A smirk formed on Wallace's face as soon as Irina walked out of the bathroom. She wore a white robe, her hair wet and limp as she took a seat next to him on the sofa. They had spent a few more hours in the ICU before leaving, watching over their son and observing the nurses and doctors who would check on his vitals. Slowly but surely, the numbers were increasing, and they knew it was only a matter of time before Dex would be stable enough to wake up.

"Refreshed?" he asked.

"Very," she replied, grinning at him, "It was nice of Valentin to let us use his room."

"It was. He seems like a decent man."

"I'm sorry?" Irina scowled playfully, "Are you being complimentary towards a member of my family?"

"If you can believe it, I am."

"Wallace Heller speaking highly of a Cassadine? That's…big. That's groundbreaking information."

Wallace's smirk broke out into a full smile, a sparkle in his eye as he began to laugh. Irina joined in, warmth spreading in her cheeks as she relaxed against the couch.

"It certainly is," he chuckled, "but it's not just him. There's you and Dex…and that's it."

"...Are you sure about that?" Irina sucked her lips in. Wallace raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"It's just that…with how you spoke of Dex earlier-"

"We already went over this."

"I know, I know, but…part of me thinks you're holding back."

"...How so?"

"You spent the entire conversation invalidating his words."

"They deserved to be invalidated."

"Why?"

"Because we already dealt with it. We buried the hatchet, and he decided to dig it up again with you."

"You think he did that on purpose?"

"I wouldn't put it past him. We were already on rocky ground because he had an issue with me keeping him safe."

"Is Dexter really that spiteful?"

"Irina, he cut me out because he was upset with his life. All I ever did was try to keep him safe."

"Do you hear yourself?" Irina scowled, raising an eyebrow, "Do you hear how you're phrasing things?"

"What's wrong with what I'm saying?"

"You think staying quiet about me is 'keeping him safe.'"

"It was."

"You minimize him cutting you out as him 'being upset with his life.'"

"That's what it was."

"That's what it was to you," Irina stated firmly, "To him, I was some random woman who gave birth to him and then quit on him, and you were a man who failed to shield him from the life of crime you willingly adopted."

"He doesn't get it," Wallace shook his head, "I couldn't talk about you because it would lead him straight to Helena. I can't predict when danger is going to strike at the hands of my enemies. I'm sorry all of it left such a massive scar on his psyche, but that's life. My upbringing was horrible, your upbringing was horrible. Dex had it easy in comparison."

"That doesn't make what he went through any less terrible."

"He's tough. He's got Cassadine resiliency and Heller grit; he's practically made of Teflon. Like I said at the hospital, once he wakes up, he'll realize how big of a brat he was and apologize. He'll understand that our sacrifices were purely for his benefit."

"Is that so?"

"Absolutely. I kept him safe, I kept him away from your mother. I did what you wanted-"

"Stop," Irina raised a hand, "stop right there."

"What?"

"...I'm going to ask you this once, and I want an honest answer. Do you actually love our son?"

The sound of the door slamming startled Alexis and Sam as they sat in the black SUV. Dante squirmed in the back seat, huffing as he rested in the middle. They both looked his way, the SUV itself parked a few feet away from the entrance to the Metro Court.

"You alright?" Alexis asked, breaking the silence.

"I lost my job," Dante sighed.

"You were fired from the PCPD?"

"Yeah. Apparently, Deputy Mayor Ashby ordered it. She cut me, Jordan, and Mac on top of a handful of other random officers."

"She cut you just like that?" Sam asked, "Does she even have that power?"

"No, but she thought she did. A 'concerned citizen' intervened and…had us removed."

"Concerned citizen?" Alexis furrowed her brow before the answer dawned on her, "Victor got you removed."

"He did."

"Well…welcome to the club."

"What do you mean?"

"The locks to The Invader were changed overnight. We can't get in."

"And you think it's Victor's doing?"

"Who else would it be? It's not every day you see a bunch of big men in business suits taking over your office."

"Damn," Dante swore, "First the PCPD, now The Invader. He sticks his nose in and it just gets worse and worse.

"Did he stick his nose anywhere else?" Sam asked.

"Well, Jordan had a running file on Victor open for Anna, so any suspicious activity was documented and kept for reference until he was caught. He had someone go in and delete it. Now he has a file open on Wallace Heller."

"Wallace?" Alexis questioned, "What could he have done to warrant a police file? You know, beyond Victor's personal agenda?"

"He runs his own mob organization," Sam sighed in response, "Victor's probably angling to have the guy go away on federal charges."

"But why? Is Wallace that big of a threat?"

"What makes you think he isn't?"

"Well, when the family met Irina and found out what happened, he was this calm, simpering presence, not some dangerous, conniving brute."

"What made him 'simpering?'"

"Irina lashed out at him over what happened to Dex and he just…took it. He didn't fight with her, he didn't get angry, he just took the blame and wilted under her rage."

"That doesn't sound like Wallace. The Wallace I know is a hot-headed, stubborn brute."

"He could be both," Sam shrugged, "Plus, Irina's the mother of his son. She has a relationship with him that we don't."

"Sure. It's just…strange."

"...So he has a file on Wallace for what, exactly?" Alexis shifted gears.

"Obviously, he wants the guy in prison-" Sam began.

"There has to be more to it."

"Maybe he's trying to prevent some revenge ploy," Dante offered, "Wallace is a dangerous guy, and Victor's responsible for killing his son-"

"For the record, I know Dex isn't actually dead."

"You do?" Dante looked to Sam.

"We both ran into Irina at the ICU," Sam said.

"Dex is in the ICU? What the hell happened?"

"Long story."

"What's important is that he's getting medical care after what Victor did and that Irina's with him," Alexis replied, "and that everything I've just said doesn't leave this car."

"Right," Sam nodded, "Now, as for Victor avoiding revenge, I really don't think he'd be all that afraid of Wallace."

"Okay, then maybe it has something to do with Irina?" Dante suggested, "Victor went out of his way to bring her back, so maybe Wallace is an obstacle."

"Dex is a big enough obstacle on his own," Alexis rebutted, "Victor lost Irina the second she found out what happened to her son."

"Right, but that doesn't mean Victor just gives up on her," Sam rebutted before pausing, mulling things over, "...He's not giving up on her."

"You just said that."

"I mean he isn't going to stop pursuing her. He's going to try and get Irina back in his good graces by any means possible-"

"So...what, you're thinking he's going to isolate her?" Dante said, "Victor already got rid of Dex, so Wallace is the next to go?"

"Maybe. He removes the two closest people to Irina, and she's stuck listening to him."

"What gives you the idea Victor's trying to get Irina under his wing?" Alexis folded her arms, "You two weren't there at Wyndemere when everything went down. Him trying to get her back would be…stupid!"

"You know as well as I do that Victor isn't a quitter. He needs her for something."

"Unless you can get proof that that's what Victor's up to, then it's all speculation," Alexis shook her head, "Even then, we have bigger things to worry about. You lost your job, I lost my business. Who knows what else Victor will take over, and the more he takes, the worse things get for everyone."

Do you actually love our son?

Wallace blinked in response, a look of disbelief on his face, "What…?"

"You heard me."

"What kind of question is that? Of course I love Dex."

"Really," Irina crossed her arms.

"Yes, really. He's my child: the only biological family member I have."

"Then why did you say you were doing what I wanted in keeping him safe?"

"Because I was. You asked me to keep him hidden from Helena, and that's what I did."

"You should keep him safe because he's your flesh and blood."

"That too."

"Then why do you phrase everything with him like it's a chore? You said it yourself, he's your own biological relative, so why is it that you treat caring for him like some difficult obligation?"

"Raising a child in difficult circumstances isn't easy-"

"Oh, I know. I know that first-hand, but I still showered him with love and affection because he deserved it, because that's how I felt towards him. He's everything to me. What's your excuse?"

"I…why are you picking a fight over this?" Wallace scoffed, "I love Dex. End of discussion."

"If you loved him, you wouldn't dismiss his concerns," Irina responded, "If you loved him, you wouldn't act like caring for him is somehow unbearable. If you loved him…you wouldn't invoke me as a justification."

"We sacrificed a lot for him-"

"No, I sacrificed a lot for him. I sent him away because if I didn't, he'd be dead. I had to give up my motherhood for his well-being, and I had to swallow the fact that I broke my own heart to save him, and I hate that I hurt him in the process. I suffered in a way no mother ever should, but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat if it meant he got to live to see another day. What did you sacrifice?"

"You."

Irina blinked back the tears that began to form. She looked upon Wallace with disbelief, unsure of how to respond. Wallace gulped, feeling tears of his own well up as he looked away from her.

"Me?" she asked softly, "You lost me?"

"You sent us away," he replied, "You had me take Dex and flee the Netherlands. I had no way to contact you, I had no way of making sure you were okay-"

"That wasn't important!"

"How was that not important?"

"Because it wasn't about me, it was about Dexter. What mattered was his safety and his well-being: who cares about me?"

"I cared!" Wallace shouted, his voice echoing, "I cared, Irina! I love you!"

"I love you too."

"No, you love Dex. Everything was about Dex, it was always about Dex."

"That's what happens when you become a parent, Wallace. It stops being about you, and it starts being about your child. I'm sorry you never got the chance to experience that kind of selfless love."

"But I did," Wallace choked up, "I felt it with you, and then it went away."

"It never went away-"

"Yes, it did! I stopped mattering the second Dex came into the picture. You stopped viewing me as someone worth loving."

"You always mattered to me, and I never stopped loving you."

"You let a third person into our relationship."

"A person that's half of me and half of you, a person who couldn't help being born-"

"Regardless, you let him get in between us and push us apart."

"None of this is Dexter's fault-"

"He kept you away from me!" Wallace boomed, "All of this is his fault, all of it! None of this would've happened if you had just let Helena get rid of him!"

Irina stood still in shock, a proverbial dagger through her heart. Wallace's face quickly dropped, horror present in his features. He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. Irina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, approaching the man slowly. She ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair as his arms pulled her in, his lowered head level with her torso.

"I-I'm sorry," he cried, his words cutting between guttural whines, "I didn't m-mean it, I d-didn't mean a-any of it."

"It's okay," she muttered, silent tears streaking down her cheeks, "it's fine."

"It's not f-fine. I s-shouldn't have said what I did. It's n-not true, none of it i-is true."

"You were just frustrated-"

"I l-love him, liebling, I s-swear it," the man looked up at her with broken eyes, "When I m-met him, I w-was…so h-happy. He was j-just a baby, he was…so p-precious. He still i-is. He's e-everything to me too."

"Dearest-"

"I shouldn't have d-dismissed him…I s-shouldn't have acted l-like loving him w-was a hassle. I'm…I'm s-so sorry."

"Wallace, come on," Irina got the man to his feet, "it's alright. I know you were angry. I'm sorry I poked at you like that."

"No, no," he shook his head, wiping his face with his hands, "Don't apologize. You had every right to. He was right: I wasn't the father he needed me to be. I let him get hurt over and over again because of some petty resentment I never had the right to feel. He deserves better. I have to fix this."

"Where are you going?" Irina watched as he grabbed his jacket from over the adjacent chair.

"I'm going to show up for him," he answered, grabbing his jacket from an arm of the sofa, "I'm going back to the hospital, and I'm going to sit there and wait until Dex wakes up. Once he's up, I'm going to spend every second making up for everything I've ever done to him."