Chapter 4- The Heir and the Spare

Carly stood outside of Kelly's for twenty minutes, just staring at AJ and Sarah Webber through the window. They had their science textbooks open, but every so often Sarah would touch his hand making Carly grit her teeth. By the time Sarah placed her hand on his cheek, Carly had enough. She stormed inside and shoved Sarah so hard, that both she and her chair fell backwards onto the floor.

"Carly!" AJ shouted.

"Get your hands off my boyfriend!" Carly huffed and set her hands on her hips.

Sarah slowly rose and flipped her blonde hair out of her face. "We were just studying together."

Carly punched her square in the nose and blood splattered from it.

AJ jumped up and moved over to Sarah. "Carly, stop it!"

"Oh sure, take her side!" Carly spit on Sarah's feet. "Just stay out of it, AJ!" Carly dove forward and tackled Sarah to the ground. Sarah rolled over so she was on top of Carly for about a millisecond before Carly pushed back so she was on top again. Carly reached for the ketchup and splattered some on Sarah's head.

AJ lifted Carly up, then helped Sarah to her feet. "That's it, Carly. We're over!"

Carly crossed her arms and dropped her mouth slightly. "Over!? You're breaking up with me!?"

"Yes. Yes, I am," AJ said.

"You're not breaking up with me, because I'm breaking up with you! And while I'm at it, don't even bother seeing Michael anymore because I want him full-time!"

"Full-time?" AJ laughed. "Even having him part-time you just pin him off on Jason!"

"So do you!"

"We'll see who gets Michael. Don't forget, my family can afford better lawyers than yours can!"

Carly groaned, then stormed out of Kelly's.

GHGHGH

Franco rose to his feet and handed Sam his paint brush. "Come. I'll show you how to paint blood."

Sam stared at the painting of her dad's dead body.

"Sam?" Ava called from the hallway. "Where did you go?"

"Gotta go!" Sam dropped the paintbrush and ran out to her aunt in the hallway.

Ava raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing in Franco's studio?"

"Uh, nothing," Sam said.

"She was asking if I could give her some art lessons." Franco appeared at the doorway. "I told her I'd love to."

Ava smiled. "Well isn't that nice."

A knock drew their attention to the front door, then Julian walked in white as a ghost.

"Everything okay with Lucas?" Ava asked.

Julian frowned and shook his head. "Sam, let's go."

"What's wrong with Lucas?" Sam asked.

"I'll tell you later… maybe later this week… or month… I don't know, let's just go."

Sam crossed her arms. "No, I want to know now!"

Julian sighed heavily. "He has… he has cancer. Leukemia."

Ava gasped and threw her hand over her mouth.

Sam stared at him for several seconds, then shouted, "You're lying!"

Julian lowered his gaze, then looked at Sam. "I wish I was, squirt."

Sam peeked around Julian. "Get Mom. She'll straighten you out. She'll get you to stop lying about Lucas!"

"Your mom's spending the night at the hospital with him. The doctors think he needs a bone marrow transplant."

"Let me know if you need me to get tested," Ava offered and hugged Julian. "He'll get through this."

"He doesn't need to get through anything, because he's fine," Sam insisted.

"Sam, get in the car and we'll talk," Julian said.

Sam groaned and stomped out of the house.

Julian thanked Ava and glared at Franco before following Sam outside.

Sam was sitting in the backseat staring out the window as Julian hopped in.

"Not going to sit in the front today?" Julian asked and started the ignition. "We're not giving up on Lucas. He'll get through this."

Julian sighed when Sam didn't respond. "Your mom wants you to stay at Wyndemere instead tonight. Neither of us trust Franco, and Helena's out of town so you'll be safe with Stefan… but if you prefer, I can take you home and stay with you."

Sam finally turned, looking at Julian through the rearview mirror. "Go to them, I'm sure Mom is just spoiling her Lukey by spending the night at Disneyworld or something. I'd rather spend the night under the same room as prissy Nikolas than with you."

GHGHGH

Carly was mad. No, furious. How AJ could cheat on her? Well, two could play at that game. If he thinks he's found someone better than Carly, then she'd definitely find someone better than him. Someone older. Perhaps a senior like Jax or Patrick. That would show him.

She grunted as she walked down to the docks near Kelly's and stared out at the water. Just where would Jax or Patrick be on a school night? Could they be at a party? Hopefully not the library, there's no way Carly would step foot into a place like that.

"Are you okay, Miss?"

Carly whipped around. An older man who must've been about 30 stood there. Not much taller than she was, with greased back black hair. With slightly tanned skin, he must've been Italian or something.

Carly shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Can I offer to walk you home?"

She began to smile. "That would be lovely."

"Take my coat, it's very chilly." He took off his long, beige coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Why, thank you."

"My name's Sonny. What's yours?"

Carly swallowed hard. "It's Caroline."

He smiled, showing off his dimples as they continued to walk. "That's a beautiful name. Sweet Caroline."

She grinned back at him and got an idea. "I… uh… my birthday is in November. I'll be… 22."

"22? You're so young. I'm 30. Has anyone told you that you have beautiful eyes?"

Carly blushed.

"Can I buy you a drink at the Port Charles Hotel?"

Carly and AJ always stole alcohol from his cellar, but never before has an adult offered her a drink before. Her mama wouldn't even let her sip her wine. "I'd love that."

GHGHGH

Sam always had mixed feelings about visiting Wyndemere. It was nice because it made her feel rich and like she lived there. But then she'd always have to see Nikolas who really did live there. He had it so easy. He had servants (especially Alfred who would do literally everything he wanted), money, fancy clothes, a limousine driver, and he had travelled most of the world before he was ten. Not like Sam who had to live in tiny houses and had to share everything with her annoying brother.

But how her own father could lie to her about something that huge was beyond her. At least it had to be a lie… Anything would be better than spending the night with him right now, even staying with Nikolas. She might even consider dealing with freaky Franco right now, but Nikolas seemed like the lesser of the three evils at that point. Plus, she always found Uncle Stefan so interesting. She'd never met Helena, not once, at least she what could remember. But she had overheard her mom talking about her countless times and not in a good way.

She never realized that Uncle Stefan and Nikolas ate dinner so late each night. Sam had already eaten, but Uncle Stefan insisted she join them. It was pretty annoying sitting across from Nikolas during the dinner. But she got a kick out of Alfred's blind obedience.

"Anything else for Lady Samantha?" Alfred offered with a bow.

Stefan rubbed his temples.

"Hot fudge sundae?" Sam couldn't resist.

He nodded. "Hot fudge sundae, of course. And for Master Nikolas?"

"Hot fudge sundae sounds good," Nikolas agreed.

He turned to Stefan. "And for you, sir?"

"Nothing tonight, Alfred," Stefan said, rising from his chair. "My head isn't feeling quite right, I think I'll excuse myself. My apologies Samantha. Just ask Alfred if you need anything. You can stay in the spare room next to Nikolas."

The spare room. That's all Sam was good for next to Prince Nikolas. She was certain neither of them saw her as more than a spare.

After Stefan went to bed and Alfred brought them their hot fudge sundaes, Sam stared at her cousin while she ate her dessert.

"I haven't had one of these in a while," Nikolas said.

"Yeah right," Sam mumbled. "You probably have fancy desserts every night."

Nikolas shook his head. "It's usually crème brulee or apple rose puffs. Uncle doesn't want me to eat chocolate too often. Though I know it's actually Grandmother who doesn't want me to. I heard her say I get too obstreperous when I have it."

Sam busted out laughing spitting out some of her ice cream. "Obstreperous?"

He rolled his eyes. "That's how our grandmother speaks. She expects me to be her perfect prince. Her decent heir."

Sam shook her head. "Oh, don't talk like you don't have it good. You have the perfect life. You live in a castle and have all these servants. You have Alfred obeying your every command."

"It's not as wonderful as it looks. I love Uncle, but sometimes I hate it here. Sometimes the only thing I look forward to is when you come to visit with Aunt Alexis and Lucas. I've always been kind of jealous of you actually."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Of me?"

He nodded. "You have a mother, a father, a little brother. You get to go to school. I just have tutors come and Grandmother gives me history lessons on our ancestors and how they left Russia, settled in Greece, then eventually came to Spoon Island. Sometimes I wish I could just be a normal kid. Sometimes I would like to find my mother."

"Do you have any idea who your mother is?"

He shook his head. "I've been wanting to ask Uncle about her but I'm afraid I'll hit a dead end. Maybe I'll find out she's dead like my father is."

Sam frowned. "You won't know if you don't try. I wonder if my mom knows."

Nikolas shrugged. "If they wanted me to know they would've told me by now, I suppose."

Sam sighed. "What are you doing Friday night?"

"Same thing as always. It's my waltzing lesson with Grandmother. She comes home that day."

Sam scrunched her face. "Okay, you're skipping that and coming to the school dance with me. I don't want to go alone, and you need some friends besides Alfred and your grandmother…"

"Isn't she your grandmother too?"

"I don't know… I've never met her, and Mom doesn't like her… So anyway, it starts at 6pm. I'll help you sneak out if needed."

GHGHGH

When Julian arrived back at the hospital, Alexis and Lucas were both asleep on the hospital bed. Julian stood in the doorway for several seconds just watching them sleep. He was supposed to protect his family. No one was supposed to get sick or hurt. But now his little guy was about to battle cancer. It should have been Julian instead. He should be the one having to face this.

He made his way over and placed a kiss on Lucas' forehead, then he knelt to kiss Alexis and her eyes slowly opened. She slipped out of bed and wrapped her arms around Julian's waist. "Is Sam okay?"

"I took her to Wyndemere. Franco was there when I arrived at Ava's."

She clenched her jaw. Was he alone with Sam at all?"

"I don't know. She was with both of them when I got there."

She sighed. "Okay, well at least she's safe right now. But if Lukey has to stay another night, one of us should take Sam home. And if he has to stay longer… we'll take turns. I don't want Sam to feel like we're not giving her any attention."

"Hopefully he doesn't have to stay long. And I'm not so sure it's good for you or the baby to spend too much time in the hospital."

Alexis shook her head. "I can't just leave Lucas here. He needs me."

"Has the doctor come back?"

"No. He won't be back until morning. But the nurses have been coming in and out to check on him." She breathed in sharply and placed a hand on her forehead. "I can't believe this is happening."

Julian held her close and stroked her hair. "He's going to beat this. He will. He will…"