Mending Walls

-2-

Carly heard the turning of a key in the door and ran to open it. There standing in front of her wearing identical looks of disdain were Alexis' two teenaged brats. "Why the hell are you two so late?" She asked, grabbing them both by the arms and dragging them into penthouse. "You know your father and I have to leave in half an hour!"

Abbey jerked out of Carly's grasp first, "I've told you before Carly," she said while rubbing the red mark on her arm, " You're not my parent, don't ever put your hands on me!"

*How dare that little brat talk to me like that! * Carly moved closer to Abbey but the girl refused to give up her ground. Dark brown eyes, Alexis' eyes, stared at her defiantly.

"Touch her and I'll knock you on your bony ass Carly." Gina shoved past her stepmother and walked towards the kitchen, "Good Morning Daddy!" She called into the room.

"What took you so long?" Came the response form the kitchen.

"Gina was looking for her boots!" Abbey chirped as she took her seat at the breakfast table.

"It's not like you don't have seven pairs of them Gina." Sonny called back.

"That's just what Mom said." Gina told him.

Carly tensed at the mention of Alexis. She had spent the last seventeen years trying to rid herself of that dried up old hag, but it seemed that every time she made an inch of progress those damned brats pushed her back a foot. And now there they were sitting at her table yet again. Two mini- Alexises smiling smugly at her.

Gina knew that Carly was seething inside but couldn't say anything because Sonny was in the next room. Turning to her sister she began to talk to Abbey about their American Government Exam.

Carly sat down across form the girls and started talking, "I swear to God you must be the most self-centered children on the planet! Michael was never late to breakfast when he was growing up."

Abbey stopped what she was doing to turn to Carly and say, "and you know that how? Michael ate breakfast with Leticia almost every morning of his child hood."

Carly hadn't actually been expecting a response so of course she wasn't really listening to the girls. "Huh?" She said stupidly.

Abbey's face took on a look of disgust. "Whatever." She said and turned back to Gina.

"I don't know why you mother hasn't taught you two better manners. If you were my children you'd know how to treat your elders."

This time it was Gina who turned to her stepmother, "Lady if I was your kid I'd be in serious need of therapy."

"Was I talking to you smartass?" *Damnit! * Carly thought to herself, *These brats always have an answer to everything! *

"Yeah you were Carly." Now Gina gave up and went back to her sister.

"Okay you know what? You two need to have more respect for me!"

Gina looked at Abbey; "did you just hear something?" She asked.

Abbey frowned in concentration for a second, "Sounds like a fly or something."

Carly was about to go further but just then Sonny came out of the kitchen. "One Denver omelet," he said putting a plate down in front of Abbey. "And two Belgian waffles." That dish he gave to Gina.

"Thank you Daddy." They chorused in unison, flashing Sonny brilliant smiles. *Little brownnosers! * Carly silently seethed.

Abbey slid her eyes to the side so she could check Carly's reaction. She was pleased to see that Carly was so pissed it looked like she should have had smoke coming out of her ears.

Sonny sat down at the head of the table, "Is everything ok Carly?" He asked, "You look kind of flushed."

Gina looked at Carly with big innocent brown eyes, "Yeah Carly; you're all blotchy."

"It's nothing." Carly managed to get out, grasping the neck of her water so hard that Abbey thought she was going to snap the neck. "I just swallowed something the wrong way."

*************************

"I'm going to kill my husband!" Emily Bowen Quatermaine-Cassadine announced as she strode into Alexis' office.

Alexis didn't even look up from her files, "What now?"

Emily kicked off her high heels and sat down Indian style in the chair in front of Alexis' desk; "Nikolas bought Paige a horse for her birthday!"

"And?" Alexis prompted, getting up and walking towards her file cabinet.

"She's only six Lex! Paige can barely ride her bike without scraping something!" Emily ran a hand through her hair in frustration, causing the already short locks to stand practically on end, her eyes were growing dark with anger, "She's gonna kill herself!"

"Don't worry Em," Alexis assured her friend, "All Cassadines are practically raised on horseback. Nikolas has been riding since he could walk." The air was on the fritz again so Alexis took of Gina's leather jacket and pinned her hair back with a couple of pencils.

Emily watched her friend with growing frustration, "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Paige is the Cassadine Princess Em," Alexis reminded her, "I'm surprised Nikolas hasn't taught her how to ride already."

A somber cloud seemed to settle over Emily at the reminder; she stared at the huge crested ring on her right hand, the symbol of so much happiness and the same time so much pain. "You know Nikolas isn't into the Cassadine legacy anymore Lex, he doesn't have those expectations for Paige."

Alexis could have kicked herself for being so brusque; Emily had gone from fierce mother lioness to depressed little pixie in a matter of seconds. "Of course he doesn't Em," She said reaching across the table to pat Emily's arm, "I'm sure Nikolas is just looking for a way to bond with Paige."

Emily's face brightened a little bit; the clouds withdrew from her eyes and a little bit of their normal sparkle returned, "Like he needs to get any closer to her," She joked, "Nikolas already spoils her rotten. Paige is a Daddy's girl through and through."

Alexis snorted at that, "Don't come here looking for sympathy I've got two of them at home."

Emily looked, really looked, at her friend for the first time in a long time. Time had treated Alexis well. She seemed to be, Emily thought to herself, one of those women who only looked better as they got older. When one see them as teenagers it's like looking at an unfinished portrait, the features are all there, it just takes experience to tie them together in a way that no one could expect. Emily thought about the Alexis that she had known all those years ago. The hair had been darker, the face less lined, but the eyes were much sadder. Abbey and Gina had brought a peace into Alexis' life that had never been there before. So what if she had to frost the gray hairs a bit more often now? And maybe the laugh lines didn't disappear as soon as her face became serious again. Underneath the translucent skin, coffee colored eyes, and incredible bone structure there was a truly happy woman.

Alexis noticed that Emily was kind of drifting and snapped her fingers in front of her face, "You ok Em?" She asked.

Emily jerked back to attention; "did you ever think our lives would end up this way?"

That hadn't been the answer Alexis was expecting, "What do you mean?"

"Twenty years ago," Emily began, "I was still in High School and running around with Juan," she stopped for a second to contemplate what her future might have been with that particular boyfriend, *Weird. * She decided, *Very weird. *

"And I was engaged to Ned." Alexis finished. Contemplating what her life would have been like with the man who was now her sister's husband, *Boring. * She decided, *Very boring. *

Alexis and Emily caught each other's eye and shook their heads in amusement.

"Just goes to show that you can never tell your future form the present." Alexis said.

"Tell me about it. There was a time when I never thought I'd see Port Charles again." Emily's foot was starting to go numb so she shifted her weight, "After the accident and everything that went down with Zander I just wanted to get far, far, away from here."

"But then," Alexis began, remembering the circumstances that had brought Emily home.

"But then A.J. disappeared." Emily stopped for a moment to remember her brother. Yeah there were times when A.J. was a lying, manipulative, snake, but he had loved her and she him. A.J. had never recovered form losing all of his assets to Grandfather. That money had been last thing A.J. had left to define himself with, her brother's self esteem had been so low that he thought that no one would care about him if he couldn't buy them. He and Courtney really had tried to make it on their own but, simply put, A.J. hadn't been strong enough. He had started drinking again within the year, watching Courtney grow stronger and thriving had only driven him deeper into depression. Lia had been born that January but it was too late, A.J hadn't been able to turn his life back around. One morning in November he'd woken up, kissed Courtney and Lia good bye, and driven off to work. Her brother had never been heard from again.

Alexis knew that Emily was still grieving for her brother and could have kicked herself for bringing it up, "I might not have always agreed with him Emily, but at the end A.J. really did try to get his act together. But it was like," Alexis paused and tried to think of a way to phrase it, "It was like he was swimming against the tide, the more A.J. tried the more tired he got, and then the waves just drew him back in."

Emily patted Alexis' hand to show her that she was ok, . " So I came back because Mom and Dad were so devastated. A few extra days which turned into weeks, and then months, then I was going back to Europe after college, abut then there was law school and the bar and before I knew it..." She stopped and gestured around the offices.

"Davis and Quatermaine, Attorney's at Law." Alexis chuckled, "Hopefully soon to be Davis, Quatermaine, and Corinthos at Law."

Emily scrunched up her nose in confusion, "Isn't it a bit early to be putting Abbey's name on the door?"

"I'm talking about your nephew, space cadet." Alexis told Emily.

"Oh my God!" Emily squealed in surprise, "Michael decided on Criminal Defense?"

"He called me last night with the news," Alexis confided in her friend; "He's starting Law School in the fall."

"My nephew at Harvard Law." Emily said with pride.

"He's got a new friend to." Alexis confided in her.

"Of the female persuasion?" Emily asked, Michael had been so serious growing up that he rarely had girlfriends.

"I think he really likes her." Michael was like another child to Alexis and he often confided in her before he went to Carly.

"So who is this mystery woman?"

"She's from Pennsylvania, a very big newspaper family. What was her name?" Alexis' brow furrowed in concentration, "Manning...Manning...Oh yes that's it!" Her face cleared as she finally remembered, "Starr Manning, she just graduated law school and has a job in the District Attorney's office."

"Starr?" Emily said, "What a strange name. I wonder what her parents were thinking."

****************************

Van Heidelberg Asylum

Bern, Switzerland

The patient's room was heavily shadowed. Sunlight tried in vain to burst through the heavy brocade curtains but had to settle instead for sending watery streams through the cracks. The area was richly decorated; hanging tapestries embroidered with foreign images of eastern men and strange languages were flung over almost every surface. Gilded mirrors sat on the mantle over the fireplace, but they were covered with dust because there had been no one to look into them for years because the sole inhabitant of this room had never even gotten up out of her bed.

Sabine Denuve walked into the patient's room the same way she had every morning for the last Twenty-five years. Curtains were opened to allow the rich morning sunlight to stream in. Then she replaced the roses that always sat in a porcelain vase on the nightstand. *What a shame, * Satine thought looking around the room, *All this wealth and she's not even able to appreciate it. * She picked up a Faberge egg that was next to the vase, *THUD* Satine jumped at the sound and dropped the egg, *Stupid girl, * she chided herself, *There's no one else here! * Sabine was about to stand back up when a hand suddenly dropped down in front of her face, fist clenching and unclenching. She jumped up only to be confronted by the patient's wide blue eyes, "Mon Dieu!" Sabine exclaimed, she opened the door and ran out into the hall.

"Dr. Beauchamp!" She called, "Dr. Beauchamp!"

The harried looking doctor raced over to her, "What is it Nurse Denuve" He asked.

"It's Mrs. Cassadine!" She exclaimed, still not believing what had just happened in the room.

"What?"

"She's awake!"



AN: So think you know the surprise? Just remember nothing is ever as it seems.