A/N: Sorry for the wait! Lots going on, but also lots more to this story. Thanks to 4gcrazyme, BoandNora-ItsOneWord, and ShanRB for reviewing! And without further ado…

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Why is he doing this? I don't understand…

Anna made her way to the island with that thought repeating and repeating in her head, unable to ward it off and unable to come to a conclusion. Her heart was pounding out of her chest at such a furious beat, she couldn't think.

Why is he doing this?

This wasn't a game. This wasn't her career, this wasn't the work of spies. This was her life. And now he was making it clear, what she had already feared: Faison using her daughter, infiltrating her life in the most intimate way possible.

I hate him.

Robin's eyes, Anna's own eyes in Robin's face, bright with hope like hers never were anymore…talking about telling the kids at school, talking about writing, talking about P.K. Sinclair, as if the man existed!

She couldn't tear her eyes from the dark, bottomless water beneath the boat, but Anna knew they must be close to the docks now. She barely knew how she had gotten this far anyway… the last thing she knew, she had expected a quiet night at home with Robin. And now, here she was, fueled by nothing but maternal instinct. And she would have to face Cesar Faison and she would have to be calm and composed. She would have to put on the act she did every moment she was in the man's presence, because that was the only way she could keep him from eating her alive.

And then a strange thought popped into her head, a sudden and hungry wish that Robert actually understood this all. Everything. Because she couldn't keep him out of it, not when the man was threatening their daughter. Faison, for all of his disdain towards Scorpio, was ensuring that Robert remain a needle in his side by threatening his family. And Faison would be the only willing participant in his own grand drama, pulling them all like they were puppets on a string... nothing more.

"Miss, here you are, watch your step" said the boatman. Anna jolted out of her reverie and asked the man to wait here, please, because she wouldn't be long.

She remembered that once upon a time, it was so easy to make herself like stone—like a diamond: hard, glittery, unattainable and unyielding. It wasn't so easy anymore… not with the very man who had taught her so many of those tricks. Not after Robert and Duke had seen underneath the beautiful veneer, and not since she conceived her little girl.

Stop it. Don't. You are stone.

Faison's man seemed to know her and expect her. He wordlessly parted the doors to Faison's office upon demand and she strode in without a thought but the pulsing fury. And Spoon Island's Lazarus gave her a small smile and pushed his chair to face her, looking for all the world as if a visit from her could be nothing but pleasant.

"Anna," he folded his hands and sat back carelessly as if to cast a glance at her whole figure. "Well, it seems to be my day for visitors, but…it's always good to see you."

She could see he meant that.

Anna's hand flicked up, holding the Robin's letter tightly. "What's this?"

"Robin got my letter?" Faison said guilelessly. It was infuriating, but Anna wouldn't let him bait her, not yet.

"I told you not to have anything to do with my daughter."

He parted his hands innocently. "I've done nothing but offer to write a book with her."

"Oh, come on!" Anna snapped. "What are you doing?" She didn't elaborate. Faison didn't need her to.

"Well I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for her. She lived a…beautiful story, which I would like to write. And for her it would be a way for her to…preserve her love and…trust for Casey."

He always spoke so thoughtfully. He always sounded so sincere. Anna bit back the urge to spit in his face. Instead, she slammed the letter down on his desk.

"I'm obviously not making myself clear, am I? I want you to stay away from my daughter. And me."

She was emphatic, and Faison briefly looked away, as if to gather himself. "You're not being fair. I would never harm either of you, you know that. We made a bargain and I will keep my end of it…as I'm sure you will."

The bargain…Anna didn't allow her expression to even flicker with guilt; if she did, Faison would see. But all the same, he leaned closer, an odd twinkle in his eye. "Robert's doing nothing to…jeopardize it…is he?"

There was a certain level of perverse enjoyment Anna got from that microscopic flinch every time Faison brought Robert up. It was as if he was unable to stop himself. She suppressed a smile and said, "no, he isn't," without batting an eyelash.

Faison watched her intently and nodded. Anna touched the letter again. "You knew I wouldn't let this happen. What kind of game are you playing now?"

"I'm way beyond games, Anna," Faison said, pushing back from his desk. "Way beyond games. But since you're here, why don't we discuss some unfinished…personal business? Hm?"

Without waiting for a response, he moved around her and towards his miniature bar.

"I don't want a drink," Anna said peevishly. Faison ignored her and continued to pour, so she moved back to the frustrating topic at hand. "What are you still doing here? You said you were gonna leave Port Charles!"

He screwed the cap back onto the bottle and looked up at her as if she had told him something mildly startling about tomorrow's weather. "I still have some business to do, Anna."

"But you said you were gonna leave," Anna repeated.

Faison sighed.

"We made a bargain, didn't we?" she pressed. She could hear the slight complaint in her voice and forced herself to even it out. But Anna could tell that Faison was picking up on it—as he would pick up on any minute gesture she made.

You have to be smarter than him, she told herself.

"Yeah and I kept my end of it. Your alien friend got his crystal back and I'm stuck here, I didn't receive anything." The first hints of petulance and ill-humor were detectable in his tone this time.

Anna stared at him, eyes widening. "You didn't ask for anything."

"Oh yes, I did," Faison said matter-of-factly. "But I didn't think it was necessary to put it in simple words." And then she could see it: the slight smile creeping into his features, the way his eyes lit up underneath the act…the way the flame of a candle glowed under the shade of a hand.

"Our eyes…spoke of it so eloquently."

"What are you talking about?" Anna stared back at him.

"Fate, Anna," he said softly. "Fate. A fate that reunited us after thirteen long years." He finally extended her glass to her and she took it, uncomprehendingly.

He always did this; spoke as if they had been the lovers separated. It was mad. She stared into the crystal, and then tipped her head back and downed it in a swallow. And after a breath, she warned, "don't do this."

And he looked down, as he always did when she tried to breach the fantasy, the slight wound in his expression. "You can see what we could have together." He wasn't going to let her climb that wall. "And you proved it when you came back to me."

"I came back—I mean, I came…here…because of Casey."

Faison nodded, raising his eyebrows. "You may say that, but you know better. We made a bargain, Anna, and like it or not, you sealed it when you put on…Davnee's dress." He sipped his drink and Anna snarled with frustration.

"Davnee doesn't exist! She isn't real, why do you keep talking about her?" She didn't know how to make him understand that this wasn't just another tool he could use, that they weren't characters in a bloody book. "I'm real!"

"Yes, she's real. She's always been real…" he observed the last of his drink, practically ignoring her momentarily for his own thoughts. "But we can make an end to that. You just say when…where." And he smiled, draining the glass under her concerned gaze. His smugness turned her stomach, but she squared off on him again.

"We didn't make any deal because I put the bloody dress on."

"There's much more than a deal between us, Anna, it's a dream come true."

"A fantasy," Anna corrected, becoming weary of his mania.

"Yeah, you can say that. After thirteen long years, we're finally together, but don't be alarmed…there's no rush. From here on we can share anything."

Anna walked aimlessly past him, unable to bear his certainty over a dream—one that had no hope of ever coming true. "You know the more pressure you put on me, I'm just going to pull away…"

"Well, don't you listen at all, Anna? I just told you there's no rush—no rush," he swore. And then he looked at her more closely. "Anna, you afraid to admit what you feel for me? Even to yourself."

She laughed, unable to help herself. "No, oh God…no. I'm not afraid of anything—"

"Then relax," he drawled. He pulled his hand from his pocket. "Do you care for another drink?"

"I don't want one…no," she answered, crinkling her nose as he poured.

"What do you want?"

Anna looked up at him, pursing her lips sarcastically. "What do you want from me?"

"To pick up where we…stranded, thirteen years ago."

"Oh, as business partners?"

He drank again after saying carelessly, "oh my memories are different."

"Your delusions," she corrected again, walking around and turning her back on him.

"Ahhh no no no," he said. "I remember well, Anna. We were becoming closer and closer before Scorpio came along." She felt him move closer, suffocating the room.

"That may be what you imagined, but that was not happening…"

"Well, you can deny that, I expect you to." His eyes burned into the side of her face. "But who knows what might have happened if it weren't for him?"

"Nothing," Anna muttered with a smile.

"That's your delusion," Faison muttered back. "It's our destiny. It was and it still is: to be together."

Anna tossed her head in exasperation and swung around as he began to turn away. "What else do I have to do to make you understand that I don't want that—I never did!" She was now at his back, but he seemed unbothered by her proximity.

"To understand. Listen. In time you will know that I'm not the man I was." He crossed towards his desk and she followed.

"I'm not the woman either…that I was." In other words, you don't know me.

"That's right," he opened the door of his birdcage and extended his arm inward. "Don't you think it's time that we start to know each other the way we are now?" He stroked the bird huddling in the corner.

"No," Anna whispered, feeling almost guilty for how honest it sounded. Faison closed the cage and turned to her again.

"So sure, so stubborn, but…so frightened you may be wrong." She looked up at his goading, saying nothing. "I'll prove you wrong," he told her. "We're both free now, Anna. We could be so happy, all you have to do is let go of the past and…open yourself to the future."

After a moment's pause, Anna looked away from him and walked over to a small table, plucking up a pair of glasses. "That's right, we really don't know each other, do we now?"

"Exactly."

She tried them on and then came back to herself and remember that she was in Faison's mansion and those were his. She removed them. "You may not like what I've become."

"I doubt that. But what better time to find out then right now? You change your mind about that drink?"

Anna startled, not realizing he had gotten so close. "No."

"Stay for dinner?"

"No…I uh, I—Robin. I have to get back."

Faison lips flattened with displeasure. "You don't want her to worry, I understand that completely." He lips twitched. "That's one way you've changed. You now have a daughter to love and protect."

Robin's face flashed into her mind and those feelings predictably rushed to the surface. "I love her," Anna said simply.

"Dearest Anna, I care about Robin too. And I would never ever do anything to harm her." He smiled, as if he read something from her face that she couldn't know. "I think Robin likes me, doesn't she? She does, I can tell." His face changed, becoming that shrewd expression that she recalled quite well from over a decade ago. "And that doesn't please you at all, does it? It should. We already have a basis for a good relationship."

Anna chose not take the bait and merely said, "I have to go."

"Would you give Scorpio a message?" he called to her as she rushed towards the door.

"Yeah, what?"

"Let him know that Robin doesn't need to be protected by the police. And if he doubts my word, then let him know that I've taken his word that he won't let anyone know that I'm alive…Anna?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him that," she said, turning away again and pushing open the double doors to the hallway. Faison kept following.

"And tell him that I'm rewriting the book Crystalline Conspiracy. We agreed."

"He'll be glad," Anna said. She just wanted to get out, nearly losing focus as he rambled.

"—already know how the story will end."

"How?" she said dully.

"Happily ever after."

Anna Devane had had decidedly enough of Cesar Faison. And she jerked too hard on the door, until his composed hands pushed against hers.

"Here." He opened the door and she bowed her head in goodbye before all but flying out into the misty Spoon Island night, wanting to crawl out of her skin.

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"Hi!" Robin grinned and ran to the door like the little girl she still was (but just by a small margin now) into Robert's arms. "I missed you!"

"Oh, I missed you too," Robert mumbled into his daughter's shoulder, kissing her. "Boy, did I need that."

It was a small but necessary reprieve to see Robin after the day he had. Anna had been right, and not only was that slightly galling, it only pushed the idea that things were going to have to get messy sooner rather than later.

"Ancient history, Commissioner. Old crimes, committed by a dead man…Let me talk to your sources, if they can back up what's in these files, then maybe I can do something for you."

"I can't do that."

"You want me to catch the guy? First, you bring me somebody—anybody…who knew the man intimately. If they're willing to testify against him, you got it."

"I'm telling you it's him because I've seen him!"

"Have you ever met him before? Back when he was doing these crimes?"

"No, but—"

"But nothing, Commissioner! Now look, until you can produce some evidence here, something concrete, or testimony to the contrary, the WSB will continue to consider Cesar Faison dead."

"You keep this guy dead, the only makes him more deadly… If you weren't so smug and short-sighted, everything you need to know is in these files."

"As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing in those files. They're rather boring. Thirteen year old information."

"I'm telling you this guy is dangerous!"

"You want us to believe you? Then tell us who your source is."

"I can't."

"Hm. Whoever it is must know him very well."

"…they do."

"Then let us have a name, alright? Come on! Until you do, our hands are tied here."

"Since when did the Bureau become more concerned with policy over justice?"

"Since Robert Scorpio became more interested in protecting someone's identity than putting this dead man away where he belongs."

Robert wasn't stupid. He knew what they were saying as he left, and he knew that the wheels would now be turning, except not against Faison. Ross would have been cataloguing his every gesture and flinch, would have noticed that he was shaken up by this—and instead of taking care of the problem, he instead would be wondering who was Robert's source.

There was no proof, of course, but Robert knew Ross' mind would immediately jump to two likely people. And if Ross was worth half his salt, he would zone in on Anna as the person Robert had most reason to protect. Especially since it was terribly-kept secret within the WSB that Robert and Anna had a child together.

And those odds curdled Robert's blood.

And worse, Robert knew what Anna was going to say once she found out: she would want to take Faison out herself. And Robert would rather die than let her make the attempt.

All he knew was that he wasn't going to let it happen again.

"Um, where's your mum, is she with Sean?" Robert looked around and realized that Anna hadn't appeared yet.

Robin shook her head. "Don't know…"

"Beats me, Commish," Olin said from behind them, rubbing at her hands with a dishtowel. "She ran out of here right after Robin showed her the letter from that uh, writer dude out on Spoon Island."

"What?" None of this was making sense, and the little that did was not good.

"Oh! I was just about to tell you, Mr. Sinclair, he wants me to collaborate on a book with him about Casey!"

"What." No, the whole thing was not good. Not good at all. And where the hell was Anna?

Robert could guess.

"You want to stay for dinner?" Robin asked brightly, clearly not reading the trouble on her father's face. He stood.

"No, sweetie, I can't. I've got something to do."

"But you just got here. Aren't you gonna wait for Mom?"

Robert glanced at Olin. "Ah, no, I'll—I'll talk to her…later." Or now, if he could find her. Damnit Anna. "This is important."

"You're going to the club?"

"No—uhhh, yes." Robert had forgotten. He did have plans at the club. And he would show up there just as soon as he dragged Anna off of that bloody island. "Uh, look—call Katherine, and tell her that I'll be a little late."

As soon as Robin agreed, he kissed her cheek and headed off for the docks.

A/N: Annnnnndddd…thank you with proceeding with me through the stage-setting. Next chapter is where things FINALLY take a turn in a slightly different direction. A good different direction, in my humble opinion. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!