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Chapter 3

Alexis watched as Julian walked back into the dining room carrying a tray with coffee and cups. It was late or early depending on how you thought about it. Alexis knew that she was about to get resistance from her daughters but she needed to do this for their safety. She had already called Sonny about getting extra protection for Kristina. As far as Alexis knew Kristina would be safe from Valentine as she wasn't in the state and would not be leverage or an obstacle for him to get to her, but she couldn't risk it. Sonny had been unusually accommodating and had told her he was putting extra protection on her, the girls and Danny. She had protested, the way he had given her no choice in the matter, but there really was nothing to do about it, these were her daughters and she would take help from anyone. Nicholas and Julian had already put their guards on them.

"Girls" she started, but was immediately cut off by Sam.

"I'm not doing it mom so don't even try to convince me to go" she said stubbornly.

"I am not going either mom." Molly said just as stubbornly.

She smiled at her daughters, usually she loved the stubborn, feisty, fighting spirit in her girls but right now this could be dangerous. "Girls, please listen to me" she said a hand rubbing her forehead where a headache was starting to build.

"No mom, tell us what is going on. How is Stefan alive and who is Valentine" Sam said letting her frustration out after a long day.

"Good I see I am just in time to get an explanation." Nicholas said a little to happy for the family who had been up for most of the night. "Alexis, I would like to know what the hell is going on. Who is this Valentine and why did he have Uncle." her nephew asked as he swooped in the room leaning down and kissing her forehead gently.

Alexis sighed gathering her strength around her as she prepared to tell her family about one of the worst days on Cassadine Island for her and Stefan.

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Stefan woke up feeling disoriented and confused not recognizing where he was. He was having trouble remembering what had happened. He became even more agitated when he realized that he couldn't sit up because he had been tied down. He started panicking, yanking on the straps to no avail.

"Mr. Cassadine please calm down" a male voice ordered.

"Where am I? Where is my sister?" he demanded.

"Nurse" the doctor called out into the hall ignoring Stefan's questions. "Bring me another sedative please"

"No, please don't sedate me" pleaded Stefan, afraid of who could get to him if he wasn't alert.

"Mr. Cassadine you have been through a terrible ordeal. I understand you are afraid but there are two guards outside and they will not let anyone in here if they are not on the list your sister signed off on."

"Alexis" he asked confused and trying to make sense of what the doctor was telling him.

"Yes. and let me tell you sir Ms. Davis was very through. The men out there have orders to check IDs and to scan fingerprints before anyone comes in here." he said still in a bit of awe of the women who had ordered and threaten the whole hospital staff including a very irate Dr. Obrecht that if anything happened to her brother she would 'dismantle the whole damn hospital board starting with Obrecht'.

He smiled at the memory of how Obrecht had sputtered trying to come up with a way to intimidate Alexis Davis, finding herself lacking the ability to do so, Obrecht had ended up walking away in a huff.

"Alexis is safe" he asked

"Yes sir, she went home with her family. Ms. Davis told me to tell you she will be back in the morning." Felix enter the room at that moment and the doctor excused himself.

"Mr. Cassadine, this a very mild sedative that will help you sleep through the night." Felix explained as he prepared the needle.

Stefan started to panic and tried desperately to think of a way to get of the restraints. Just as Felix was about to put the sedative in his IV Stefan cried out in pain and started shaking as if in a seizure, the monitors beeping wildly indicating something was wrong.

"Mr. Cassadine are you okay." Felix immediately called for the doctor to come back and started taking off the restraints. He turned away to call for the doctor once again and didn't notice when Stefan grabbed the phone by the bed until he felt the blow to his head knocking him unconscious..

Stefan had not wanted to hit the young nurse over the head but he needed to get to Alexis. Quickly undoing the second restraint he ran out of the room never looking back as his whole focus was on finding Alexis.

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Julian sat next to Alexis taking her small hands in his rubbing them gently in a manner that was both calming and comforting.

"I have always tried to shield you from the Cassadines" she looked at her daughters and the turned to her nephew "Present company excluded" she said sheepishly. Nicholas smiled back at her as he sat down in one of the empty chairs. "I don't like to talk about my past, but I need you two to understand just how much danger you are in and how much more danger you put me in if he knows how he can hurt me." she turned to her nephew "Nicholas you know how violent our family is" he nodded in acknowledgement. "they know that they can hurt us by hurting the ones we love. Stefan has always had a target on his back but I have always been the Cassadines' special project."

She turned to look at Julian as she felt his hand tighten over hers. Looking in his eyes she was able to draw strength from his presence. She was amazed to see so much understanding and love in his eyes, giving her the strength to talk about events in her past that still caused her to have nightmares. "My father brought to Cassadine Island when I was seven after Helena slit my mother's throat in front of me." Alexis heard a gasp escape Molly. Her little girl had always that her mother being Russian royalty was so romantic and Alexis had never wanted to break her illusions but now she would shatter it all if the truth would help convince her daughters that they needed to leave Port Charles.

"For many years, I blocked it all out, I couldn't remember who I was or what had happened to my mother I just knew that deep down, in my subconscious, I was terrified of Helena. After my father brought me to Cassadine Island there was no one I could depend on. I didn't even know he was my father at that time." she shrugged "I thought I was just Mikkos niece. I was introduce to Stavros and Helena 's cruelness almost immediately. Stavros favorite game was to locked me in a cedar chest that was at the foot of my bed. He would leave me there for hours until Stefan was able to get out of whatever hell he was going though and come find me and let me out." she felt Julian tense as he heard first hand how she had suffered. "Helena preferred the more traditional route of poisoning my food, blindfolding me and tying me up somewhere out in the middle of woods." she continued in an emotionless tone trying to get through her story as fast as possible.

"It was a few years before I realized that what Helena and Stavros did to me was child's play compared to what Valentine had in store for Stefan and me. Helena protected Stavros from Valentine but Stefan and I were at his mercy.

"I had just turned ten. Mikkos had brought Valentine to the island and introduced him as his son a few day before. For my birthday Stefan had stolen a cookie from the pantry for me and he was singing happy birthday to me" she smiled at one of the few good memories of her life on the island. "He was, I think maybe fourteen, fifteen at the time. It had been a few days since my birthday and I couldn't find Stefan. I was looking for him because I never knew when one of us wasn't coming back because Helena or Stavros had finally gone too far. I went down to the catacombs." Julian felt a shiver run down her spine and wrapped an arm around her. "I hated it down there, but I knew my way there because sometimes it was the only way to get away." she squeezed Julian's hand needing his support as this was the first time she had ever shared what had happened to Stefan and her down in the catacombs. "I turned a corner and I saw Stefan tied to a rock, his shirt off he had all these welts criss crossing across his back. His body was limp and I thought he was dead. I ran to him trying to untie him. I had finally managed to loosen one of his arms." she turned to Julian "I tried to be faster but they were so tight" she explained needing them to understand that she had tried her best.

"Stefan kept telling me to run but he was my Stefan, my protector the only person who loved me." A tear slid down her cheek, unable to keep how much it hurt to think of her childhood "I couldn't leave him there. I had almost loosened his second arm when Valentine showed up. I didn't even feel him coming up behind me I just felt as he hit me in the back of the head and I fell forward. He had the coldest looking blue eyes and his hair was jet black. I tried to crawl away but he climbed on top of me and grabbed me by the throat, I remember the desperation I felt as he pressed harder and harder. As a child I didn't understand the comment Valentine made but Stefan did because he started struggling harder." She looked down at her hands ashamed about what she was revealing.

Julian looked around the table as Alexis stopped unable to continue. He had an idea where this was going and he made a vow to himself that if that son of a bitch had touched her would make him pay. Molly looked devastated at the revelation of just how much her mother had suffered. Julian's admiration for Alexis grew even more at her ability to be such a loving, caring mother having never had an example of it. Hearing of her horrible childhood made him want to protect her from everyone and everything. Sam and Nikolas just sat in silence with silent tears running down their at the picture of pain and abuse she was revealing.

Julian could feel Alexis trembling as she took a deep breath to continue. "Nicholas, I know you like others have questioned my loyalty and love for Stefan. After the way he has treated me, I should have never looked back and just let him go. But he was my savior when I was a little girl he was my little blond prince he was ." she wiped the tears at the love that she felt for that little blond boy who had loved and cared for her.

"Alexis" came the husky voice of her brother as he stood by the door one of Nickolas's men standing behind him.