Alexis listened to the phone ringing on Diane's end but no pick up, how could her former lawyer keep ignoring her like this? Didn't she know how badly Alexis needed her to keep from succumbing to the temptation to hunt Jerry down and hook up with him in the most dangerously sinful way again?

She had spent time with some Scotch at Coleman's bar lamenting over the fact that she had waited most of her life to find a man who would ignite her libido and leave her feeling all turned inside out with just a sultry glance. All of her life she had stuck with men who were nice…so safe and so easy to control…like Nedsy for example. Whatever had happened to him…Alexis couldn't quite recall…the rumors…the stories which wafted along the PC gossip trail…oh never mind, it didn't matter anyway, nothing did in comparison to the trials and tribulations that had just ensnared her in their evil web. Most of PC looked at her as if she were this vile creature…a self-centered, non repentant murderess who was working her way through the town's population. A wigged out member of the poisonous tree that was named Cassadine.

Nothing could be further from the truth, she knew. She was the nicest, kindest and most self-sacrificing person she had ever met. Just look at her, she had three daughters all of them from different fathers…two of them related in other ways besides just through her. They were all well fed, well groomed, well except for Sam's slovenly look since hooking up with Sonny's former henchman, Jason. But she was working with her eldest daughter, that is she would be if she stopped having wanton sex with her mother's men. But moving on to Kristina…well she was just going through the pits and perils and incessant mood fluctuations of her teenaged years…which was strange because Alexis still saw her as her little girl...okay then so she wasn't a perfect princess but then what about Molly?

Where was Molly anyway? Alexis tried to remember the last time she had seen her youngest spawn but…never mind, she'd turn up at some point…moving on to more important topics…like securing her own freedom. The rest would just have to take care of itself like it always did. After all, Alexis considered herself the best mother in PC…after all she wasn't crazy like Carly who had somehow ensnared Alexis' favorite husband in her snare…nor was she like that vagabond Felicia who had apparently remembered having kids and had wandered back to PC driving Mac crazy.

Alexis gave up on Dianne figuring she'd better find a more reliable best friend and fast…maybe she could find one on the jury…but as long as Edward kept the control of it in his ironclad grip…not much hope there.

Kristina looked at her mom, gripping the cell phone as if it were her lifeline and thought, how pathetic. How could this needy, self-serving creature be her mother? Kristina had no idea…it must have been a baby swap of some sort that had landed her in the wrong crib…then she wondered who would be her real mother then. It had to be someone else, anyone else because people swapped babies like they swapped DNA tests…and when Bobbie had reappeared out of nowhere that mattered to land on her mother's jury, just look at the car she had been driving…clearly she had fallen into some huge windfall.

Kristina had fantasies of having someone cool as her mother…someone like Olivia who despite having a grown son, her half brother with Sonny, she still dressed to the nines, hung out at all the cool places and could party up a storm. She could just see her and Olivia in matching outfits sitting at the PC beauty salon getting their manicures, pedicures and waxes done. Then going out on a shopping spree in a really fancy sport car. She hadn't confided her fantasies with anyone…not even Faith, her fairy godmother. But no matter how much she wished, how many times she clicked the heels of her new slippers, she opened her eyes and there stood…Alexis still hanging onto her cell phone or her Scotch…still pathetic as ever. She had stopped going to PC High with all the dorks partly because her being Alexis' daughter outweighed all the coolness points she earned from being Sonny's little princess, leaving her with a net result of being a pariah.

But who had time for school anyway…when she had all these adventures with Faith…and she still had this thing for Jas who for some reason had been drawn to skanky Sam who couldn't even get her top and bottom to match when she had finally rolled out of bed and wandered into the kitchen. She had crashed at Alexis' late last night because Jas all of a sudden had been called away for a secret assignment and he wouldn't tell her one damn thing about where he would be going and when he returned.

So they got into a fight and she stomped off...But not before lifting another credit card from his pocket and palming it triumphantly before stuffing it in her bra. There was a 50 percent sale at the leather and lace boutique that she favored. With Jas away, that left plenty of time for her to accessorize her wardrobe.

Alexis saw her two eldest daughters staring at her while she clutched the phone.

"You're looking at me like something's the matter…well nothing's the matter…not really..well except for the fact that the whole town wants to execute me…Edward and Ned's daughter just look like they want to skip the trial and get right to it…oh what am I going to do?"

Neither of them knew what to say so she just rattled on some more.

"And I just can't stop thinking about him…you know Jerry, remember him…well he's just the hottest guy who ever burned me to a crisp with a glance…and you know because I'm so busy taking care of my girls, I've had to put certain other parts of me…on ice…"

Sam just grimaced. Why did her mother want to shack up with that disgusting creep, anyway? Kristina just couldn't understand why her mother was talking about her lack of a sex life to them in the first place…how gauche….not.

Alexis just sighed and wrung her hands.

"Girls, I'm so sorry about breakfast…I'm just so overwrought…why don't you go find something to cook up for us?"

Sam just sighed, never having learned that particular skill…and Kristina just folded her arms thinking how so un cool it was to have her as a mother...no wonder no one liked her at PC High.

"Kristina…I don't have all day…I have to get my hair done…because Julia said that my hair style alone could get me convicted."

Kristina just sighed, looking for a frying pan she wished she could use to hit her mother on the head…then a chill filled her…she had just had a murderous thought…did this mean…was she really her mother's daughter after all?

God…she hoped not.

Robin's lip trembled slightly as she sat at the table where an elegant and lacy doily type table cloth had been spread, and on top of that was the finest china including a pot of herbal tea. She had even collected some flowers from the waterfront to place in a vase filled with water as a centerpiece.

All this she had done even as she slaved to make a perfect omelet, plus toast with marmalade on the side the way her daddy always liked it.

But her father had once again left a message on her cell telling her he would once again be a no show, having to like usual take a rain check on their time spent together. Rage threatened to overcome her usually tranquil self but she stifled it down into the recesses where it threatened to erupt…and she had closed her eyes and started chanting the mantra about how the world was filled with peace and joy, peace and joy, yes…she felt herself start to settle down…feeling a little bit better.

Scorpio had mentioned something about a mission that he had been called to perform which is why he had to cancel all his plans. She thought about calling him back but knew he wouldn't pick up. She accepted this as part and parcel of the relationship they had always shared…at least she saw him occasionally…her mother, Anna was her real name wasn't it…she hardly ever even heard from. But it didn't matter because Robin lived in a town of surrogate fathers. Mac, who was Scorpio's brother had been the mainstay in her life…even as he had two other strays to raise in Maxine and Georgia. Although Georgia's life had been brutally snuffed out like a beautiful candle that shone no more…though when the lighting was right and the sounds fell silent around her for just a moment…a piece of time's generosity…she could just about see her dead friend.

Some might say it was her imagination but she knew Georgia's benevolent spirit watched over the town and if she could be reached…her spirit channeled into a conduit for communicating, maybe she could prove to be the town savior in death that she had strived to be in real life. Georgia's own father, Frisco had been an irresponsible cad caught up in the same Peter Pan complex that gripped her own father and when it came to propagating, he had been like that dude, Johnny Appleseed. So she and Georgia had bonded over root beer floats and sinfully delicious cupcakes over their wayward parents.

When Felicia had wandered back into town after one of her trips, she hadn't even known that sweet little Georgia had passed on…and rumor was that she had simply said, bummer and then had gone to look for Spinelli for some happy grass. Robin frowned when she wondered what Mac, the town's police commissioner, would have to say about that. Mac was such a good man, a paragon of virtue in a town that had none but what he needed was a good honest woman and unfortunately, he hadn't had much luck.

But now that he and Alexis had crossed paths and exchanged meaningful looks and flirtatious banter every once in a while, she thought his luck might change. Because though most of the town believed Alexis to be the evil spawn of Mikos and some dead opera singer, she saw the goodness within her because Robin had that amazing gift.

Plus she had the magical decoder ring that Casey had given her before the beam of light had sucked him back into his spaceship. Now most of the town's folk had shaken their hands and wondered who had slipped Robin some acid for her to come up with such a fantastic story but Robin knew deepest in her heart that Casey had been real.

"I do believe in aliens," she had said every night back then clicking her heels.

And even years later, she still believed…She felt so, so, sad right now at her father failing to show up yet again…and yes, she needed to find a way to turn her frown upside down and be her perky self…but she just needed a moment…so she put her head down on her arms and her shoulders shook.

And outside, the sun slid behind a cloud as someone stood watching…and waiting…