Chapter 2

The next morning Alexis woke up to hear someone knocking incessantly at her front door. She got out of bed and put her robe on and went to answer the door. Nikolas, Emily, and Lucky were standing there.

"What's going on?" she asked. The last she'd heard, Nikolas and Emily were still having problems about something. The three walked inside and closed the door. Something was wrong. Alexis could tell in the way the three were acting. Something had happened and Alexis was afraid to know what it was.

"Alexis," Nikolas began, "where's Andi?"

"She's in Kristina's room. What's going on? Where's Kylie?" Nikolas walked to Kristina's room and came out seconds later with Andi in his arms.

"Andi, sweet," he whispered to her, "this is my wife, Emily. I want you to go with her, okay." He handed her to Emily who smiled at the girl.

"Come on, Andi, we'll go get something for breakfast." Emily left and Alexis looked at Lucky and Nikolas.

"What's going on?"

"Alexis, you should sit down."

"Why?"

Nikolas guided Alexis to the sofa and sat her down. "Last night there was a shooting in front of Mac Scorpio's house. Kylie was outside…"

"Is she okay? Is she at the hospital?"

Lucky kneeled in front of Alexis. "Kylie was killed last night, Alexis. She was shot twice and died on the way to the hospital."

"No…she can't be dead," Alexis said. It wasn't possible. Kylie was too much like her father to die. She could not be dead.

"It's true, Alexis," Nikolas said. "I saw her myself. It's Kylie. I identified the body. Mac is leading a full scale investigation, but I think the person responsible is long gone."

"She was just here last night. She left Andi here. She was going to come back." Alexis buried her face in her hands and failed to miss the look that passed between the two brothers.

Emily took Andi to Kelly's to eat and wait. She hadn't believed Nikolas would get involved in something like this because it was more Luke's expertise. She didn't even know if Luke was involved or not. When Nikolas had told her what was going on, she hadn't believed him. He was getting help from across the globe for this escapade. People, Cassadines, she didn't even know of were helping. Emily had tried most of the night to imagine the possible fallout if this plan failed. Short of catastrophe, nothing came to mind.

"Emily, who's this?" Elizabeth asked. Emily hadn't even noticed her walk in. She was in scrubs and must have just gotten off work because she looked tired.

"Hi, Elizabeth," Emily said. "This is Andi, she's the daughter of a friend. Andi, this is my friend, Elizabeth."

"Hi," Andi said.

"Hello," Elizabeth answered with a smile. She turned to Emily. "What's going on?"

"It's complicated. Nikolas is trying to protect his family."

"She's related to Nikolas?"

"His cousin's daughter. Andi, you see the man at the counter, his name is Mike. Why don't you go up there and ask him for a muffin?" Emily gave her a few dollars and Andi jumped out of her chair and went up to the counter. "Her mother was killed last night," Emily told Elizabeth, whispering. "Shot in front of Mac Scorpio's house. Nikolas thinks those same people will come after Andi. His plan is to take her back to Greece, to the island."

"So you and Nikolas are talking now?"

"He asked me to help him with Andi while he handles Alexis. She's not going to take Kylie's death well. She and Kylie were very close. Nikolas hopes that if he gets Andi away from Port Charles the people who are after her will stay away."

"Who's after her?"

Emily looked over at Andi. She was animatedly talking with Mike. "The Cassadines. Helena has been after them for years. Now it's one of her partners and her son. Kylie feared what would happen if Helena ever got Andi. If Nikolas can do this and succeed, we'll never have to find out." Elizabeth nodded and she too watched Andi. Emily noticed the man sitting in the corner of the diner. He raised his newspaper to hide his face but she could tell he was eavesdropping. She smiled. Being with Lucky and Luke had taught her many things. She continued to watch Andi and she would continue to wait until Nikolas told her to do otherwise. Too many lives depended on the following days. If even one small thing went awry, the entire plan would be scrapped. Emily wouldn't let that happen.

"You're suicidal."

"Quite possibly, I have never denied it."

"Insanity does run in the Cassadine family. At least tell me you've thought this out."

"Robin, I know what I'm doing. The only way to fight the dead is to be dead."

"At the sake of everyone who cares about you, Kylie? I think there are better ways."

Kylie sighed. This was not the first time Robin had lectured her about this plan. Kylie had admitted it was and would be dangerous. Things would only get worse now that Port Charles was involved. "The Old Cassadine family has passed. Stavros and Helena must pass with it. Nikolas and Luke have tried. Now we must finish it."

"I wish you hadn't lied to Mac and Felicia."

"It is for the best. When word gets out in Port Charles that you've disappeared and that it's suspected Faison is behind it, Faison will be drawn to Port Charles if for no other reason than to gloat about something he hasn't done. Stavros will go to Greece, thinking Nikolas has taken Andi there."

"And I'll take Andi off to Vadzel."

"Yes. Sean will go with you. The rest of us will stay here and end these wars." Kylie grinned and turned her head, picking up the gun lying on the table and whirled around. The passage behind her had opened and a man in a trench coat stepped through. "It is not wise to sneak around this place," she said. "You could get killed, or worse."

"You wouldn't kill me, Kymberly," Frisco Jones said. "You knew very well I was there."

Kylie shrugged and set the gun back on the table. "So?"

"Emily did well. She told her friend what we want Stavros to know. His man was listening to everything. If everything else goes according to plan, Faison will be here tomorrow at the latest."

"That's good to know," Kylie said.

"I'm going to go wait for Emily and Andi to get here," Robin said. "I'll leave you two to your planning." Kylie nodded and watched her sister's retreating form.

"Have you told her about Africa?" Frisco asked Kylie as he walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink.

"What's to tell?" Kylie asked, taking the drink Frisco had poured for her.

"Have you told Robin the truth about anything, Kylie? You should tell her about Africa. Hell, she's your sister…"

"And that man claims he's our father! Why should I put her through the hell of knowing he's alive when he couldn't care enough to tell us himself? You know damn well that if we hadn't seen him in Africa then he never would have told me the truth. He didn't care enough to come out of hiding when I needed him the most and I'm not going to put anyone else through the pain of knowing that he cares only about himself. I don't even know what to believe about him, anymore. Come on, Frisco, Faison told me he was alive."

"I know, Ky," Frisco said with a sad and guilty tone. "Has he contacted you?"

"Last night, before I left Mac's. He called and wanted to know about Paris."

Frisco shook his head. "I don't understand him. Years ago I wanted to be just like him and I wanted to kill Faison for what we thought he'd done; now I sometimes wish Faison had really killed Robert because at least then there would have been meaning to all this."

"He chose his path. He hates the path I've chosen."

"But you had no other choice because of what he chose."

"We know that, but he will never understand," Kylie said. "Let's stop talking about him. I don't really care about Robert Scorpio anymore because he certainly doesn't care about me."

"I wish it was different, Kylie. You don't know how much I wish that for you." Frisco walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "You didn't deserve the life you suffered because of his selfishness."

"If he comes here, Frisco…"

"I know, Ky. We'll handle it then. I'll take care of it then."

"What are you doing here, Anna? I thought you'd be in Paris, looking for Robin," Mac said, closing the door behind his sister-in-law. He'd been up most of the night trying to find out what was going on and why someone would want to kill Kylie. He was exhausted and really hadn't expected Anna to come to Port Charles.

"Felicia called and told me about Kylie," Anna told him. She sat down on the sofa.

"Wait, you knew about her?"

Anna looked at him. "Of course I knew. Kylie is like a daughter to me. She and Andi stay with me when they're in London."

"How did you get here so fast?"

"Kylie called me from Greece and told me about Faison. I was halfway across the ocean when Frisco called about Robin. I stopped in Pine Valley to tell my nephew and then we came here."

Mac was shocked. Not only had Anna known about Kylie, she'd cared about her. Why did it seem like he was the only one who hadn't known the truth? "Your nephew?"

"Yes, Aidan. He's going out to Wyndemere now to check on Andi."

"She should be here."

"No, Mac, she should be with the family who loved Kylie. I know how you treated her because you don't seem to think that Robert could have had his own secrets. Don't tell me you cared about Kylie and don't suggest you care about her daughter's well being. Aidan is going to make sure she's safe at Wyndemere and after the service for Kylie, Nikolas and Emily Cassadine are taking Andi to Greece."

"She needs to be with family."

"She is with her family, the family that can protect her. Stavros Cassadine ordered Kylie's death and no one can protect people from Cassadines better than a Cassadine. Besides, Kylie specifically stated in her own words that should anything happen to her, Andi was to stay with Nikolas."

"Of course, her loyalty is to the Cassadines."

Anna stood up. "Don't you dare bad mouth Kylie. She risked everything to try to stop Faison. She lost last night." Anna shook her head. "Don't show up at her service if you're going to act like this. She was your niece, your brother's daughter. She and Robin…" Anna's voice trailed off and she fought tears. "Kylie and Robin acted like they'd been raised together. That's how close they were. The only thing I dread about finding Robin is telling her about her sister. To tell Robin Kylie's dead will be worse than anything she's gone through before."

"Kylie was not the angel you seem to believe she was."

"I know better than anyone what Kylie was and was not. Her life was ruined and she nearly died because of Faison. She was just like Robert. She did everything to protect the people she loved." Anna turned away from him and walked to the door. "I'll be leaving for Paris. Unless you change your attitude about my daughters, don't come help us look for Robin."

She left and Mac sat down stunned. He didn't think Anna would care that much about Kylie. Robert had lied to her too about the girl and yet she believed Kylie had been noble. As far as he was concerned, Kymberly Cassadine was just like the rest of the Cassadines. It didn't matter that she was also the daughter of his only brother.