Another week had passed and Zander was finally ready to be released from the hospital. Emily and Devon had been playing in the waiting room for about an hour before Monica came to get them.
"Hey, there's my big boy!" she said to Devon as she approached him. He looked up, smiled and reached for the person he knew as grandma. She picked him up in her arms and kissed him on his cheek, just hugging the stuffing out of him. Emily collected Devon's toys laying on the table in front her and put them back in the diaper bag that sat next to her on the floor.
"So can I take Zander home?" Emily asked as she zipped the bag closed. Monica was admiring how big Devon was getting, as he took hold of the stethoscope around her neck.
"Oh, yeah, sweetie. Just a few more minutes." her mom replied as Alan approached them. Alan came up behind Monica and smiled at Devon. He smiled at his grandpa and reached for him.
"Oh come here." he said as he held out his hands to his grandson.
"Hi sweetie, you guys here to pick up Daddy." he said to the young toddler.
"Yes dad we are, if we can get all the paper work in order." Emily noticed a volunteer pushing her husband in a wheel chair around the corner and headed towards them. "Finally." she exclaimed as she hurried to him. She embraced him as her parents and Devon approached.
Alan was carrying Devon in his arms and his face just lit up when he saw his daddy for the first time in over a week. He reached for him wanting to sit with Zander on the wheel chair. Alan passed Devon to his father as Emily signed the last piece of paperwork for Zander's release. She turned back towards her family and took the bag from her mother and hung it on her shoulder.
"How's Jason?" she asked as she heard Zander and Devon giggling behind her..
"Jason's going to be fine, a few more days in the hospital to rest, he should be good as new." her mom replied just as the beeper she had in pocket began to beep.
She reached in her pocket and checked the message. "I gotta go, I will call you later, sweetheart." she gave Emily and Devon kisses on their cheeks before she raced to the emergency that called her away. Alan signed the release papers and Zander was free to go.
"Can I go home now?" Zander asked as Emily took Devon from him.
"Yes you can, but I wouldn't try to do too much for the next couple of days, take it easy, okay." Alan replied as he saw his son in law was anxious to go home.
"He'll take it easy, believe me." Emily replied as she reassured her father that Zander would not strain himself once he got home. The volunteer wheel Zander to the elevator and pushed the button to go down. Emily held Devon in her arms and they entered the elevator as Alan watched from the nurse's station, he waved and Devon waved in return. Alan smiled at his grandson as the elevator doors slid shut.
The limo pulled up outside their apartment building and shut off the engine. Emily gathered Devon's things and climbed out of the car. Their driver, Marcus, opened Zander's door and assisted him from the car. Emily released Devon from his car seat and scooped him up into her arms as Zander leaned on Marcus and walked towards the door of the building. Emily grabbed the bag and followed them thru the automated sliding glass doors and towards the elevators. Zander left Marcus know that he and his family would be okay, and Marcus could tend to the limo. Marcus followed the instructions his boss gave him as Zander and his family entered the elevator, the door slid shut as Emily pushed the button for the top floor.
The doors slid open when it reached it's destination, and Zander cautiously stepped out into the hallway of the 19th floor. Cord was standing guard outside their penthouse and came to assist his boss and the family. Emily opened the door of their apartment and went inside as Zander talked a few minutes with Cord just outside the doorway. Cord nodded in acknowledgement and Zander came inside. Emily unloaded her shoulder as she dropped the diaper bag on the floor and carried Devon to the couch. She took a seat next to him and unzipped his jacket. Zander slowey moved towards them stopping for a minute to take a look at the papers laying on his desk.
"Oh no .. no work, you are suppose to rest, remember?" Emily said as she quickly picked up Devon and hurried towards her husband who was reading what the papers contained.
"I was just reading, geezsh!" Zander replied as Emily's hand flipped closed the folder and then grabbed his hand wanting him to follow her. He reluctantly followed, wanting so badly to throw himself back into work, against doctor's orders. Emily was ready to place Devon into the playpen but Zander couldn't resist reaching for his son as he sat down on the couch. Devon smiled at his dad as Zander took him into his arms and sat him on his lap.
"You have grown so big ..." he said to the toddler as he ran his hand over the toddler's thin black hair. Emily just smiled at knowing she finally had her family all together again. She loved to watch Zander and Devon, they were a lot alike, in so many ways. Devon had Zander's eyes, he had Zander's hair, he definitely had Zander's strong will and stubbornness, he certainly was father's son, no doubt.
The darkness fell on Port Charles, as Zander watched over Emily and Devon drifting off to sleep on their queen sized bed. He scooped his son up in his arms and slowly walked with him to the nursery across the hall. He placed his son in the mahogany crib and rubbed his tummy in small circles trying to soothe him back to sleep. Zander kept his balance by leaning against the crib, and quickly turned as he heard the soft footsteps creep up behind him. Emily stood in the doorway and watched a few precious father and son moments from afar.
"Hey ...." Zander whispered as she approached.
"I thought you were asleep?" he asked as she walked closer to him.
"And I thought you were suppose to rest?" He pulled her close to him in a loving embrace and gently kissed her. Devon was sleeping soundly as they left the nursery and walked across the hall to their bedroom, Emily went to turn down the bed as Zander followed. She walked to the other side of the bed and turned down the blankets, and removed her silk robe and slippers. She climbed into bed and watched him slowly removed his navy blue robe revealing the white gauze bandages around his waist that hid the results of the worst fear that had come true.
Meanwhile, Detective Steele kept watch on the front door of the apartment building from his car across the street. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched from afar.
Daylight soon came over the horizon of the bay, and Zander awoke to the ring of his cell phone that was tucked away in his jacket pocket which hung on the back of the chair. He slowly slipped from the bed and tried to keep his balance as he walked over to answer it, wincing with every step. He flipped it open and said hello to who was calling.
"Zander? You have company that has been sitting outside the building all night." the voice said as Zander padded out into the hallway with his bare feet.
"Is it Steele?" Zander asked as he walked to the elongated window the looked out over the street.
"Yeah, he's been sitting out here waiting since you got home last night." his brother replied as Zander caught a glimpse of the unmarked car sitting towards the end of the block.
"Why don't you come on in for some coffee and we'll talk about it?" Zander offered and his brother quickly accepted.
A few minutes later Ric was at the door, Zander grabbed his robe and went downstairs. Cord opened the door for Ric just as Zander reached for the door knob. Ric came and threw his jacket over the chair. The two shook hands like brothers should, and walked into the kitchen. Ric took a seat at the kitchen table while Zander made a fresh pot of coffee.
"Emily upstairs?" Ric asked as he glanced up towards the stairs.
"Yes she is, so we have some time to talk about Steel before she comes down and has to feed Devon." Zander poured two cups of coffee and set one cup in front of Ric and kept the other in his hand as he took a seat at the table.
"What did you find out about this Det. Steel?" he inquired as he cautiously took a sip. Ric reached for the packets of sugar that sat on the table and opened a few of them into his cup.
"First, how are you?" Ric concerned about his brother. "I'll live, so what did you find out?" Zander replied bluntly wanting to know more about this Detective.
"Detective Steel? Well, Detective Steele is on a murder case, a cold case that went cold about 2 weeks after it happened. Lack of witnesses, I guess. No leads to go on, so they stashed it in the cold case files. His father worked on the case originally and when he became Detective, he picked it up off the pile and started digging. Apparently the trail as led him to you." Ric explained
"What else did you find out?" Ric sipped his coffee and told Zander as much as he could about the man who was apparently quite interested in his comings and goings. "So in other words, my family is still ...." Zander barked at his brother as Emily stood in the doorway with Devon. "....in danger." she continued his thought as she walked passed him and sat Devon in his high chair.
Worry and concern over took Zander and Ric's faces as Emily became a part of their conversation. "Unfortunately, yes that's what it means ... at least until we find out why the trail led this Detective to Zander."
Suddenly there was noise coming from outside in the hallway. Ric rushed to the front door, Zander followed leaving Emily and Devon in the kitchen. The door flew open as Cord had the dark haired stranger by the scruff of the neck, Marcus soon followed close behind.
"I'm sorry sir for barging in but we found this one lurking around, thought you may want to have a word or two with him." Cord explained as he released his grasp with a shove and the stranger stumbled to regain his balance. "Hey watch the suit!" the stranger said as he adjusted the attire he was wearing. The dark haired stranger was nicely dressed in a dark navy blue suit and tie, Ric had his own suspicions about this Detective but didn't let on to what they were.
Emily peered out from the kitchen to see what was going on, Devon in his high chair waiting to be fed breakfast, she turned and went to give him his morning bottle. She scooped him up in her arms, grabbed the bottle from the table and whisked him out of the kitchen and away from harm as she scurried through the living room and up the stairs, not taking a second look at what was going on right there in front of her.
The dark haired stranger noticed her as she hurried passed them and up the stairs, Zander glared in his direction as the Detective watched Emily disappear at the top of the stairs. "Answer me this, who are you and what are you doing lurking outside this particular building." Zander asked as he winced cause he felt some pain around the wounds that were healing.
"So you're Zander Smith." Steele said as he walked towards Zander. "Yeah now we know who I am, why don't you tell us who you are?" Zander had always had the cockiness when confronted, Ric smirked at his brother's remark.
"I was the stranger that came to see you a few weeks ago in the hospital, I'm sure your lovely wife told you about it." he still evading the question, Zander still not amused with the stranger standing in his living room.
"Why don't you just tell us who you are and why your here?" Ric demanded, he was losing his patience, even if Zander wasn't.
The stranger went to pull his badge from his jacket pocket and Marcus stepped forward, ready to take him down if need be. "Hey, woah .. I'm just reaching for my identification, big guy." he snarked and Marcus backed off a little bit. Steele pulled out his badge and handed it to Zander. Ric grabbed it first and inspected it. Ric didn't really need to see any identification from Steele, he already knew more about Steele then Steele knew about himself.
"The badge still doesn't tell us what you're doing here in Port Charles, especially all the way from Miami." Zander said as he handed the badge back to the Detective.
"Well, ya see, funny story ... I kinda inherited a case .. a murder case, from my father, and though the trail was cold 15 years ago, it's getting alot warmer over the past few months. And it led me to you." Steele answered as Ric and Marcus had words, and Marcus returned to his post outside the door.
Steele noticed the cold eyes Zander had, it was apparent he wasn't about to tell him much of anything about this case. "And see the shooting a few weeks ago, I seem to think that the two are connected somehow. Care to tell me about the how you got shot?" Steele asked as he noticed Zander holding his hand against his side that was bandaged.
"I don't ...." Zander began, but Ric stepped in. "Don't say a word, Zander. Not a word."
"What are you his attorney or something?" Steele asked as Ric came face to face with him.
"As a matter of fact .. yes I am. As of this minute, I'm his attorney of record. Do you have a problem with that Detective?" Ric said sternly.
"You can't do that. That would be a conflict of interest for you ... Mr. Lansing." Steele replied knowing full well who he was talking to.
"And why do you say that, Mr. Steele." Ric answered as Steele grinned.
"Oh yes, you're name came up Mr. Lansing in some of our reports over the past few months, actually having alot to do with your little brother, there. He's been in alot of messes lately." Ric tried to remain calm as he closed the gap between he and the Detective.
"I don't know what you want from Zander, but he isn't talking to you or to any one else about this murder case or about the shooting a few weeks ago. And I suggest, that if you want to keep breathing, you will be leaving this apartment ... in 10 seconds." Ric threatened as Steele became very nervous.
"Did you just threaten me, Mr. Lansing?" Steele asked as his confidence was given a shot in the arm.
"Me? I didn't threaten you, Mr. Steele ... just giving you some friendly advice, is all. Now whether you take it or is up to you." Ric smirked as he smoothed out Steele's suit with his hands. He knew he had Steele squirming in his boots and he was going to enjoy ever minute of it.
Zander stood back and enjoyed the show as he grinned watching his brother do what he did best. If this wasn't proof that he and Ric were related he didn't know what would be.
"Looks to me like you're running out of options, Detective." Ric added as he went to the door and opened it for the officer.
"Looks to me like the two of you will be seeing me again." Ric returned a smirk to him. "We'll be looking forward to it, Detective." Steele walked out of the apartment and to the elevators, hearing Ric's last words before the door slammed shut.