"I know what I saw," Johnny exclaimed as he paced about the floor. Johnny, Jason, and Sonny all stood in the waiting area of the hospital's nursery. Sonny had decided to keep vigil there. Until Sophia could be released to his custody he wasn't going to take any chances with somehow losing her too.

"I do not doubt that you think you saw something," Jason defended. "I'm just trying to understand why Corelli would take Claudia's body, or Sonny's son."

"He's Claudia's son too, and I don't know. Maybe Claudia's not dead…" Johnny said as his eyes grew wide at the revelation.

"You saw her," Sonny interjected. "I was there when she…she was dead."

"How do you know? I mean yeah the monitors beeped and she looked dead, but what if she was given something, something that made her look dead? Corelli is into a lot of things from what I've heard about him, but I don't think necrophilia is on the list so why would he take Claudia's 'dead' body?" Johnny asked and both Jason and Sonny sent him a look that told him they both thought he was losing it. "Nurse Webber," Johnny called out as he moved towards the nurse's station where Elizabeth Webber stood handing over a chart to one of the nurses behind the counter. She turned at hearing her name. "Can I ask you a question?" Johnny asked as he stood before her.

"Sure," Elizabeth replied as she eyed the three men who now stood before her.

"I know it's gonna sound crazy but please just humor me alright?"

"OK," She replied but her eyes still held a skeptical look.

"Are there any drugs, any that you know of, any at all that could make a person appear dead?"

"Uhm…" She genuinely gave it some thought, and it took her a moment because she was also wondering why he wanted to know this. "Yes there are several drugs that use the poison hemlock for its antispasmodic properties, but if you give the wrong dosage it can paralyze a patient, slowing down all the muscles in the body, mainly the heart. It could slow down the bodily functions to the point nothing would register on any of our monitors, which would make them 'medically dead', and if it's not treated with a counter active drug the patient could really die. Actually…" She paused contemplating whether she should be telling the hospital business.

"What?" Johnny coaxed.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this but we actually had a couple of valves of those exact drugs go missing today, a valve with the hemlock and a valve of the counter active drug. That's actually why I'm up here we have to check floor by floor, we assumed that one of the newer nurses accidentally took them and we want to make sure it's not given to a patient."

"I knew it, I told you…I don't believe in coincidences." Johnny stated.

"Neither do I," Sonny concurred.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked as she turned her full attention to Jason, who turned to Sonny. Sonny nodded his head.

"Johnny thinks that someone took Claudia's body, that she wasn't dead but someone wanted us to think she was."

"So you think that someone gave Claudia something that would make her appear to be dead?" Elizabeth posed the question directly to Johnny, who nodded his head.

"Is there a way to test her blood for traces of the drug, there was a lot of her blood in that OR," Johnny asked as he willed away the images his words brought to his mind.

"Yeah there is, but I'll have to notify Dr. Quartermaine about this, she'd have to approve that."

"That's fine but could you please ask her to use discretion, we don't want to alert the person who did this. They want us to think Claudia's dead, keeping this quiet gives us the advantage and a greater chance of finding her and my son more quickly." Sonny said.

"Oh my God you think whoever did this took your son too?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes and when I find that son-of-a-bitch I'm gonna make him wish he never had."

Along with consciousness came a hot searing pain. Everything seemed to hurt, everywhere. She wanted to open her eyes but they felt so heavy and weighed down it became too difficult and so she kept them shut, but still tried to focus on her surroundings.

"Sonny," An unfamiliar voice called out and it took her a moment to realize that it was her voice. It sounded tired and very dry but it was hers. "Sonny," She called out again and instantly felt a hand clutching one of her hands and another hand stroking her hair. She inwardly sighed in relief as she relaxed a bit more. Just before the darkness of sleep claimed her again she heard a voice speaking softly to her and her final thought before she drifted off again was, 'I didn't know Sonny could speak Italian.'

"I just can't believe that someone on our staff would steal drugs and purposely use them to harm a patient. Worst case scenario I could think of was that a nurse accidentally took the wrong medication," Dr. Monica Quartermaine spoke in a lowered voice even though she, Sonny, Johnny, and Jason were in her closed off office. "I'm so sorry for what happened to Claudia and your son."

"It's not your fault and it may not have been a staff member, the Corelli's are very powerful and they have people who could get the job done." Johnny tried to reassure.

"No it would have had to have been a staff member, someone with access to our Medical storage rooms." Monica stated. "After all the drama we had last year with the tainted drugs coming through the hospital, Nikalos Cassidine was adamant about having better security when the hospital was rebuilt. He installed state of the art security rooms where all medications are stored. Only staff members can access it and even they have to go through an ID card swipe and a security guard before they can get into the room housing the meds. There's also a very secret measure that only those on the hospital board knows about, it's an extra precaution in case someone was able to get past all the other security protocols. Anytime a valve is removed from one of the refrigerated medicine cabinets, it's instantly logged in the security database and a hidden camera takes the person photo."

"Well that's good, it should be easier to find the person who took the drugs then." Jason said.

"Yes, and I had already started the security guards going through the security database when we were alerted about the missing valve earlier this morning, when they find the location of the medical room that's missing the drug then we'll have a picture of the person who took it. Unfortunately not all the databases have been built. All the information is still stored, but it's in a holding queue with millions of other logs." Monica announced.

"So how long will it take them to search?" Sonny finally spoke.

"I honestly don't know Sonny. But like I said they started the search the instant we discovered the missing valves of medicine, and that was well over twelve hours ago. But we have 40 medical storage rooms on each floor of the hospital and only two security specialist who are qualified to search them, so it's taking some time."

"Jason," Sonny called out to the man seated to his right. Jason instantly stood and pulled out his cell phone as he made for the exit, already knowing what Sonny needed him to do.

"Spinelli, I have a job for you," Jason spoke in a hushed tone as he opened the office door to leave. He paused when he saw Elizabeth standing there with her hand raised, readying to knock on the door. "Sorry," Jason mumbled as he stood back and allowed Elizabeth to enter with the bundle she cradled in her arms. He then swiftly left leaving the door opened behind him.

"I didn't mean to interrupt but I promised Sonny I'd stay with little Sophia while the nurses finished their assessment and then I would bring her to him, and here she is," She handed the swaddled baby over to the awaiting arms of her father, who smiled lovingly down at his daughter. "I have her release form waiting at the nurse's station in the lobby, you'll just need to stop there on your way out and signed it, and then she's all yours." A nod was the only acknowledgement Sonny gave, his eyes remained fixed on his daughter's sleeping face.

"Thank you Elizabeth," Monica spoke out from behind her desk. Elizabeth gave a nod and then focused on Sonny and Johnny.

"I hope you find Claudia and Steffano soon."

"Thank you Elizabeth." Sonny said finally looking up at her.

"And remember what I told you earlier, if you ever need someone to look after her just give me a call ok?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"You're welcome," She replied as she leaned down a bit and stroked the baby's soft black tresses. "Bye sweet Sophia."

"Sonny," Jason called from the open doorway and all eyes in the room turned and focused onto him. "Max is bringing the car."

"I'd like to come too if that's alright." Johnny said as he stood up alongside Sonny, reaching out and brushing his thumb across Sophia's tiny chin, which caused her to pout a bit.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to get in touch with your contact in Italy, I bet that's where Corelli is headed." Sonny replied and then turned back to Monica. "Thanks Monica for everything."

"I'll keep you and your family in my prayers, I hope you bring your wife and son home very soon."

This time she had no problems opening her eyes, they snapped open of their own accord. She bolted upright in the bed and instantly regretted it when a sharp pain hit her abdomen, which she clutched her hand over and grimaced. Her eyes darted around the room, and she calmly took in the unfamiliar surroundings. She began to panic when she was struck with a feeling in her stomach, the feeling she always got whenever she flew.

"Sonny!" She called out as she threw back the covering and attempted to get up from the bed.

"Don't move," A voice spoke from the doorway and Claudia's head shot up and she locked eyes with Michael Corelli. Her heart began to pound so hard in her chest the beating was nearly deafening. "You just had a C-Section, moving too much could open your stitches."

"Where am I, what am I doing here, where's Sonny and…Oh God!" Her voice rose and her eyes widened in fear. "Where are Sophia and Steffano, what did you do with them?"

"Last time I saw your children they were both fine. I have not harmed your children, I would never do that."

"Where am I?"

"Right about now we're over the Atlantic, I'm taking you to my secret villa. You'll be able to relax and heal there." Corelli answered as he casually entered the room and sat on the side of the bed. He reached out to stroke Claudia's dark tresses but she quickly recoiled from his touch, moving to the other side of the bed.

"You are certifiable. You kidnap me and act as if it's something normal. This is not a honeymoon. I want to go home to my 'husband' and my children."

"Claudia I can and will give you the world, but you will never return to that other life. Your place is with me now."

"I will never be with you, my place is with my family, my babies…Oh Michael please… Per favore," She sobbed and silently hated how weak and pathetic she sounded, but if she had to beg in order to be with her family again then she would. "They need me, Hanno bisogno della loro madre, please, please take me home."

"I'm sure they will be fine, Sonny is a good father I have seen this much for myself, and so I'm sure he will take good care of your daughter. Now you should get more rest."

"Wait…why did you say it like that, Sonny will take good care of our daughter. Why wouldn't he take good care of our 'children'?" Claudia asked as she frowned at the man before her, who sat silently debating if he should tell her who had her son. "Did something happen to Steffano, you said they were both ok."

"They are," Corelli said hoping to reassure her.

"Sonny doesn't have Steffano, does he?" She continued to question, not really needing to hear the words to know the truth. "So who has my son, who would want to take…" Her heart nearly stopped when the only conclusion came to her mind. "Daddy…my father has Steffano? Oh no, oh no, no, no," She moaned out sorrowfully as she fell back against the pillows and wailed. Corelli watched helplessly as the woman he had fallen in love with screamed her fears and frustration into one of the pillows she had her face buried in.

"You got anything yet?" Johnny asked as he leaned over the back of the couch.

"No, just like there was nothing five minutes ago when the Dark Prince asked me," Spinelli replied irritably. "I think I would be able to concentrate more if you weren't hovering." He tossed over his shoulder to Johnny.

"Sorry," Johnny said as he moved away from the couch, roughly running his hand through his hair.

"You got anything yet," A voice spoke out.

"No!" Spinelli yelled as he bolted up from the couch and turned to glared at the man behind him. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when instead of finding Johnny standing before him as he had expected, he found Sonny holding his infant daughter.

"Don't you ever raise your voice in my house again," Sonny spoke softly not wanting to rouse his sleeping child but his eyes held his anger.

"I'm sorry Mr. Sir I meant no disrespect I'm just a bit stressed, and my brain's a bit fried going through the hospital files for the past three hours straight…oh and is this little Sophia?" Spinelli suddenly cooed as his attention fell fully onto the baby swaddled in a pink blank and cradled securely in her father's arms. Sonny uncharacteristically graced Spinelli with a genuine smile as he held Sophia up a bit to show her off. "She's gorgeous she's definitely gonna be a knock out just like Vixenilla." Both Johnny and Sonny threw him a warning glare. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't call her that anymore because she's definitely, officially one of the white hats now…right? Right, she has arisen out of the ashes of evilness like the 'Phoenix', and so she shall be known hence forth as the 'Phoenix'. Which could work even if she went back to her evil ways, then she would be known as the 'Dark Phoenix', like Dr. Jean Grey of the X-Men. And you shall be 'Precious' because you are just," Sonny rolled his eyes and shook his head a bit at the man in front of him, but before he could cut into Spinelli about his 'stupid' nicknames a beeping noise filled the room, capturing Spinelli's attention and made him rush back to his laptop. "Whoa." Spinelli exclaimed.

"What, did you find something…this time?" Johnny asked skeptically from his position at the bar, where he stood mixing himself a drink. While Sonny moved to a nearby chair and sat down.

"Uh…yeah. I have this program I wrote myself, sort of like a search engine and ten times better than Bing…"

"Focus Spinelli and speak English." Sonny said.

"Right, the program found the pictures of the person who took the medicines used on Phoenix. It was none other than the patriarch of the Dark prince and the Phoenix, Anthony Zacharra."

"The plan was you were never to contact me again,"

"Plans change I need to see you, now." Corelli spoke in a demanding tone.

"What, has my dear sweet daughter turned out to be a disappointment to you, like she has always been for me? Well there's no takesy backsies." Anthony Zacharra said jokingly.

"No, this has nothing to do with Claudia, Its Sonny Corinthos."

"Look I told you, you don't have to worry about Sonny, he's not gonna care about Claudia's missing body, he's gonna pour all his energy into finding his son, which he will never do."

"Sorry but I'm not as sure as you are. I plan to take him out, and I need you to do it, so we have to meet. I thought you'd jump at this opportunity, with Corinthos out of the way you'd have your business back." There was a long pause before Anthony responded.

"Fine, write down these coordinates."

"No, I'm going to put you through to my pilots give the coordinates to them," Corelli said and then hung up the phone which instantly connected Anthony with his pilots.

"If you're planning to take out Corinthos we're gonna need a whole lot of man power and fire power," Corelli's number one henchman Marco said from his seat. Corelli regarded him for a second before the phone rang again. He picked up the phone and listened and then began to write on the notepad that sat beside the phone.

"Good set a course change, how long will it take us to get there? Thank you." Corelli hung up the phone and then spoke to Marco. "Who do we have in Denmark?"

"Detrick and Boris," Marco answered without having to think about it. "Why?"

"Call them let them know that we're going to need a group of men, a dozen or so. We're going to take out Anthony Zacharra. He won't have many guards on his grounds he lost most of them when he handed over his business to Corinthos. Here's the address Anthony gave the pilot, let Detrick and Boris know that there's an infant boy in Anthony's care, and I want the child unharmed. Anthony I want dead. And for extra incentive, tell them I'm paying a million to him and his crew, that's a million for each of them."

"Oh that will definitely get the job done." Marco stated with a smirk.

"We'll be landing in a couple of hours, and I expect them to be at the airport with little Steffano in hand because I don't want to be on the ground for too long." Marco Nodded and then pulled out his cell to make the call. Corelli rested his eyes to the closed door in the back of the private jet, which housed a grief stricken Claudia, and hoped that having at least one of her children would be enough to console as well as control her.

~hanno bisogno della loro madre: they need their mother~