Emily was getting worried. This was the second time Laura had flipped out
on her in as many days. The last time she had no real idea what triggered
it but this time, she had a pretty good idea. At least this time Laura
hadn't fainted. She just sat on the couch staring out into space. Emily
looked over at Lulu, hoping that the little girl wouldn't pick up on her
fear. "Lulu, honey, could you do me a favor and call your father at the
club?"
Lulu frowned and studied her mother. "Is there something wrong with Mommy?"
Emily shook her head and tried to say convincingly, "Oh, no there's nothing
wrong. Laura's just in…shock. That's all. Go, call Luke."
Lulu nodded and went for the phone. Laura reached up and grabbed Emily's
arm. She said weakly, "Nikolas…Nikolas is my son."
"What?" Emily gasped. Now she was even more confused.
"My son is not dead." Laura whispered.
"Dad's already on his way home." Lulu announced. "What else do you want me
to do?"
"Um…" Emily was at a lost. "Get a glass of water for your mother?"
Laura spoke up. "And my pills, you know where they are right?"
"Pills?" Emily repeated but Lulu had already dashed off to get them. Emily
sat down next to Laura. "Are you alright? Nikolas is your son?"
"You knew, didn't you?" Laura looked at her accusingly.
"What?" Emily said surprised. "No, I had no idea."
"He was in contact with you. I saw you in the park with him." Laura
narrowed her eyes.
"I swear I didn't know anything." Emily quickly said. "If I did, I would
have told you."
"It makes so much sense now. Why he always following me but why…why is he
with Helena?" She said to herself. "I didn't even know Helena was in Port
Charles."
Emily looked at her helplessly. She didn't know what to do to help her and
she didn't know what to think. Was it true? The Nikolas she knew, the
troubled young man who she couldn't help be drawn to, was really Laura's
son? It was unbelievable.
Lulu returned with the water and pills. Laura had barely taken them before
Luke and Lucky came bursting in. Laura stood up and faced him. She could
tell from his expression that he had seen the press conference.
Luke took hesitant steps towards Laura. During his frantic drive over all
he could think of was Laura and the hope that she hadn't been near a TV.
Unfortunately he was wrong and he wouldn't be able to shield it from her.
Emily went to Lucky and soothingly rubbed his arm. She asked softly. "Are
you okay?"
"Yeah, I will be, but I'm more worried about my mother." He confessed.
"You saw?" Laura said, her voice soft.
"Yes." Luke took her into his arms. "I can't believe that witch took it
this far."
"Luke, I—What?" Laura pulled back and stared up at him. "What did you mean
by that?"
Luke dropped his arms. "I had no idea Helena would pull a stunt like that.
I told her—"
"You told her?" Laura repeated. "You knew about this whole thing, didn't
you? You knew she was in town, you knew about this boy and you didn't say a
word to me?"
"Now darlin'," Luke began.
"Don't now 'darlin'' me." Laura snapped. "Do you know how important this is
to me?"
Emily suddenly felt out of place. She gathered up her things quietly then
touched Lucky on the shoulder. "I'm…I'm going to go. I shouldn't be here
right now."
Lucky half turned to face her. "Wait, don't go. I need you here."
Emily shook her head. "This is a family matter and you guys have enough to
deal with without me watching it all." She touched his cheek. "Call me
later if you need to talk." Then quickly left.
Emily's exit brought Laura back to earth. She realized she couldn't ream
Luke out about the Nikolas/Helena situation with Lulu still there. She
looked around. Lulu was sitting on the couch, staring at them with big
eyes.
"Lucky, do me a favor and take Lulu to my mother's. Your father and I need
to discuss things."
"But Mom…" Lulu whined.
Laura said sternly, turning to get Lulu's coat. "You are going and that's
final."
Lucky shot Luke a look. Luke shook his head silently. Lucky sighed. He knew
there was no reason fighting it. This was something his parents would have
to tackle alone. "I left my car at the club."
Luke dug out his keys and tossed them to him. "Take mine."
"I'll call before I bring her home." Lucky told them and ushered his little
sister out the door.
Once they were gone Laura turned on Luke. "How could you keep this from
me?"
"I was protecting you." He told her.
"From what? My son? My son who I thought was dead?" Laura said, tears
welling up in her eyes. She turned away from him.
"That's not your son! Luke roared. "The only son you have just left with
his sister. *That* is your son. This punk running around town is just a
pretender. Helena's puppet, an impostor."
"That's what you think." Laura whirled back around. "But I've seen him, I
looked into his eyes, that boy is my other son."
"You two have met?"
"Several times." Laura said defiantly. "Though I had no idea who he was. I
had a feeling though."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"You aren't the only one keeping someone you love in the dark." Laura
sneered.
Luke muttered. "Lucky was supposed to keep him away from you."
"Lucky knew about this too?" Laura gasped. "Who else? Lulu? My mother?"
"I was just trying to protect you." Luke told her.
"You can't protect me from everything Luke. And especially not from this.
That boy is my son and I'm going to prove it."
"Listen to you!" Luke said. "You're already falling in line with Helena's
plan. This has nothing to do with us—"
She broke in. "It has everything to do with us."
Luke continued. "This is just another one of the twisted games the
Cassadines play with each other and to hell with any bystander that gets in
the way. If this 'Nikolas' really was who he says he is, why is he aligning
himself with Helena? Why didn't he come straight to you, to us? You want to
know why not? Because this is all about the Cassadine fortune and the witch
being in control. The first person he went to was Caroline. Yes, Caroline,
and threatened her. All you are nothing to him. Helena is just going to use
your willingness to believe he's your son in order to claim the big prize:
heir to the Cassadine estate."
"I don't believe you." Laura said. "I won't believe you."
"Don't believe me, darlin'." Luke said. He was tired. He was just trying to
keep her grounded. To keep her from getting hurt because if she insisted on
believing this lie she would end up hurt and destroyed. But he couldn't so
this. He couldn't support her on this. Not when he knew the truth.
"Don't believe a word I say." He said. "Do what you want but when it turns
out that I was right…"
He trailed off and shook his head.
"Luke, don't you understand? If this is true…if this is really my son…He's
not dead." Laura said softly. "He's not dead, he didn't die. Don't you
understand?"
Luke touched her cheek softly and whispered. "Yeah, I understand. I was
there, Laura, all those years, remember? I know how his death still affects
you."
"This is important to me." She told him.
"You do understand, though, that if it's really him, which I'm not saying
it is. But if it is, then he's been under Helena's control all this time.
And you don't know what kind of sick, twisted individual she's managed to
mold him into after all these years."
~*~*~
Karen walked down the hospital corridor not aware of what was going on
around her. She was still focused on her meeting that morning with a
private investigator. She hadn't been lying when she told Carly that she
would prove to Jason that Carly was cheating on him. She hired the man to
follow Carly around, taking pictures and reporting back to Karen whenever
something happened. At first the man had been reluctant to take the case
once he found out who was he would be trailing but after Karen tossed in a
bonus fee he readily accepted the job.
Karen was practically glowing from it. Victory was almost within her grasp.
All she had to do was deliver pictures of Carly and Sonny to Jason and just
sit back. It was so simple and so easy. It would work.
Karen came around the corner and spotted the object of her obsession. Jason
was talking with Chris and he looked very agitated. Karen briefly wondered
if it was a patient or worse, Carly. Deciding that she could help him with
whatever was wrong she walked over to them.
"Hey Chris." She nodded at him. "Jason, hi, you look upset. Is there
something wrong? Anything I can do to help?"
"What?" Jason barely glanced in her direction.
Chris filled her in. "There was a press conference. Turns out Carly might
not be the Cassadine heiress after all."
"Really?" Karen's eyes widened. "What, is she illegitimate or something?"
"No." Jason snapped. "There's some guy claiming to be the real heir
and…it's very complicated right now Karen."
"I guess Carly really needs you right now." Karen muttered bitterly to
herself. "To comfort her."
"Hey, if you need me to cover for you while you go over there, it's fine."
Chris told him.
Jason shook his head. "Carly isn't like that. She doesn't need me to hold
her hand. She can handle this."
~*~*~
Stefan's office resembled a war room that afternoon as he, Carly, and
Alexis conferred about Helena's press conference. Before the press
conference was barely over Carly's phone began ringing off the hook with
calls from reporters looking for quotes. Carly had no idea what was going
on until Alexis got a hold of her and filled her in. Once she knew she
immediately told Elizabeth to that she did not want to speak to a single
reporter. She then got a hold of Stefan who called an emergency meeting for
the three of them.
"Am the only one who was blindsided by this move?" Carly said.
"No, it was unexpected for me to." Alexis told her.
"I had a feeling Helena would do something like this. It's her kind of
style." Stefan said. "However I knew that the boy was displeased with
Helena. I thought perhaps they weren't still working together after all."
"Well apparently they still are." Carly said bitterly. "Do you know what
this is going to do to me? Do you know how many relatives are going to just
flat out believe him without any real proof?"
"Don't forget the other half will be supporting you and your father."
Alexis said. "Stefan's going to back you up, I'm going to back you up. It's
only Helena's word."
"Everyone knows that Helena would do anything to gain control." Stefan
pointed out. "And there are many who have aligned themselves with her only
to be betrayed by her later on."
"But there are just as many who are willing to ignore all that to get rid
of me. Don't try to whitewash this father. We all know the truth. No one
wants a woman in control of the Cassadine Empire, let alone the daughter of
a former hooker. Helena has always used a man that she could control to
hold onto her power. Everyone knew that Helena controlled Mikkos, they just
rather pretend he was the one in control. That's what my problem is, I'm
not going to hide behind a man and that's what they want me to do."
"Caroline, we will fix this."
Carly interrupted him when her cell began to ring. She'd forgotten to turn
it off. "Sorry Father. Yes?"
"I saw the press conference. You okay?" Sonny asked.
"I'm fine. I can't talk right now." She hung up and then turned off her
cell so she wouldn't get interrupted again.
"Was that Jason?" Alexis asked.
"It wasn't important." Carly said. "What is important is what are we going
to do?"
"The only logical step I can think of is getting a blood test done." Alexis
told her.
Carly nodded. "Helena will probably want to avoid that, until she can get
around to having it fixed. Al, we might need a court order."
"We'll also need Laura's cooperation." Stefan said quietly.
"Laura." Carly repeated. She hadn't thought of Laura at all. She was too
busy worrying about herself. "I wonder if she knows."
"She has to by now." Alexis said.
"I'll go talk to her." Carly offered. "I'm sure she'll want to get to the
bottom of this."
Suddenly the door opened and Barbara came in. Following behind her was
Stefan's assistant who looked as if she was going to have an apoplexy. "You
can't go in there. I have explicit orders!"
"Can it." Barbara snapped, showing traces of her old self. "My family needs
me and you aren't keeping me out of here."
Carly sighed and rolled her eyes. Great, just what she needed.
"Carly, Stefan, are you okay?" Barbara said in concern. She touched Stefan
on the shoulder and went to Carly.
"I don't have time for this, Mother." Carly said wearily.
"I heard about the press conference. Helena will not get away with this."
"Oh, and what are you going to do? Tell her 'no, you can't bring out some
fake and steal my daughter's inheritance'?" Carly mocked. "Go home,
Mother."
Barbara ignored her bitterness and pressed on. "I'm your mother and I want
to help."
"Yes, of course, *now* you're my mother, *now* you want to help. It's
always whenever *you* feel like and whenever it fits into your busy
schedule." Carly sneered.
"Carly, this isn't helping right now. We don't have time for this." Alexis
stood up. She needed to put a stop to this before an all out war broke out.
She hit Stefan and hissed, "Do something."
Stefan reluctantly stood. He had hoped to stay out of it. Carly and her
mother had to work out their relationship some time but right now they were
just wasting time. "Barbara, we have everything under control right now.
Though I do appreciate the offer."
Carly snorted in the background and started tapping her foot. Stefan stared
at her until she stopped. "Shouldn't you be on your way to Laura's?"
"Of course, I was just on my way there." Carly said, eager to get out of
there. "Al, you need a ride?"
"Yes, thank you." Alexis quickly took her escape.
Stefan waited until they were gone before saying to Barbara. "It wasn't
necessary for you to come here."
"Excuse me?" She said in disbelief. "Of course it was necessary. My
daughter is about to lose everything. She needs me."
"Do you really think I would let Helena do this? I fought to make sure she
inherited the empire and I will fight to make sure she keeps it." Stefan
said firmly.
Barbara dropped down in a chair. "I don't doubt you, Stefan. I just…I want
to be there for her and she just keeps pushing me away."
"Do you honestly blame her?"
"No, of course not. I know I wasn't there for her growing up. I was young,
I was stubborn, I was stupid…" She shook her head. "But I'm here now,
doesn't that count for anything?"
"Unfortunately, I think she's inherited your stubbornness," Stefan said
truthfully, "and for her, it's too late."
~*~*~
As they got closer to the Lesley's place, Lucky realized that Lulu had been
quiet since they left the house.
"Hey." He said. "Are you okay? I know this is real confusing for you."
"Is this guy really our brother?" Lulu asked softly.
"What? No!" He said firmly. His father believed he wasn't and so did he.
"But Mom called him her son. And…and you're mom's son and my brother…" Lulu
frowned in confusion. She couldn't see why it all didn't connect.
"This guy is a fake, Lulu." Luke gritted out. Already this guy was messing
up his family. "He's a fake and a liar and don't you dare believe a word he
says, Leslie Lu!"
Lulu shrank back in her seat. "Okay, Lucky."
Lucky sighed regretfully when he realized that all he succeeded in was
scaring his little sister. "Lulu, I'm…I'm sorry. I…"
Lulu stared out the window instead of looking at him. She recognized the
street they were on. They were almost to the cul-de-sac that Lesley lived
in. "We're almost at Grandma's."
He could tell she was going to brood about this so he didn't push it. As
they got closer he started to slow down. Then he realized that something
else was wrong. The car wasn't going to stop. There was something wrong
with the brakes. He pressed down hard even though he knew it was useless.
"Lulu, sweetheart, is your seatbelt on?" They were approaching a red light
and Lucky crossed his fingers and hoped to God that a car wasn't coming.
"Duh." Lulu rolled her eyes. "Lucky, you just ran a red light! I'm going to
tell Daddy."
Lucky paid her no attention. He was too busy worrying about how he was
going to get them out of this. There was a house at the end of the street
with a hedge around it, maybe he could…
"Lucky!" Lulu screamed. "What are you doing?"
~*~*~
Nikolas didn't know how he did it but he finally managed to escape the
guards that Helena had trailing him for his protection. Helena had insisted
on them. "Now that the world knows about you, there will be those who will
try to seize your power, my darling. You must be protected."
He found himself at the dump of an apartment where he'd been staying. He
didn't know what made him go there, maybe he just needed a place to be
where it was quiet and Helena wasn't hovering around him. It was only one
day and already he was tired.
He opened the door of the room, not even noticing that the door was
unlocked. He was too busy staring at the young woman standing in the middle
of the room; her arms crossed tightly acting as a shield against him. The
cold, hurt look in her eyes hurt him more than anything else had ever
before.
He started to speak but he couldn't find the words. What could he say? I'm
sorry was weak and pathetic and it barely covered what he felt.
"I had a feeling you would come here." Emily nodded, more to herself than
to him. "So, tell me. Who the hell are you, really?"
on her in as many days. The last time she had no real idea what triggered
it but this time, she had a pretty good idea. At least this time Laura
hadn't fainted. She just sat on the couch staring out into space. Emily
looked over at Lulu, hoping that the little girl wouldn't pick up on her
fear. "Lulu, honey, could you do me a favor and call your father at the
club?"
Lulu frowned and studied her mother. "Is there something wrong with Mommy?"
Emily shook her head and tried to say convincingly, "Oh, no there's nothing
wrong. Laura's just in…shock. That's all. Go, call Luke."
Lulu nodded and went for the phone. Laura reached up and grabbed Emily's
arm. She said weakly, "Nikolas…Nikolas is my son."
"What?" Emily gasped. Now she was even more confused.
"My son is not dead." Laura whispered.
"Dad's already on his way home." Lulu announced. "What else do you want me
to do?"
"Um…" Emily was at a lost. "Get a glass of water for your mother?"
Laura spoke up. "And my pills, you know where they are right?"
"Pills?" Emily repeated but Lulu had already dashed off to get them. Emily
sat down next to Laura. "Are you alright? Nikolas is your son?"
"You knew, didn't you?" Laura looked at her accusingly.
"What?" Emily said surprised. "No, I had no idea."
"He was in contact with you. I saw you in the park with him." Laura
narrowed her eyes.
"I swear I didn't know anything." Emily quickly said. "If I did, I would
have told you."
"It makes so much sense now. Why he always following me but why…why is he
with Helena?" She said to herself. "I didn't even know Helena was in Port
Charles."
Emily looked at her helplessly. She didn't know what to do to help her and
she didn't know what to think. Was it true? The Nikolas she knew, the
troubled young man who she couldn't help be drawn to, was really Laura's
son? It was unbelievable.
Lulu returned with the water and pills. Laura had barely taken them before
Luke and Lucky came bursting in. Laura stood up and faced him. She could
tell from his expression that he had seen the press conference.
Luke took hesitant steps towards Laura. During his frantic drive over all
he could think of was Laura and the hope that she hadn't been near a TV.
Unfortunately he was wrong and he wouldn't be able to shield it from her.
Emily went to Lucky and soothingly rubbed his arm. She asked softly. "Are
you okay?"
"Yeah, I will be, but I'm more worried about my mother." He confessed.
"You saw?" Laura said, her voice soft.
"Yes." Luke took her into his arms. "I can't believe that witch took it
this far."
"Luke, I—What?" Laura pulled back and stared up at him. "What did you mean
by that?"
Luke dropped his arms. "I had no idea Helena would pull a stunt like that.
I told her—"
"You told her?" Laura repeated. "You knew about this whole thing, didn't
you? You knew she was in town, you knew about this boy and you didn't say a
word to me?"
"Now darlin'," Luke began.
"Don't now 'darlin'' me." Laura snapped. "Do you know how important this is
to me?"
Emily suddenly felt out of place. She gathered up her things quietly then
touched Lucky on the shoulder. "I'm…I'm going to go. I shouldn't be here
right now."
Lucky half turned to face her. "Wait, don't go. I need you here."
Emily shook her head. "This is a family matter and you guys have enough to
deal with without me watching it all." She touched his cheek. "Call me
later if you need to talk." Then quickly left.
Emily's exit brought Laura back to earth. She realized she couldn't ream
Luke out about the Nikolas/Helena situation with Lulu still there. She
looked around. Lulu was sitting on the couch, staring at them with big
eyes.
"Lucky, do me a favor and take Lulu to my mother's. Your father and I need
to discuss things."
"But Mom…" Lulu whined.
Laura said sternly, turning to get Lulu's coat. "You are going and that's
final."
Lucky shot Luke a look. Luke shook his head silently. Lucky sighed. He knew
there was no reason fighting it. This was something his parents would have
to tackle alone. "I left my car at the club."
Luke dug out his keys and tossed them to him. "Take mine."
"I'll call before I bring her home." Lucky told them and ushered his little
sister out the door.
Once they were gone Laura turned on Luke. "How could you keep this from
me?"
"I was protecting you." He told her.
"From what? My son? My son who I thought was dead?" Laura said, tears
welling up in her eyes. She turned away from him.
"That's not your son! Luke roared. "The only son you have just left with
his sister. *That* is your son. This punk running around town is just a
pretender. Helena's puppet, an impostor."
"That's what you think." Laura whirled back around. "But I've seen him, I
looked into his eyes, that boy is my other son."
"You two have met?"
"Several times." Laura said defiantly. "Though I had no idea who he was. I
had a feeling though."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"You aren't the only one keeping someone you love in the dark." Laura
sneered.
Luke muttered. "Lucky was supposed to keep him away from you."
"Lucky knew about this too?" Laura gasped. "Who else? Lulu? My mother?"
"I was just trying to protect you." Luke told her.
"You can't protect me from everything Luke. And especially not from this.
That boy is my son and I'm going to prove it."
"Listen to you!" Luke said. "You're already falling in line with Helena's
plan. This has nothing to do with us—"
She broke in. "It has everything to do with us."
Luke continued. "This is just another one of the twisted games the
Cassadines play with each other and to hell with any bystander that gets in
the way. If this 'Nikolas' really was who he says he is, why is he aligning
himself with Helena? Why didn't he come straight to you, to us? You want to
know why not? Because this is all about the Cassadine fortune and the witch
being in control. The first person he went to was Caroline. Yes, Caroline,
and threatened her. All you are nothing to him. Helena is just going to use
your willingness to believe he's your son in order to claim the big prize:
heir to the Cassadine estate."
"I don't believe you." Laura said. "I won't believe you."
"Don't believe me, darlin'." Luke said. He was tired. He was just trying to
keep her grounded. To keep her from getting hurt because if she insisted on
believing this lie she would end up hurt and destroyed. But he couldn't so
this. He couldn't support her on this. Not when he knew the truth.
"Don't believe a word I say." He said. "Do what you want but when it turns
out that I was right…"
He trailed off and shook his head.
"Luke, don't you understand? If this is true…if this is really my son…He's
not dead." Laura said softly. "He's not dead, he didn't die. Don't you
understand?"
Luke touched her cheek softly and whispered. "Yeah, I understand. I was
there, Laura, all those years, remember? I know how his death still affects
you."
"This is important to me." She told him.
"You do understand, though, that if it's really him, which I'm not saying
it is. But if it is, then he's been under Helena's control all this time.
And you don't know what kind of sick, twisted individual she's managed to
mold him into after all these years."
~*~*~
Karen walked down the hospital corridor not aware of what was going on
around her. She was still focused on her meeting that morning with a
private investigator. She hadn't been lying when she told Carly that she
would prove to Jason that Carly was cheating on him. She hired the man to
follow Carly around, taking pictures and reporting back to Karen whenever
something happened. At first the man had been reluctant to take the case
once he found out who was he would be trailing but after Karen tossed in a
bonus fee he readily accepted the job.
Karen was practically glowing from it. Victory was almost within her grasp.
All she had to do was deliver pictures of Carly and Sonny to Jason and just
sit back. It was so simple and so easy. It would work.
Karen came around the corner and spotted the object of her obsession. Jason
was talking with Chris and he looked very agitated. Karen briefly wondered
if it was a patient or worse, Carly. Deciding that she could help him with
whatever was wrong she walked over to them.
"Hey Chris." She nodded at him. "Jason, hi, you look upset. Is there
something wrong? Anything I can do to help?"
"What?" Jason barely glanced in her direction.
Chris filled her in. "There was a press conference. Turns out Carly might
not be the Cassadine heiress after all."
"Really?" Karen's eyes widened. "What, is she illegitimate or something?"
"No." Jason snapped. "There's some guy claiming to be the real heir
and…it's very complicated right now Karen."
"I guess Carly really needs you right now." Karen muttered bitterly to
herself. "To comfort her."
"Hey, if you need me to cover for you while you go over there, it's fine."
Chris told him.
Jason shook his head. "Carly isn't like that. She doesn't need me to hold
her hand. She can handle this."
~*~*~
Stefan's office resembled a war room that afternoon as he, Carly, and
Alexis conferred about Helena's press conference. Before the press
conference was barely over Carly's phone began ringing off the hook with
calls from reporters looking for quotes. Carly had no idea what was going
on until Alexis got a hold of her and filled her in. Once she knew she
immediately told Elizabeth to that she did not want to speak to a single
reporter. She then got a hold of Stefan who called an emergency meeting for
the three of them.
"Am the only one who was blindsided by this move?" Carly said.
"No, it was unexpected for me to." Alexis told her.
"I had a feeling Helena would do something like this. It's her kind of
style." Stefan said. "However I knew that the boy was displeased with
Helena. I thought perhaps they weren't still working together after all."
"Well apparently they still are." Carly said bitterly. "Do you know what
this is going to do to me? Do you know how many relatives are going to just
flat out believe him without any real proof?"
"Don't forget the other half will be supporting you and your father."
Alexis said. "Stefan's going to back you up, I'm going to back you up. It's
only Helena's word."
"Everyone knows that Helena would do anything to gain control." Stefan
pointed out. "And there are many who have aligned themselves with her only
to be betrayed by her later on."
"But there are just as many who are willing to ignore all that to get rid
of me. Don't try to whitewash this father. We all know the truth. No one
wants a woman in control of the Cassadine Empire, let alone the daughter of
a former hooker. Helena has always used a man that she could control to
hold onto her power. Everyone knew that Helena controlled Mikkos, they just
rather pretend he was the one in control. That's what my problem is, I'm
not going to hide behind a man and that's what they want me to do."
"Caroline, we will fix this."
Carly interrupted him when her cell began to ring. She'd forgotten to turn
it off. "Sorry Father. Yes?"
"I saw the press conference. You okay?" Sonny asked.
"I'm fine. I can't talk right now." She hung up and then turned off her
cell so she wouldn't get interrupted again.
"Was that Jason?" Alexis asked.
"It wasn't important." Carly said. "What is important is what are we going
to do?"
"The only logical step I can think of is getting a blood test done." Alexis
told her.
Carly nodded. "Helena will probably want to avoid that, until she can get
around to having it fixed. Al, we might need a court order."
"We'll also need Laura's cooperation." Stefan said quietly.
"Laura." Carly repeated. She hadn't thought of Laura at all. She was too
busy worrying about herself. "I wonder if she knows."
"She has to by now." Alexis said.
"I'll go talk to her." Carly offered. "I'm sure she'll want to get to the
bottom of this."
Suddenly the door opened and Barbara came in. Following behind her was
Stefan's assistant who looked as if she was going to have an apoplexy. "You
can't go in there. I have explicit orders!"
"Can it." Barbara snapped, showing traces of her old self. "My family needs
me and you aren't keeping me out of here."
Carly sighed and rolled her eyes. Great, just what she needed.
"Carly, Stefan, are you okay?" Barbara said in concern. She touched Stefan
on the shoulder and went to Carly.
"I don't have time for this, Mother." Carly said wearily.
"I heard about the press conference. Helena will not get away with this."
"Oh, and what are you going to do? Tell her 'no, you can't bring out some
fake and steal my daughter's inheritance'?" Carly mocked. "Go home,
Mother."
Barbara ignored her bitterness and pressed on. "I'm your mother and I want
to help."
"Yes, of course, *now* you're my mother, *now* you want to help. It's
always whenever *you* feel like and whenever it fits into your busy
schedule." Carly sneered.
"Carly, this isn't helping right now. We don't have time for this." Alexis
stood up. She needed to put a stop to this before an all out war broke out.
She hit Stefan and hissed, "Do something."
Stefan reluctantly stood. He had hoped to stay out of it. Carly and her
mother had to work out their relationship some time but right now they were
just wasting time. "Barbara, we have everything under control right now.
Though I do appreciate the offer."
Carly snorted in the background and started tapping her foot. Stefan stared
at her until she stopped. "Shouldn't you be on your way to Laura's?"
"Of course, I was just on my way there." Carly said, eager to get out of
there. "Al, you need a ride?"
"Yes, thank you." Alexis quickly took her escape.
Stefan waited until they were gone before saying to Barbara. "It wasn't
necessary for you to come here."
"Excuse me?" She said in disbelief. "Of course it was necessary. My
daughter is about to lose everything. She needs me."
"Do you really think I would let Helena do this? I fought to make sure she
inherited the empire and I will fight to make sure she keeps it." Stefan
said firmly.
Barbara dropped down in a chair. "I don't doubt you, Stefan. I just…I want
to be there for her and she just keeps pushing me away."
"Do you honestly blame her?"
"No, of course not. I know I wasn't there for her growing up. I was young,
I was stubborn, I was stupid…" She shook her head. "But I'm here now,
doesn't that count for anything?"
"Unfortunately, I think she's inherited your stubbornness," Stefan said
truthfully, "and for her, it's too late."
~*~*~
As they got closer to the Lesley's place, Lucky realized that Lulu had been
quiet since they left the house.
"Hey." He said. "Are you okay? I know this is real confusing for you."
"Is this guy really our brother?" Lulu asked softly.
"What? No!" He said firmly. His father believed he wasn't and so did he.
"But Mom called him her son. And…and you're mom's son and my brother…" Lulu
frowned in confusion. She couldn't see why it all didn't connect.
"This guy is a fake, Lulu." Luke gritted out. Already this guy was messing
up his family. "He's a fake and a liar and don't you dare believe a word he
says, Leslie Lu!"
Lulu shrank back in her seat. "Okay, Lucky."
Lucky sighed regretfully when he realized that all he succeeded in was
scaring his little sister. "Lulu, I'm…I'm sorry. I…"
Lulu stared out the window instead of looking at him. She recognized the
street they were on. They were almost to the cul-de-sac that Lesley lived
in. "We're almost at Grandma's."
He could tell she was going to brood about this so he didn't push it. As
they got closer he started to slow down. Then he realized that something
else was wrong. The car wasn't going to stop. There was something wrong
with the brakes. He pressed down hard even though he knew it was useless.
"Lulu, sweetheart, is your seatbelt on?" They were approaching a red light
and Lucky crossed his fingers and hoped to God that a car wasn't coming.
"Duh." Lulu rolled her eyes. "Lucky, you just ran a red light! I'm going to
tell Daddy."
Lucky paid her no attention. He was too busy worrying about how he was
going to get them out of this. There was a house at the end of the street
with a hedge around it, maybe he could…
"Lucky!" Lulu screamed. "What are you doing?"
~*~*~
Nikolas didn't know how he did it but he finally managed to escape the
guards that Helena had trailing him for his protection. Helena had insisted
on them. "Now that the world knows about you, there will be those who will
try to seize your power, my darling. You must be protected."
He found himself at the dump of an apartment where he'd been staying. He
didn't know what made him go there, maybe he just needed a place to be
where it was quiet and Helena wasn't hovering around him. It was only one
day and already he was tired.
He opened the door of the room, not even noticing that the door was
unlocked. He was too busy staring at the young woman standing in the middle
of the room; her arms crossed tightly acting as a shield against him. The
cold, hurt look in her eyes hurt him more than anything else had ever
before.
He started to speak but he couldn't find the words. What could he say? I'm
sorry was weak and pathetic and it barely covered what he felt.
"I had a feeling you would come here." Emily nodded, more to herself than
to him. "So, tell me. Who the hell are you, really?"