"Sam!" Molly went rushing to her sister as soon as they entered the castle.
"How did the lesson go?" Sam asked her.
"It went great! Caitlyn started teaching me how to read music."
"That's a handy skill." Nikolas encouraged her. "What are you playing? Flute, violin, clarinet?"
"Guitar." Alexis rolled her eyes.
"She's getting a lot better." Kristina encouraged. There was vast improvement from before she left California. "A natural; who knows Squirt, you could have your band going by the next time you see me."
"Where are you going?" Lucky asked her.
"New Hampshire." Kristina smiled. Alexis had given her the paperwork upon her return from her father's.
"For how long?" Robin asked coming into the conversation.
"The next two and a half years; of course I'll be home for breaks and the occasional weekend." Kristina answered.
"She's transferring schools." Alexis explained.
"Moving out of Port Chuck?" Luke questioned. "Not a bad plan."
"Is this it? Does the party start now?" Robert asked them.
"Your brother is on his way." Luke told him.
"Uh oh, there goes the fun." Robert kidded. "Oh, I know, we can all hide and then he'll think he came to the wrong castle."
"Okay!" Spencer spoke up and started to race behind a couch.
"Honey, no, Robert was just teasing." Laura explained to him.
"Can we play hide and seek?" Spencer asked Nikolas.
"No; not in the castle, son, you know the rule." Nikolas replied.
"I must be accompanied by an adult at all times." The four-year-old repeated the rule.
"Don't worry bud, he gives me that same decree." Mischa told him.
"Then daddy must care about you a lot." Spencer replied. "He says that it's to protect me because he loves me so much that it would destroy him if anything bad happened."
"Is that what he says?" Mischa asked.
"Yep; he says that there's too many tunnels and other places I could get lost or hurt, so Jake, Cam, and I have to keep our games in the play room."
"Hey Spenc!" Molly spoke up. "Why don't you and Jake show me to the play room?"
"Okay." He grabbed her hand. "Come on Jakey."
"Emma too?" Jake questioned Patrick.
"No; actually I think it's almost time for Emma's nap." Patrick replied.
XXXXX
"I hope you don't mind me just dropping by." Caitlyn said coming over to Elizabeth's house.
"No; you're welcome any time." Elizabeth replied as a sleeping Cam rested over her shoulder while she answered the door. "Your brother went out to pick up some groceries."
"Is he doing any better?" She asked pointed at the boy.
"Yeah; he's through the worst of it. Now he's just clingy and tired." Liz explained. "He loves that puppy, by the way. Thank you for stopping by yesterday."
"Not a problem; I just can't believe how easily you were able to domesticate Zander. Based off of all the stories I heard about his prior…"
"I don't think I can take all the credit for that. I honestly believe that time he spent away changed him, matured him. He still has that live on the edge mentality but he's been able to shift that to skiing."
"Over being in the mob?" Caitlyn giggled. "Not that I'm one to talk; apparently I have that exact same 'live on the edge' mentality."
"It's genetic? Great, this kid doesn't stand a chance." Liz joked knowing deep down it was a part of her as well. "Is this another post Johnny Zacchara run-in?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, that's typically why you would spend you day off hiding out here instead of going back to be with your boyfriend."
"That transparent?"
Liz simply nodded.
"I really don't know what it is."
"Then that's what you need to figure out. Hopefully sooner than later, before making a huge mistake that you can't take back."
"Liz; what do you know about Claudia Zacchara?"
"What do you know?" Liz re-questioned.
"The basic stuff; she's Sonny's wife, and Johnny's sister. She has the mentality of strike first and ask questions later and due to that Michael got a bullet in her head. I know that she feels bad about that and because of maneuvering by her lawyer she's out on house arrest and wants to meet me."
"Why?"
"I think to set me up with her brother." Caitlyn replied.
"Yeah right! When Lulu was dating Johnny Claudia always had this disturbing murderous glare whenever she was around. Lucky swore that if they would have gotten engaged there would be some anthrax placed in the congratulatory envelope."
"I bet Lucky would have loved having Johnny as a brother-in-law." Caitlyn said sarcastically.
"Yeah; about as much as Zander would." Liz added.
"Okay, point taken. I should get back to the apartment before Dante starts to worry. We were going to go out to the humane society this afternoon."
"Adopting a pet?"
"Maybe. If we do you're going to have to bring Cam by when he's feeling better to check it out." She kissed her nephew's forehead.
"He'd like that."
"And Jake, of course, is welcome as well." Caitlyn added. "We're going to look at the bunnies."
"Bunnies? Wow. That sounds like fun; let us know how that turns out."
"I will; thank you for the ear."
"Don't mention it." Liz insisted. "To be honest, I haven't had this kind of friendship with someone that wasn't a co-worker since Emily died."
"Wasn't Emily a co-worker?"
"She was a friend first."
XXXXXX
"That's them." Michael said as he heard a car pulling into the driveway.
"Michael, are you nervous?" Alyssa asked him.
"A little bit." He confessed. "Don't ask me why, it's not like I haven't talked to her. I guess I'm just afraid it's going to be different."
"Don't be, come with me." She replied and directed him outside the front door.
Jason had put the car into park with Bobbie sitting in the passenger's seat. Carly had opted to sit in the back by Morgan and the car seat. She couldn't take her eyes off her little girl on the car ride home.
Being the first out of the car Michael greeted Jason with a hug. "Hey, you know the rule." Michael teased.
"She'll be right out. Nice to see you Alyssa; thanks for taking care of him." Jason offered.
"No sweat; I hope it's okay…"
"It's not a problem." Carly interrupted. She handed Jason the car seat before throwing her arms around her eldest who held on like he'd never see her again.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying." Michael replied after letting go.
"It's okay." She dried his tears.
"See Michael, she's back!" Morgan said jumping out. "Good as new!"
"Well, almost." Carly said patting Morgan's head. "Do we want to go inside?"
"Yeah, ah… I hope you're hungry. Lys and I made some breakfast."
"I'm starving." Carly replied as she looked back at Jason who looked just as famished. They walked into the dinning room to see the table fixed up for all of them.
"I didn't know you could cook." Bobbie said impressed.
"I certainly didn't get it from mom." Michael joked. "Actually, dad taught me how to make a few things."
"If you're looking for something to do this summer I'm sure Mike could use the help at Kelly's." Bobbie insisted. "You too, Alyssa."
"I'll keep that in mind." Alyssa responded thinking she could probably use the extra spending money more than Michael ever would.
As soon as Carly sat down she lifted Britni into her lap. Jason sat next to her and helped her get her plate set.
"How was the trip?" Morgan asked them.
"Long." Carly answered. "That was the single longest flight I've taken in my entire life."
"Don't listen to her." Jason shook his head. "She was asleep through most of it."
"That's probably a good thing." Bobbie chuckled.
"And the parts I wasn't all I could think about was wanting to be home." Carly defended herself.
"Don't worry, mom, I think all of our patience were shot waiting for this moment." Michael encouraged. "Does anyone else feel like this is not happened right now?"
"It takes some time to get used to." Jason replied quietly.
"Which is exactly why I didn't want a lot of people here." Carly explained. "Do you boys have any… questions?"
"Is Jerry dead?" Morgan blurted out.
Carly's jaw just about dropped at his forwardness.
"Um… Morgan, we can't talk about that." Michael spoke up.
"Why? I hope he is dead; he let all of us believe that our mother was gone just so he could have her for himself, and then he almost killed her by not giving her the medical attention that she needed."
"Morgan, Jerry won't be hurting us again." Carly assured him.
"How do you know?" Morgan questioned.
"I just do."
XXXXXX
"We're sorry we're late." Maxie announced the entrance of her, Spinelli, and Mac in the dinning hall at Wyndemere.
"Are you kidding? Get over here." Sam insisted as she gave the girl a hug.
"So, does this make us like step cousins or something like that?" Maxie asked her.
"I think so." Sam nodded.
"Welcome to the family." Mac hugged her. "We should have known there was Scorpio in you."
"Well, thanks… I think." Sam laughed.
"It's the PI/adrenaline junky gene." Robin explained.
"Oh." Sam replied as she looked over to her mother.
"I suppose this is when we start the discussion on what it going on with Helena." Lucky spoke up once it looked like the greetings were through.
"Not yet." Nikolas urged.
"Master Nikolas, the final guests have arrived." Alfred announced.
"Send them in." Nikolas instructed. Everyone in the hall looked around wondering who was missing.
"Damon!" Kristina stood up from her seat and ran toward him. He opened his arms and spun her around. Sam stood up to go over and greet Galen.
"This is my wife Penelope Katsaros." He explained.
The petite woman stuck out her hand. "You can call me Penny." Next to her was a woman that resembled that of an older Sam.
"Calista Krischnan." The woman introduced herself.
"Lisa…" Alexis took a long look at her. It had been ages since they had been at Briarton-Griggs together.
"Alexis; nice to see you again."
"I owe you a long overdue apol…"
"No." Lisa shook her head. "No; you don't owe us anything. Actually, I was the one telling Lars that it wasn't fair dragging you into the Cassadine wars we had going on with our family, which is why after he disappeared I didn't seek a friendship… I thought you would be safer."
Alexis snickered. "Of course; I thought the exact same thing. Your family was better off without knowing about my father. I didn't even know Lars was gone; I just figured he had finally given up trying."
Galen laughed to himself. "You obviously didn't know Laertes all that well."
"Any news on my Grandmother?" Nikolas finally asked once introductions went around the table.
Galen shook his head. "She's back in hiding. My guess is that she headed east into Russia. She'll lay low for awhile, but without declaring war it falls outside the Hellenic army's jurisdiction. However, I am well acquainted with the Chief General who has the ear of Prime Minister Putin, and there will be severe consequences for anyone found providing haven for this international terrorist."
"Great." Luke shook his head. "The Ice Princess is back to doing what she does best cooking up yet another hair-brained scheme, while we sit around and wait."
"Do you have a better solution?" Laura asked him.
"Sure I do; it's about time I go Van Helsing on her tush. Anyone with me?" Luke threw out the offer.
"I can't let you have all the fun." Robert volunteered.