"Aunt Molly!"

Molly looked up from her phone and saw her niece looking up at her. She hadn't even noticed that the 3-year-old had come back into the living room. Molly quickly hit send on her phone and shoved it in her back pocket. She bent down and smiled at Dani, "What is it Dan-Dan?"

Dani let out a sigh and said, "I said, can you read me a story?"

Molly picked up her niece in a big hug, "I'm sorry. I didn't hear you."

"Maybe if you unglued yourself from your phone you would hear what people were saying to you," Sam said as she walked into the living carrying a stack of plates and silverware.

Molly glanced at her sister with a sheepish grin, "Sorry" she said quickly before turning her attention back Dani. "So what story do you want me to read?"

"I'll go find one."

"Okay," Molly told her as put her back on the floor. Time Dani's feet hit the floor she took off running upstairs to find a book. Molly looked over at Sam and noticed her sister was giving her a questioning look. "What?" Molly asked her.

"So…what's his name?" Sam asked her.

"What's who's name?" Molly responded innocently.

"The boy you've been texting since Dani and I got here."

"There- there's no boy," Molly stuttered.

"Uh-huh," Sam replied with a grin.

Before Molly could try and talk her way out of having this conversation with her big sister the door opened and Kristina walked in. Molly let out a sigh of relief that she had been granted a temporary reprieve from Sam's questioning and ran over to hug her other sister. "Hi, Kristina. I'm so glad you're home."

Kristina gave her sister a hug, "I'm glad to finally be back in Port Charles permanently," Kristina told her. She looked over at Sam, "Hi, Sam. How are you and my little niece or nephew?"

"Nephew," Sam said with a big smile.

"Aww…now you'll have one of each. Speaking of…" Kristina looked around, "where's Dani?" she asked.

"Upstairs looking for a book," Molly responded. She looked over at Sam and said, "Umm…I'll go check on her." She quickly stepped around Sam and rushed up stairs.

Sam chuckled as she watched her baby sister flee the room like she was running from the police.

Kristina looked at her sister confused, "What's going on?"

"Molly is trying to avoid me questioning her about the boy she was talking to," Sam explained.

Kristina laughed, "Ah. That explains it." She walked over to the couch and flopped down. "So, where's Mom?"

"Picking up dinner. She called and said she would be here soon." Sam joined her sister on the couch. "She's really glad you are home."

"It's good to be home," Kristina looked down at the floor, "I just hope it doesn't upset her that I won't be living here."

Sam's mouth dropped open, "You still haven't told her?"

Kristina gave her sister a guilty look, "I just…I couldn't do it." She let out a little laugh, "I'm such a wuss."

Sam laughed, "Being afraid of Mom doesn't make you a wuss. It makes you smart."

Kristina nodded, "True."

Just then the door opened and Alexis came in followed by Diane. Both women were carrying multiple bags. Alexis smiled upon seeing that Kristina was already there. "Hey, Kristina." She sat the bags down and walked over to her middle daughter and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're home."

"It's good to be home."

Sam was looking through the bags that her mom and Diane had sat on the table. "Do you think you got enough food?" Sam asked them.

"Hey, don't look at me," Diane said. "Your mother thinks she's feeding an army instead of 6 people."

Alexis laughed, "Well, I wanted to make sure everyone had plenty of choices. Besides now I don't have to attempt to cook and ruin food this week."

Sam laughed, "Thanks for passing on your cooking skills to me. Molly will be glad that she doesn't have to pretend to like your cooking now."

Alexis gave her oldest daughter a dirty look, "Remember that when Dani says the same thing to you."

Sam shrugged, "She already tells me that my cooking is bad."

Diane and Kristina snickered. Diane handed Kristina a glass of wine. "I may not know how to cook either but I can pick out a great wine."

Sam frowned and rubbed her stomach, "Make sure you drink one for me."

"Oh, we will," Diane informed her with a smile.

Alexis shook her head and then looked around. "Where are Molly and Dani?"

"Upstairs," Sam told her. "I'll go get them."

"I'll find them," Diane told her as she walked to the stairs, "I need to use the ladies room anyway."

"Okay, thanks Diane." Sam said as she watched the older woman leave. Only Sam, Alexis, and Kristina remained in the living room. Sam mouthed and motioned for her sister that it was now or never.

Kristina took a deep breath, "Mom, I've got to tell you something."

Alexis turned around from the taking the food out the bags, "What is it sweetie?"

"I bought an apartment," she declared.

Alexis looked at her with a shocked expression, "You what?"

"I bought an apartment," Kristina repeated, "instead of paying rent I decided to buy my own place. I used my first trust fund payment as the down payment. I have a good job waiting for me and since there is more then enough money in my trust fund to pay for it I was able to get a loan."

"Kristina, you don't know anything about what to look for when buying a home. How do you know you didn't buy a money pit?" Alexis asked concerned that her daughter had made an impulsive decision that would turn into a disaster.

Kristina looked over at Sam, "You wouldn't rip me off would you?"

"Wait…What?" Alexis said as she looked back and forth between her daughters. "You sold Kristina your apartment?"

"Yeah. It was time." Sam responded as she sat down at the table. "I only kept it these past 4 years in case Jason and I…" Sam stopped and took a deep breath, "I was holding on to it because I was scared that one day I would need it. But with every thing that has happened I realize that I can't live my life in doubt. So when Kristina was here last month I was talking about selling it and she asked me what the asking price was. I told her and she offered to buy it." Sam smiled at her sister, "Selling it to her I think made letting go of my old life easier."

Alexis smiled and looked at Kristina, "I'm going miss you living here."

"Don't worry, I promise to visit." Kristina grinned, "As long as you don't cook."

Sam burst out laughing.

"Very funny" Alexis told her with a laugh.

"Aunt Krissy!" Dani yelled as she ran into the living room towards her aunt.

Kristina grabbed her and scooped her up in her arms, "Hey, Dan-Dan."

Dani squeezed Kristina's neck, "I'm glad you're home. Does that mean we can eat?"

Everyone laughed. Alexis waved everyone towards the table, "Let's eat, then."


Lulu was looking through the desk drawers in the office of the Haunted Star trying to figure out why her father broke in and what he took. All the money was in the safe and none of the paperwork for the casino was missing. She sat down and looked through the bottom drawer for the fourth time.

"Lose something?"

Lulu looked up to see Ethan standing in the doorway giving her a puzzled look.

"I'm not sure." She said as she closed the drawer. "When I got here I went to the bar and noticed that the Scotch was a lot lower tonight then it was a couple of days ago. I came in here and noticed that the lock had been tampered with. I'll give two guesses as to who would drink my Scotch and break into my office."

Ethan grinned, "Did you check the safe?"

"First thing I checked. All the money is there."

"Did you check to see if it's real?"

"Second thing I checked. Do you have any idea why Dad would have broken in here?"

Ethan shrugged, "Well, before you bought the Haunted Star, he used to hide papers and Ids for his various scams. Maybe he's running a new con and needed one of the aliases that he hid here."

Lulu nodded, "That's true. But why didn't he just wait until I was here to get it? It's not like I care that he pulls cons."

"You want me to explain why Luke Spencer does the things he does?"

Lulu laughed and shook her head, "Sorry. I don't think anyone including Dad can explain that one." Changing the subject, Lulu asked her brother, "So, why didn't you come have dinner with me and your nephews last night?"

"Spinelli and I were on a stakeout and we didn't get done until like 9," he explained.

"I had plenty of leftovers," she informed him, "you could have still come by. Of course you would have known that if you had called me."

"Sorry. I kind of got…ummm…distracted." he said now avoiding her gaze.

Lulu smirked at him, "What's her name?"

"What's who's name?" he asked innocently.

Lulu shook her head, "You're as bad as Cam."

"Still haven't figured out who his mystery girlfriend is?" Ethan asked gladly switching the attention from himself to his nephew.

"Not yet. Which is why you are coming home with me to have dinner with us. Maybe you can get it out of him." She said as she stood.

"If he wanted people to know he would tell us," he reminded her.

"Fine. We can sit here and talk about your mystery woman instead," she said with a grin.

He definitely didn't want that, "So what's for dinner?"

Lulu gave him a satisfied look, "Olivia brought us a lasagna."

"Sounds good to me," he said as he stood up.

"I cook dinner and you avoid it like the plaque. Olivia makes dinner and you get all excited for family dinner."

Ethan grinned at her, "That's because I'm smart."

Lulu rolled her eyes at him and pushed him out the door making sure to lock the door. She reminded herself to check into getting an alarm system because a simple door lock wouldn't keep her dad out. Although an alarm probably wouldn't keep him out either but it would make it harder for him.


"Okay, I still don't understand how Spinelli got stuck in a doggie door," Kristina told her sister. Sam was telling them a story about a recent case that had gone wrong.

"Well, our client was supposed to leave us a key in a hidden place so we could get in and install hidden cameras. We couldn't find the key but Spinelli noticed the doggie door and said he would climb through it and let Ethan and me in. Ethan and I told him that it was a bad idea and that he would get stuck. So, Ethan went to check that front porch again and I went back to the car to call our client. Ethan calls me a few minutes later and tells me to get to the back door. I thought he had found the key but when I got there all I could see was Spinelli's legs hanging out the door. He was stuck in the doggie door."

They all burst out laughing.

"How did you get him out?" Alexis asked curiously.

"Well, it turns out that Ethan had actually found the key. He went and opened the front door to get in the house. Since I couldn't help pull Spinelli out…well…let's just say it took a little baking grease, some pulling, and a lot of laughing."

Alexis buried her face in her hands and shook her head while laughing. "The image of Ethan pulling a greased up Spinelli out of a doggie door is…", she couldn't finish her sentence because she was laughing so hard.

They all started laughing again.

"Uncle Spin is silly," Dani said.

Getting her laughter under control, Sam told her daughter, "Yes, Uncle Spin is very silly."

Dani looked over at Alexis and grinned, "What's for dessert Grandma?"

Alexis reached over and pinched her nose, "I got all different kinds of dessert, including your favorite."

Dani opened her eyes wide, "Chocolate chip cookies?"

Alexis grinned at her and winked, "Yep."

"Yay!"

"Okay, I'm going to go make some coffee." Alexis said

"I think Diane could use some," Kristina laughed.

"Hey, now" Diane said as she poured the last drops of wine from the bottle into her glass.

"Did you just drink that whole bottle?" Molly asked.

"Your mother and sister helped."

"Ummm…I only had one glass," Kristina reminded her.

"Me too!" Alexis yelled from the kitchen.

Diane shrugged and tipped the glass to her lips.

Sam and Kristina laughed and shook their heads. One of them would definitely be driving Diane home later.

Alexis was in the kitchen chuckling quietly as she made coffee. She closed the top of the coffee maker and pushed the brew button. While she was standing there she picked up the mail that was laying on the counter and started going through it. There were a few bills and a bunch of junk mail. It was the last piece of mail in the stack that caught her eye though. She laid the rest of the mail down and stared at the envelope that had "Ms. Alexis Davis" written in a stately scrawl on the front. Alexis could feel the panic rising in her. It looked just like the envelop that contained the letter she had gotten yesterday. Taking a deep breath, she quickly opened the letter.

Dear Alexis, (or should I call you Natasha?)

You robbed me of something very precious and I will reclaim it. Not only do I know your secrets but I know the secrets that your daughters are keeping. I will use that knowledge to get what is rightfully mine and you and your "friend" will not stand in my way. You two may have won the first round years ago but I can assure you that will not be the case this time.

Alexis took several deep breaths to calm herself. She didn't want her girls or her friend seeing her panic. She calmed herself down, shoved the letter in her pocket, and place the coffee pot on the tray with the mugs, sugar, and cream. Plastering a smile on her face she picked up the tray and rejoined everyone in the living room. In the back of her mind she knew that every thing would crash down around her soon but for now she was going to enjoy her family.

*Thanks for the reviews.