn't seen her family for so long and never seeing them again is becoming more and more a possibility every day. "Oh God, Robert, where are you?" She says to herself. Now that they are on this ship, she knows that the window of opportunity for Robert to find and rescue her is becoming narrower every day. She thinks of Robin and what she must be going through. Her daughter, she has been through so much in her young life and its killing her that she has to go through this now. She begins to get angry again as she thinks about how much grief and despair Faison has caused for her family. Every tragic event in her life has been caused by him and his demented obsession with her and if he's successful this time, it will be the worst yet, and that is saying a lot. "Pull yourself together, concentrate on getting out of here, time is running out", she tells herself. She tries to calm herself again by thinking happier thoughts. It's the same pattern she has repeated over the last two months to prevent herself from completely falling apart. It's the memories of home and of her family and friends. Of Robin, her precious daughter and the trials and tribulations of everyday life as a family, it's the laughter and it's even the tears; it's everything. Its memories of him and their newly found happiness that was so short-lived it nearly breaks her in two. It's the images of his face and his eyes, always his eyes. Looking into his crystal blue eyes she has never felt more loved, more secure. It's those images now that are morphing into more of a dream than a reality. She's holding to them now like a life-line, because she can't allow them to become distant and hollow. She replays over and over the past year in her mind. It's been over a year now since that fateful Valentine's Day when she decided to put all her cards on the table.
She remembers how desperately she wanted him to remember the woman he had fallen in love with thirteen years before and how desperately she wanted to know that he had forgiven her. That night didn't exactly turn out like she had planned. In fact, she recalls, things got way out of hand. But in the end, it opened both of their eyes to a love and passion that was always just beneath the surface waiting to be released. It was a year filled with hope, love and passion but it was also filled with near tragedy and with danger all at the hand of Cesar Faison. She recalls the explosion that nearly took Robert from her forever. Those days and weeks by his bedside praying for him not to leave her were the most desperate times of her life. She remembered thinking she was on the verge of having everything she ever wanted, when suddenly all of it was hanging in the balance. She had wondered if God was punishing her for her past sins by giving her hope and then taking it all away. She smiles now at the memories of his recovery, how utterly awful he was as a patient. During his recovery, they became so close, closer than they had ever been. It was the first time in the history of their relationship that desire, love, and complete trust were all part of the equation. That fateful afternoon when they were finally able to reconnect was liberating for both of them. She admitted to him that she finally felt complete and that the missing pieces in her life were finally put into place. She blushes recalling those hours spent making love with him. She remembers they couldn't get enough of each other that afternoon and she had never felt so free to express herself sexually. When they were together for the first time all those years ago, she was inexperienced, shy and insecure about herself, although Robert was extremely patient after learning how truly inexperienced she was.
She replays over and over again her memories of her daughter and of the utter joy in her eyes knowing her parents were together, in-love and finally getting remarried. Anna had never realized that for Robin having her parents together and becoming a real family was such a deep-rooted dream for Robin. She had never seen her daughter so utterly happy and secure than she had been the past year. Knowing she was able to give her daughter the one thing that she had always wanted helped in easing her guilt of Robin's early childhood. It's always the last memories she has of being home with them, sharing laughter and reveling in being a real family. It's one night with him in particular that always stands out as a night of promise and of hope. That night, she continuously returns to over and over, because for her it's one of the happiest nights of her life and it's also one that gives her the extra strength she needs to hold it together long enough to get herself home to her family.