Sorry about the delay. It was all about GH FCW the last couple of weeks. I don't pay a lot of attention to the actual show but I see Anna wants to go to Switzerland to find her missing kid. I swear I'm psychic. :p

Chapter 13

Patrick took a glance at Lulu finally going back to sleep. He made sure she was tucked tight in her bed before picking up his chart and going out to the waiting area where Luke and Laura found themselves sitting in silence. "The tests are showing paralysis. That's the bad news. The good news is that Lulu can overcome this."

Laura's eyes were crimson circles from crying. "What will it take? How long does she have to stay here?"

"I'd like to do some exploratory tests. I may find the need to do another surgery."

Luke couldn't stop his leg from shaking. "What have the police found in terms of the shooter?"

"I found two bullets and both of them were handed over to Robert as evidence. It seems there was more than one shooter which sucks but a lot was going on that night. She's sleeping but you can see her whenever you're ready."

Patrick couldn't get out of the room fast enough. He wasn't paying attention as he bumped into Robin starting her shift for the day. Patrick slipped past her after the light collision and slammed Lulu's file onto the desk. "There are days like this that I want to quit my job."

"Don't give up. I know this is hard. It's hard for me too. I've known Lulu all of my life." A tear dropped down Robin's face. "And now she may never walk again. Did you tell her?"

Patrick shook his head. "She knows about the paralysis but she believes it's temporary."

Elizabeth walked up to desk. "Have you heard from Lucky? Laura said she sent him a text about Lulu."

"Nothing. Where is he?" Robin asked.

"He flew to Switzerland with Jason and Sam."

Patrick turned back to Elizabeth. "Why?"

"Yea. Why?" Robin was perplexed.

Elizabeth grabbed her files to leave. "They wanted to find Mikkos on their own."

Lucky woke up not realizing he had fallen into a deep sleep. The clouds outside his wind caught his eye. Thank God. He looked up to the ceiling and said a silent prayer. He was soon diverted to the sound of snoring. Lucky sat up in his seat and noticed Jason lay out across the seat asleep. Lucky got up and pounded his fist in Jason's chest.

Jason sprung up from his rest and also glanced at the window. "What happened?"

Lucky grinned. "How does Sam sleep with you? It was a truck rattling over here."

Jason rubbed his eyes. "Thank God we're still in the air."

"I fear we're well behind schedule." Lucky went back to his seat.

"What's going on with you?" Jason leaned on his knees hoping Lucky would open up to him.

"I guess I'm turning into my dad. When things got rough, he'd jet."

"What the hell happened that night?"

Lucky cleared his throat. "I think my dad shot my sister."

"By accident…"

"Of course…but the results are still the same. Lulu may never walk again."

Luke couldn't stop shaking his leg until Laura clasped her hand down on his knee to stop him. "Sorry."

"Why don't tell you me why you're so nervous?" Laura waited for an explanation but all she got was Luke looking straight ahead refusing to say much else. "You had a gun that night. I heard shots fired in multiple directions. So I know, while you could be the one that shot Lulu, there were other culprits."

Luke cracked his neck and hopped up from his seat. "I'll take responsibility if I'm at fault. Laura, I feel guilty enough. Why is Stavros still alive?"

"You haven't learned your lesson have you? Trying to kill Stavros solves nothing. This Spencerdine war needs to end…today."

Mikkos took cover in his old office. He went through boxes of old files that hadn't been shuffled through since the night Lorenzo discovered their existence. He ran his finger across the desk and picked up a thick layer of dust.

"Mom!"

Mikkos paused trying to remember the entrance to the tunnels from his office.

Kristina went down the hall and noticed a light peeking through the half-closed door. "Hello? Is anyone in there? It's Kristina."

Mikkos stopped his searching in wonder. "Kristina? Come in."

Kristina opened the door and walked inside the office. "Oh….I'm sorry. I thought my mom was around." She turned to leave but she held tight to the doorknob and stayed put. "Uh….who are you?"

Mikkos didn't know what to say. He had no clue who the young girl was. All he knew was she seemed a bit young to be the Kristina that Natasha told him was dead. "I'm not sure who you are?"

Kristina approached Mikkos. "I'm Kristina. I'm Alexis and Sonny's daughter."

Mikkos smiled. "You're Kristina…such a striking resemblance to your mother. I'm Mikkosavich."

Kristina's eyes bugged from her head. "Like my dead grandfather? Sam texted me and I was in my own world and totally didn't believe her. Does my mom know about you?"

"Yes. But she doesn't seem to care for me much. I don't know that I blame her." Mikkos went back to sorting through the dusty boxes. Something inside one caught his eye. He pulled out a handful of pictures.

Kristina pointed at the pictures. "I've seen those. Lorenzo took them of my mother at Oxford."

Mikkos admired each photo. "I gave her permission to give Lorenzo a camera as a host gift. Though she told me she was in love with Luis. But we bought the camera and it seems it was one of Lorenzo's prized possessions." He flipped through the stack once more before handing them to Kristina. "Keep them."

Kristina took the photos. "I'm a model."

"I'm not shocked. I'm sure the camera loves you."

"Yea. I failed out of Yale. I'm also an alcoholic. I should just throw that out there. Owning my flaws is the first step to healing."

Mikkos dropped his head.

"I tried to keep my place at Yale. I even told them I was a Cassadine Princess. But that one only got me so far. You think you could call the dean and get me back in?"

Mikkos reached out to Kristina and took her into his arms. "You're a Cassadine. You do know what that means?"

Kristina pulled from him. "I'm learning. I admit I didn't care for Stefan when I first met him. He called my dad a peasant."

Sonny found Nikolas' sipping wine in Stefan's office. "Really? You got time for a damn drink?"

"Why are you here?" Nikolas asked.

"I dropped off Kristina."

"Then you can leave." Nikolas took another sip of wine.

"Have I told you you're a punk Nikolas?"

"Sonny, don't insult me in my home? You and I will never see eye to eye. If Alexis wants you to stay, fine. Stay. Actually, Alexis is indisposed. Stefan will more than likely ask you to leave."

Sonny did a double take. "Stefan?"

Stefan appeared in the doorway. "Nikolas is correct. You can leave Kristina and my guards will happily escort you from the compound."

Sonny plopped down on the sofa in disbelief. "You people are crazy. No wonder Alexis is high strung. Haven't you been dead like multiple times in her life?"

"My whereabouts should be none of your concern." Stefan stated angrily.

Sonny calmly sat back. "I'm going to wait here. If Alexis tells me to leave, I will go. Otherwise, you're stuck with me…For Life."

Stefan was unmoved. "If I may quote the words of my sister, Alexis, spoken to you at the funeral of my younger sister, Kristina, dead because of your kind and your lack of give a damn. **'My family, the Cassadines, was staging deadly vendettas while your ancestors were working our fields with the other peasants. I could, in the honor of my family tradition, declare revenge on you, I could place a curse on you, I could vow to make you pay, but that would be redundant. And it certainly wouldn't be necessary at all because you are already cursed.'"**

Sonny looked past Stefan and noticed Kristina in the hall. He looked away from her clearly hearing all that Stefan said. "Well looks like this is the start of a long and painful relationship."

"You said your father's name is Sonny?" Mikkosavich asked.

"Yea. Sonny Corinthos."

"I don't know the name. But Stefan knows a peasant when he sees one."

Kristina bit her lip. "Well you'll figure it out soon enough who Sonny Corinthos is and he's no peasant."

The Cassadine jet landed without incident but Natasha was able to sustain to Anna's chagrin. Anna decided to keep it to herself that she was aware of the devil that was by her side while Natasha knew she needed to remain undetected. It was the longest that Alexis had been able to exist as Natasha which Anna feared meant the worse.

The twosome arrived at the Barrett mansion in Switzerland. Natasha didn't waste time getting out of the car and going up to the door. Anna didn't much care if Natasha was shot on the spot for her uncouth antics. She searched through her bag for her gun in case a fire fight broke out.

"Alexis it's probably best that you stay behind since I'm armed." Anna shoved the gun in her holster and moved ahead of Natasha to the front door. She knocked. "Is anyone here?"

A maid answered the door. "There is no one here."

"Well except for you." Anna poked her head inside. "You have something that belongs to us." She forced herself past the maid into the sprawling mansion.

"Excuse me but you don't have an appointment I presume." The maid objected.

Natasha pushed the maid aside and stepped inside. "Where is the nursery? My son is here."

The maid turned up nose knowing she couldn't deny anymore. "There is no baby here."

Anna pulled out her gun. "Where is the nursery? Who owns this home?"

"You don't have the authority to ask me questions."

Natasha took to the stairs and once she reached the top, she found an array of rooms all with closed doors. "Where is my little lamb?" She called out hoping for a response. Natasha felt drawn to one room in particular. She opened the door to a nursery.

Anna ran up the stairs. "Be careful Alexis." She followed Natasha into the nursery.

Natasha went to the crib and peered over the bars. Her eyes focused on the Lamby sitting in the corner of the crib. She reached into the crib and snatched up the Lamby.

Anna was devastated. "No…he has to be here."

Natasha cradled the Lamby and inhaled its fur. "This is it. I know his smell." Her hands started to tremble.

The maid made it up to the room. "You are not authorized to be here."

Natasha sat down on the bed that Zander slept on to keep a watchful eye over Mikkos. She held tight to the Lamby.

"Where is the baby?" Anna demanded of the maid.

"Dead." The maid blurted out. "Now you need to leave before my boss returns and have you both tossed into a jail cell."

"Look at that woman." Anna pointed in Natasha's direction. "Do you think those are tears of happiness? The baby that was or is here belongs to her. I get you're doing your job but tell us something to help us find the missing little boy. His name is Mikkos…"

"No." The maid stood up straight. "His name is Alexander…"

"That's his middle name." Natasha stood up with sniffles in her voice. "His name is Mikkosavich Alexander. He's almost two. And he's gone because my intention was to keep him safe. He may have fallen into the wrong hands."

Anna held out her gun. "I'm going to search the house."

"At your own risk." The maid grumbled.

Anna left the maid and Natasha alone in the nursery. Natasha put Lamby back in the crib under the maid's watchful eye. Natasha slipped her hand into her jacket.

"I'm keeping an eye on you." The maid stated with defiance.

Natasha went to the door and slammed it closed. She slipped the coveted dagger from her jacket and shoved the maid against the wall pressing her fingers around the maid's neck. "I'm a good actress. I need her to believe I'm a distraught mother. Yes. I'm sad my little boy is missing but no one will find him but me. Where is he?" She slammed the maid against the wall.

The maid's body shook. "I don't know. Mr. Barrett had him sent away. I don't know more than that."

Natasha thought for a moment. "Barrett? Who is this Barrett?"

"Harlan Barrett." The maid could barely swallow from the pressure of Natasha's fingers on her neck. "Please spare my life. I swear that is all I know."

Natasha pierced the blade of the dagger into the maid's neck drawing blood until she squealed from the pain. "You'll survive if you're telling me the truth. And what you're telling me is the man my father is doing business with kidnapped my son."

"I don't know details." The maid frantically shook her head.

Anna continued down the hall to Harlan's office. She ensured that the coast was clear before going into the office. "I hate the modern age. No paper trail." She spoke in her phone.

Agent Bates sat at Anna's desk at the PCPD. "True but anything you can find would be of help. At least you know the tracking device worked."

Anna opened the desk drawers and found them all empty. "Nothing. Someone knew we were coming."

"Be very careful Agent Devane." Agent Bates said.

The office was in a pristine state as if nothing had been touched. "I'm not seeing anything of value to me." Anna searched the desk for hidden drawers or anything that would lead to something. "I'd hate that we made this trip in vain."

Natasha appeared at the door of the office. "I think we should go."

Anna looked up at Natasha. "Agent Bates I need to go. If you see anything let me know." She hung up the call. "I'm sorry Alexis."

Natasha went to Anna and embraced her. "Thank you for trying but I think it's best that we go home."

Anna's heart fell into her stomach. She felt a strong desire to be honest. "Look…I should tell you that I know you're Natasha."

Natasha's defenses rose up but she remained subdued.

"That being said, I thank you for cooperating with me. We are closer to finding Mikkos."

Natasha nodded in agreement. "Kevin is wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"I'm not a bad person. What Kevin doesn't understand is that no one was there for me when I needed them the most. So in turn I fight back with what's left of my heart so that no one that I love will have to go through what I went through."

Anna sat down on the desk. "From your file, I know that you allegedly witnessed your mother's murder at the hands of Helena Cassadine."

"There is no alleged. Helena makes it very clear to all what she did to my mother. But that's not where my vengeance lies."

Anna listened with understanding. "I wish you would feel comfortable being forthright with me about everything that Helena did to you and other victims like my son."

"I don't trust you and I never will."

"But I think Alexis trusts me."

"Alexis is weak. She'd be a fool to trust you."

"Why is she weak? I think she's a good and reasonable person."

"She allows herself to be hurt over and over again. I won't let that happen to me."

Voices could be heard down the stairs which put Anna at alert. She grabbed Natasha's hand and pulled her behind her. "It could be the owner." Anna said.

The footsteps grew as they approached the door of the office.

"Hello?" Sam flung the door open.

Anna dropped her gun to her side. "What are you doing here?"

Lucky and Jason appeared behind Sam. "As backup." Lucky said. "I got the address and we thought we'd do our first duty."

Jason stepped up to Natasha. "Where's Mikkos?"

Natasha stared at Jason as if he was out of line to even approach her.

"Alexis why don't you go to the nursery and get Lamby before we go? I'll meet you in the car." Anna said.

Natasha rarely complied with orders but she gave in and left the office. Sam looked back clueless. "What happened?' Sam asked.

Anna pointed out towards the door mouthing the word Natasha. Lucky, Jason, and Sam all groaned. "Mikkos isn't here. Whoever took him knew we were coming. They obviously knew about the tracking device in Lamby."

"Does that mean we'll never find him?" Sam asked.

Jason stormed out of the office and in the direction of the nursery. He knocked on the door before going in as Natasha gathered up the toys. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now."

Natasha continued her packing task in silence.

Jason got down on his knees to help her carefully put all the stuffed animals in a suitcase opened on the floor. "I didn't get a lot of time with him. I almost died in a plane crash."

"Sorry to hear." Natasha picked up Lamby and dug around in his fur. "Every second chance at life should be a welcomed chance." She held the Lamby close to her.

"Where is Alexis?"

Natasha flashed Jason a look.

"I visited the island where you grew up."

"You don't know anything about me." Natasha snapped back at him.

"Why are you here? What triggered this incident? Did Anna say something?" Jason rested his hand on Natasha's shoulder to show her that he was safe.

Sam went into the nursery. "Mom? Can you answer Jason's questions? What did Anna do or say? Is this about Franco?"

Natasha was not one to stay backed in a corner for long. She had to think fast. "I need to be alone. This is all too much."

Jason stood up. "And the last thing Sam and I want to do is stress you out. We'll leave you alone." He took Sam by the hand and led her out of the nursery.

Natasha slammed the door shut and breathed a deep sigh of relief to be free of further interrogation. She observed her surroundings until she noticed a wooden cabinet with one of the doors cracked open. She went to the cabinet and opened the door to a photo album tucked away in the corner. She flipped it open and her eyes fell upon the photo of Luis with a woman unfamiliar to her memory. Natasha's finger outlined Luis' figure in the photo. She picked up the album and held it close to her heart. "I wanted him to love me."

Natasha had visited Oxford before but that time she was on her own. From the minute she landed at the airport, she hoped the trip would give her a better outlook. For weeks before she had found herself in a deep funk. She felt tossed aside at every turn. All she ever wanted was for Luis to acknowledge her existence but she also had an ulterior motive—to make his life a living hell for allowing her to go through Stavros' torture in the caves. It was a confusing bundle of emotions that all of Natasha's therapists attributed to teenage hormones but Helena knew better than any other that her fragmentation of Natasha's personality was taking formation.

Luis wasn't at the airport to greet Natasha as she had hoped. Instead it was Lorenzo. She tugged at her backpack hung on her back with a shyness that made her cheeks rosy. I guess he'll do. Natasha hadn't seen Lorenzo in years. He had just finished a stint in prison after getting caught with an illegal shipment of arms from Greece. When her eyes met his, Natasha found a subtle beauty in him that she saw through the holes of the stables—her temporary home and birthplace of Alexis Davidovitch.

With her newfound independence, Natasha was determined to regain control of who she was and who her mother intended her to be. She never wanted to know or hear the name Alexis ever again. As Lorenzo approached Natasha, she dropped the backpack to the ground and searched through it for a wrapped gift box. She sprung up to her feet and shoved the gift in Lorenzo's direction. "For you."

Lorenzo coolly smiled and took the box. "You didn't need to bring me a gift."

"I was hoping Luis would come."

Lorenzo's smile faded feeling the sting of constantly being second string to his brother. "He's busy. I am too. I have a class I'm subbing for in a couple hours. But your father called and asked me to assure him that one of us would be here to make sure you got here in one piece."

Natasha stared at Lorenzo feeling a bit in a haze. "I don't think I'll ever truly be whole again." She poked her finger at the box. "Open it. Hope you like it."

Lorenzo ripped the paper from the box and opened it to a camera. "Oh my god. This is nice gift."

"My father said that you like to take pictures. Will you take some of me to send to him?"

Lorenzo dropped the box and held up the camera ready to snap but Natasha held up her hand to the camera. "Come on."

"I'm not ready." She continued to blush as she playfully batted away at the camera but Lorenzo managed to get that perfect first shot of her shinning brighter than any British sun he'd seen during his stay.

Luke had so many things he wanted to say to Laura but he wasn't the kind of guy to pour out his heart knowing that Laura's heart belonged to someone else—his enemy. "This war will never end. I love you and it seems Count Vlad feels the same. And then there's that pesky pain in the ass called Stavros Cassadine. As long as he lives, none of us can be at peace."

Laura was thrown. She hadn't heard that word come from Luke's mouth to her in years. She didn't realize the feelings still existed. "Would you say these things to me if Lulu weren't in a bad situation?"

"Believe what you want Laura. We took down evil together. That's a bond that will never be broken. I don't believe in a heaven nor a hell but something unseemly amongst the Cassadines is rising up and we gotta pick sides. I want you on my side."

"There are no sides Luke. The Spencerdine War is over and our daughter was almost a casualty. So it's time to let it go."

Sonny couldn't take his eyes off of the sonogram. He slumped down on the couch with a glass of Scotch in one hand and the picture in another. He grinned from ear to ear until he could sense someone in the room. He arched his head towards the door creeping open. "Who is it?"

"It's Kristina." She went in and immediately took notice of the picture in her father's hand. "Is this a bad time?"

Sonny handed her the sonogram. "Our new baby." His dimples sunk in his cheeks.

Kristina reluctantly took the photo. She couldn't remember the last time she saw her father beam with pride. She decided not to rain on his parade. She dug into her purse and pulled out a photo of her teenage mother fending off the camera.

"What's that?" Sonny sat up and slipped the photo from Kristina's fingers. "Is this your mother?"

"Yes. Guess who gave it to me?"

"Who?"

"My grandfather."

Sonny almost let his drink slip through his fingers but he reinforced his tight hold to his glass. "You saw him?"

Kristina nodded. "He's at Wyndemere."

Sonny stood up and studied the picture. "Can I keep this?"

"Sure."

"I think I'm going to pay your grandfather a visit."

"You think that's a good idea?"

Sonny shrugged. "It's only proper that I ask his blessing."

Kristina groaned. "I don't know Dad. He has no clue who you are. He even said that if Stefan thought you were a peasant than maybe you are. He's just some stuck up aristocrat."

Sonny finished his drink. "I've dealt with much worse. I've developed a thick skin over the years. I'll be fine." He kissed Kristina's face. "But I appreciate you worrying about my feelings."

"I just know what it's like to not feel good enough." Kristina handed Sonny back the sonogram. "Congratulations on the new baby. I really hope you and my mom can finally be happy."