A/N: Thanks for the reviews. This is short…Minor revisions 7/4/06

I feel chilled as I return to my room. Without changing, I slip under my covers and try to push what happened out of my head. I cradle my arm, watching the bruise develop. Kristina's cryptic message returns "Mommy has bad dreams." I can't help feeling that I'm the cause of this. I've promised Nikolas I will stay, but all I want to do is run.

I made my way to the kitchen with our dishes and leftovers. The kitchen was enormous, old fashioned and intimidating. I was quick with my work, afraid to disturb the ghosts that must haunt this old place. I made a wrong turn, and spent a good 5 minutes looking for the stairs to the South Hall. I padded on slippered feet past the closed doors my family slept behind.

The soft cry startled me. At first I assumed it was Kristina, but as I touchedher doorknob, another sob sounded from behind me. I didn't know what to do. It was late, close to midnight, surely Ric was home. By the end of the third cry I found myself halfway through Ric and Alexis' sitting room.

"No, no, stop, oh god, please, please." I watch Alexisbattling with imaginary demons, tossing and turning, her arms wildly pushing the air. Ric was nowhere in sight. I rushed to her side, and tried to wake her.

"Alexis, Alexis…" I reached for her, only to be hit painfully on my arm. "Alexis, wake up…Alexis!"

Her eyes opened suddenly, but she wasn't there. "No, no, stop, please stop." Trembling, not seeing me at all, she continued her battle.

"Alexis, wake up, it's a dream…Alexis, MOM!"

"Good God…" Ric appeared suddenly behind me. He maneuvered around and embraced Alexis firmly. "Lexis, you're okay…you're okay it's just a dream, you're okay, the girls, the girls are all okay."

She stopped struggling, but clung to Ric as if she were drowning, sobbing uncontrollably. Suddenly, I'm intruding. I felt trapped, afraid to move. After a minute, Ric turned to me. "I've got it Sam, I'm sorry. It's been over a week, I thought, I thought maybe they'd stopped."

I nodded, and slipped out of their room.

"Mommy has bad dreams." I find myself crying and hugging the pillow that lay the night before on my mother's lap. I wish with all my might that I could take back today. Take back the fight that made Mommy's bad dreams return.

I wake to a knock on my outer door. Daylight floods my room, my clock flashes 6:43. I pull my hair up into a lazy ponytail and answer the door.

"Good morning Sam." Ric says. I don't know who I was expecting on the other side, but it certainly wasn't Ric. "I wanted a chance to speak with you before…"

"What happened?" I demand "…how often does it happen?"

"May I come in?"

I open the door enough to allow him entrance. "You said that she hadn't had those for over a week? Does she always have them?"

"Um, no…she's prone to night terrors, but there is usually a trigger. They've been fairly frequent since you were shot."

"What are they about?"

"I'm not sure…she claims, she says she can't remember them."

"She's has to!" I object.

"I'm not so sure. Once she goes back to sleep, she sleeps peacefully, and doesn't mention them unless someone brings them up…that's partially why I'm here."

"I don't understand…"

"She would be terribly embarrassed to know you'd witnessed that. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it."

I stare at him, disbelieving. "Why in the hell would she be embarrassed?"

"I'm not sure why, but she finds it very upsetting that other people know about her 'nightmares'. Viola witnessed one, and made the mistake of mentioning it…I thought Alexis was going to fire her…"

"I'm not just people Ric. I'm her daughter. And that was no ordinary nightmare."

"I agree with you Sam. But she won't talk about it, and I try to respect her wishes." Ric says. "Anyway, sorry to bother you so early, I just have to get to Port Charles and wanted a chance to speak with you…"

"Port Charles? You aren't staying?"

"Sonny needs me, he's going through a rough spell."

"Your wife needs you, Ric. And Nikolas is bringing baby John home."

"What?" Ric clearly has not been brought up to speed on the latest Cassadine.

"Did you talk to Alexis at all after breakfast yesterday?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes, around noon, she said something about a picnic."

"Yeah, well sometime after that Nikolas found out that John is his son."

"Oh…well now that's interesting…"

"I guess you could say that." I say flatly.

"Look, I really need to head out, please just don't bring up the nightmare."

I watch Ric descend the stairs as if I just told him that Kristina had drawn a picture. Clearly his mind is on other things. I wish mine was.