Seeing as I've been updating once a month, but it is imperative that I finish writing this, I've decided for my sanity that I will now be writing shorter chapters until I'm done. In that way, I can update more frequently.

I was going to be evil and not post at all, but someone convinced me to be kind. So, I'm posting… this final time. Assuming people review, I will post the remainder of the story. If not, I will PM it to those who have been consistently leaving their thoughts. I ask you to continue to realize that your reviews inspire us writers to not only write, but to actually want to write. It only takes you a few minutes to write a review, whereas it takes us hours to write updates for your enjoyment. Please keep that in mind.

UNEDITED.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Unstable Stability

- "Did you have a good birthday, darling?"

Four year old Natasha sat with her mother in a warm bubblebath. She had had an outing with her parent that day only to return home to find that her aunt and uncle had decorated the modestly renovated duplex apartment above the family's bookstore with balloons and other decorations, and her friends from her pre-school had arrived to surprise her upon her arrival. Natasha Cassadine had more than enjoyed her day.

The little girl threw her arms around her mother's neck and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

- "You did a good job, Mummy! I didn't even know we were having a party!"

Elizabeth smiled as she placed a bubble onto the child's nose.

- "That's the point of a surprise; you were not supposed to know about it."

Playing with the bubbles, Natasha covered the woman's face and head creating a matching colored beard and hair. She loved sharing her bath time with her mother.

- "You want to know what I loved the best?"

She scooped her daughter into her arms, cradling her as an infant. Natasha giggled as she reached for more bubbles to cover her mother's beautiful face.

- "And which present did you love the most, chipmunk?"

- "My dollhouse!"

The girl had eyed the massive structure for months. Each day, on their way to and from pre-school, Natasha and Elizabeth passed the boutique near Kensington Gardens that housed the most extravagant items for children. At first glance, the young child had fallen in love with the purple and white Victorian-styled home that sat in the storefront window. She had decided that that was the item she had to have, even if it meant she would receive nothing else for either her birthday or Christmas, or even both.

- "Can we put it by my window as it was at the store?"

The look of excitement on her daughter's face upon seeing the dollhouse rolled into their living room made Elizabeth's heart soar. The child's smile, laughter, and the sound of her voice filled the woman with joy; she never wanted to imagine a time when sorrow might fill Natasha's heart.

- "We can place it wherever you like, darling. Mummy is very happy that she and Daddy made you so happy."

- "Thank you!"

Elizabeth stared at her beautiful little girl. Her baby was growing up, and it made the woman's heart hurt. She wondered how many more years she would have as the center of her daughter's universe. The day would undoubtedly arrive when another would take Andreus and her place, in whose life Natasha's would revolve; she and her husband would fade into the background. Perhaps it was from sheer selfishness, but Elizabeth prayed such a day was not for some time yet. Although, when it did arrive, she could only hope that such a person who would take her place, would be worthy of her daughter's affections.

- "Have you any idea how special you are to Mummy and Daddy, Natasha?"

The girl nodded.

- "A lot!"

Elizabeth sat Natasha onto her lap as she began to play with her hair. When she had been born, her daughter's hair had appeared to light brown, almost as light as Elizabeth's dark blonde hair. As the years progressed, however, Natasha's hair darkened to near black, resembling Andreus' silky locks. Although Elizabeth would have liked for her child, aside from her high cheekbones, to more resemble her, she saw how proud Andreus was to have someone in their home who had his same dark features. Being estranged from his family, he could look at his daughter, who maintained his handsome, or rather pretty, image, and find a connection to the powerful Cassadine name.

- "Exactly, my love! You are the best, only the best, of Daddy and Mummy. When we created you, we ensured to make you quite special, darling. We put just the right amount of sugar, spice, flour, and milk, into creating you, and then—"

Having before heard the story, Natasha stood and rubbed her stomach.

- "I baked in your tummy until I was ready to come out."

Elizabeth held her arms out so her daughter could return into them. Without question, Natasha wrapped her arms around her mother's neck as she rested her head onto her shoulder; it was evident that she was exhausted from the day's events.

- "That's absolutely correct, darling. You baked inside of Mummy for nine long months. And when you arrived—"

- "You filled Mummy and Daddy's hearts with more love than we knew what to do with, princess."

Elizabeth wanted to smile at the sight of her husband standing in the bathroom watching them, but she remained upset over the day's events. Her heart knew the answer to the question she needed to pose to him, but she needed to hear it from him.

- "Was that her?"

Seeing her mother collapse to the floor as her cousin Stefan scrambled to catch and cover her exposed body, Sam shut her eyes; what she had just seen- her mother dying- was not real. It was a dream… a nightmare.

- "Mommy, please."

She whispered softly to herself as she shook in her spot. She prayed, the best way she knew how, that she would wake up to her mother once again beside her, ensuring her that everything would be fine. She had promised her.

- "Don't leave me."

And then, just as she felt herself drifting back into a place where the woman lived and called her chipmunk, she felt herself lifted from the bed.

- "Mommy?"

Unfortunately, as she instinctively buried her face into her neck, Sam sensed something wrong; it was not her mother. Opening her eyes, she realized that it was neither her mother nor her Cousin Stefan who held her; it was Mikkos.

- "Let me go! Let me go!"

She shook in the unwanted arms of a man she barely knew before letting out a scream as she struggled in his arms. From the moment she had first laid eyes on him, she knew he would attempt to steal her from her mother. Now that the woman was dead, he was stealing her from Stefan.

- "Please! Cousin, help me!"

But Mikkos shook his head. He continued to calm and reassure her that he meant no harm, but she continued in her fit of hysterics. Between her kicks and squirms, he could feel her shaking in his arms.

- "Samantha please; I'm not going to harm you. I just want to put you down with your cousin. It's alright."

Stefan, still attempting to awaken his cousin, felt himself torn as to what he should do: remain with Alexis or tend to the terrified child. While he hated that Mikkos disturbed the girl's troubled slumber, he knew that his father would not harm her. It was Alexis that most concerned him in that moment; she refused to regain consciousness.

- "Father, put her down! What the hell are you doing, she is terrified of you!"

In spite of Sam's attempts at being set free, Mikkos held firm to her tiny frame. He had simply wanted to put her down to rest with the grandchild he had yet to meet. Seeing as Alexis had suffered a psychotic break, the man found it inappropriate to allow the child to continue to witness such dysfunction. If she had experienced such horror at the hands of the McCalls, and had, as a result severe emotional damage making her overly attached to her mother, Mikkos deemed it inappropriate to allow her to watch as Stefan attempted to revive the woman. Samantha was a child, not some fragile porcelain doll.

- "Stefan, this child should not be witnessing this. Alexis is not in her right frame of mind to mind her right now, and Samantha is clearly frightened—"

Releasing Alexis, Stefan stood quickly.

- "Of you! She is frightened of you! Now, give her to me."

- "Cousin Stefan!"

Sam attempted to reach for him, but Mikkos refused to hand her to the man. Gesturing to the still unconscious Alexis, Mikkos turned his body away from Stefan thereby blocking the hysterical child from his reach.

- "Tend to Alexis. I will put Samantha down with your son. She does not need to see her mother like this."

The younger man felt a rage fill within him. He had not spent five years keeping Nikolas from the Cassadine clutches for his father to now attempt to control not only Alexis and her child, but interfere with his son. The Cassadines were poison exemplified by the scene before him.

- "NO! You will not go anywhere near my son. Like Samantha, he does not know you, nor will he ever."

Stefan could see she was becoming inconsolable. From experience and having known the child for over a month, he could tell her bladder would soon break. He did not want such an occurrence to happen on the man he had grown, in the few hours since he had arrived, to hate.

- "Father, you would do well to let Samantha come to me; can't you see she is frightened? She'll not stay with Nikolas; I assure you of that. She only wants to be with her mother—"

Blinded by her tears, Sam nevertheless continued to reach out to the only other adult she trusted and loved.

- "Cousin, please! I don't… I don't… want to go… with him!"

Stefan's heart hurt for his niece. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms, but his father proved relentless.

- "Darling, it will be alright. He is not taking you anywhere, ok?"

Not being accustomed to caring for children, Mikkos found himself frustrated. He meant Samantha no harm. In fact, he found that the situation before him of his niece unconscious and partially exposed was more damaging than his attempt to move her daughter to safety. He was tired of being made to be the villain when all he had ever wanted to do was protect them… all.

- "Her mother cannot help her right now, Stefan! She's mentally unstable; she might not be safe for this child to be around right now. Now, she might be upset right now, but she will calm when she learns she has not a choice but to rest with your son."

Stefan shook his head at the man as he again attempted to take Sam.

- "Are you daft? It is not that simple for her—"

Unfortunately, in spite of her struggles, the older man continued to hold her firmly to him. Stefan prayed his father's hold was not too tight on the girl.

- "Father!"

Alas, as though to complete the sense of déjà vu from what had been the worst night of her life, crying to the point of feeling that she might choke, Sam found her bladder suddenly full. Looking at Stefan who seemed to already know what was to come, she found that she could no longer hold her urine; she urinated on the man from whose arms she had pled to be free. She was mortified.

- "I'm sorry! Please, let me go! Let… me gooo!"

Taken aback by the warm wet feeling of his shirt clinging to his skin, Mikkos nearly dropped the girl.

- "What—"

Stefan immediately took advantage of his father's loosened grip on Sam; he pulled her quickly into his arms.

- "Come my raven. It will be alright. I've got you."

He attempted to hold her to him, but she, in her absolute embarrassment, scrambled from his arms; she ran directly into the bathroom, slamming the door in her wake.

Seeing his niece's upset, Stefan shoved Mikkos against the dresser. Even after Cody had knocked him unconscious to kidnap Sam from Alexis, Stefan had never in his life been so angry with another living person. His father was not only the catalyst who set their problems in motion, but he had caused an already traumatized little girl to relive the worst moment of her life. The usually even-tempered gentleman wanted to kill the man.

- "You son of a bitch! What the hell is wrong with you? I swear to God if Samantha does not recover from the shock you've given her, I will murder you myself!"

Pushing Stefan from him, Mikkos glared at the man. He could not understand his anger; he was not the enemy.

- "I've done nothing to that child!"

The situation was far worse than he could have ever imagined; if some semblance of order was not found soon, it would only get worse.

- "This family for whom you continue to claim to care is falling apart at the seams! That child needs a psychiatrist—"

Although Stefan did not feel his father had any right to comment on Samantha, he nevertheless interjected.

- "She already sees one."

Mikkos shook his head.

- "And Alexis! You claim to care profoundly for her, yet look at what she's become, Stefan! Look at her! You have done nothing for your si—, for your cousin! She is in NO shape to care for that child."

Stefan fumed at his father's accusations. For the eighteen years in which he had been blessed to have Alexis in his life, he had done nothing but protect her to the best of his abilities. He had changed her soiled sheets when she had first arrived. He had brought her food when Helena took no issue in starving her. And he had bandaged any wound Stavros had inflicted on her. He had done everything in his power to keep her safe when he himself was just a boy; protecting her should not have been his responsibility. It was Mikkos' job, as their father and uncle, to ensure that they were not mistreated… that they were safe. If he had taken his responsibility as the patriarch of the Cassadine family seriously, Stefan felt he would not have had to stand in the corner of the room with a broom and dustpan awaiting the moment when his cousin would break into a million pieces.

- "It is not for you to decide what is best for Samantha, or Alexis, for that matter. You have proved how useful your help is."

Mikkos spat back at the man.

- "As have you! This is disgraceful—"

He stopped speaking once he heard a groan from across the room.

- "Alexis?"

She had begun to awake. She looked about the room terrified for what was yet to come from Stavros' twisted and cruel mind, but quickly realized that she was back to where she belonged.

- "Sam?"

Unsure of when or where he might reappear, she called out for her daughter in a whisper. She knew the girl had awakened to witness her… episode; her baby must have been terrified.

- "Baby, please—"

Stefan immediately ran to Alexis' side.

- "Darling—"

He held the blanket around her body as she struggled to sit up straight; he could tell that the memory of her rape had taken a heavy toll on her. The wounds that had long ago improperly healed sent pain ripping through her sweaty body.

- "She was frightened and ran into the bathroom. I have yet to check on her, but I am certain that it is not I she wants or needs right now; it is you."

Closing her eyes to somewhat father her bearings and focus not on her pain, but rather on helping her daughter, she leaned against her… cousin.

- "Ok. I just need a hand… please."

He wrapped his arm around her waist.

- "Of course."

Helping her to stand, he slowly led her towards the bathroom door. As he reached to open the door, however, she stopped him.

- "I've got it from here Stefan. Thank you."

And then she turned into him, giving him such a hug as though she had never before met hi… that this was the first time she had ever laid eyes on him and held him in her arms. She held him close, almost afraid to let go.

- "I love you… so much."

He frowned for a moment, unsure of her reaction, but nevertheless grateful she was well.

- "I love you too… I always have."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek before slowly opening the bathroom door and slipping inside. Stefan, upon seeing the door close angrily turned back to glare at the man who had helped give him life.

- "I want to know right now what the hell that was carved into that woman!"

Knowing it would only be an amount of time before Helena made her presence known, Mikkos resigned himself to begin revealing all that he had worked to conceal. He let out a breath as he removed the soiled shirt from his body.

- "That was an act of revenge."

She walked between her parents through St. James Park in London. It was a family tradition they had; each Sunday, after brunch, the would walk… just the three of them among the trees, flowers, and lake. They walked through the park until they hit the gates of Buckingham Palace.

- "Ok, Princess—"

Andreus lifted Natasha onto his shoulders as they watched the changing of the guards.

- "Daddy, I still don't understand why they must wear those weird hats."

He wrapped his arm around his wife as he thought of a response for their little birthday girl. When he left Greece several years prior, he never thought he would have a family; he was sure he would be alone for the rest of his life. His parents were dead, his brother considered him dead, and he had nothing for which to live. He had his Cassadine name, but that certainly did not bring him happiness. Nothing did… until he met Elizabeth Davidovitch.

Having always been a lover of books and classic literature, the man purchased a bookstore, along with the apartments that sat above the storefront; Elizabeth lived in apartment 201. After months of selling books to the woman, collecting her rent checks, and friendly conversations here and there, the lonely man found enough courage to ask the lovely one on a date; and having waited months for such a request, Elizabeth immediately accepted.

The couple dated for nearly a year before marrying, learning everything about one another: the good, the bad, and the ugly. They told each other things they never dared tell another living soul for fear of ridicule, ostracism and… judgment. But they told one another knowing they could; they had vowed acceptance. They were soulmates.

- "You know, Natty, their hats are so tall and furry because they need to keep their lunch hidden and warm."

The girl, wrapping her hands against her father's forehead, frowned at the men across the gate.

- "Really?"

Elizabeth laughed at her husband's silliness. It had been six years since they had met, five years since they had married in a small wedding ceremony in which her brother stood as Andreus' best man, and most importantly, it had been four years to the day since their beautiful little girl made her entrance into their lives. Every single day in which he had come into her life was filled with more joy than she had ever envisioned; that day, as they stood in the park, was no exception.

- "You're so silly, Andy. Natty, Daddy doesn't know what he is speaking about. Now, come down from his shoulders as it's time for Daddy to get to the bookstore. You and I, my little tiger lily, can do whatever you like."

Reaching for her mother, Natasha smiled.

- "May we… pick some flowers from the garden and bring them home?"

Elizabeth placed a kiss on her daughter's cheek as she balanced her on her hip.

- "I don't believe her Majesty will like that too much; I believe she might in fact be quite cross by the action. However, I'm sure we can buy some seeds to plant in our window box. How do you like that?"

- "I like that very much!"

She winked at the gorgeous girl.

- "That is what I thought you would say, my love. Now, say goodbye to Daddy."

Natasha smiled at her handsome father.

- "Bye Daddy."

- "Goodbye Darling; be good for Mummy."

- "I will."

He wanted to quickly make it to the boutique before it closed so that he could purchase Natasha's birthday present. She had begged the young couple for a large dollhouse she had seen several months prior in the window of the shop. It was a three story purple and white Victorian home with an attic. It came with a little family similar to their own: a male, which undoubtedly would be the father, a female, the mother, and a little girl, their beautiful daughter.

While the set cost more than they could afford at that moment, Andreus decided to use money from his Cassadine trust to make the purchase. Since he had left Greece, he had refused to touch the large inheritance his father had left for him upon his death; he felt unworthy. However, since he had a family to support, when his earnings from the bookstore proved insufficient for the month, he tapped into the trust that would, upon his death, pass to his daughter.

Not paying attention as he left his wife and daughter, Andreus accidentally bumped into a passerby.

- "Oh, I'm sorry, miss."

The woman, clearly annoyed by the unwelcomed contact, brushed off her sleeve as though he were some bum in the street.

- "Perhaps you should watch where you're going next time, sir."

Hearing the familiar voice, he stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around to see from whose lips it the words had come.

- "Oh my."

There she was, over a decade late, as beautiful as she had been when he had known her.

- "Helena?"

Upon allowing her name to escape, shame immediately filled within him; his skin burned with guilt.

- "I'm… I'm sorry."

She, taken aback by such an unwelcomed blast from her past, quickly pulled her tall son behind her.

- "What… what are you doing here… Andreus?"

He cleared his throat before speaking as he felt suddenly at a loss for his voice. She was the last person he would have expected to encounter.

- "I… live here… now."

Sensing the woman's… he could not figure out her emotion, took his mother's hand into his own. Despite the chill in the air, her palms felt sweaty.

- "Mother? Are you alright?"

Stepping aside to look at the man who so visibly upset his mother, Stavros could see the family resemblance; the stranger looked very much like his father. However, to the young teen's knowledge, Mikkos Cassadine was an only child.

- "Who is this?"

Helena, unable to look Andreus in the eyes, looked to the second boy who had stood several feet from them. He was tall with light brown hair and beautiful green eyes- hers; if only she could tolerate him, she would call him handsome. He was a mixture of both his parents.

- "He is nobody, darling."

But Stavros heard the shakiness in her voice; he was certain she was not speaking truthfully.

- "Mother—"

Helena, however, still holding the boy's hand, shakily turned to leave Andreus standing shocked by their encounter. Alas, it was her turn to collide with another. This time, however, it was a small child.

- "Excuse me!"

Stefan immediately ran to the child's side, helping her up from the ground.

- "Oh! You've scraped your knee."

Surprised by the sight of the crying child and the woman she assumed was her mother, Helena stopped long enough to ensure she was not hurt. The sound of little girls' cries always made her heart stop; she had never heard her own daughter's cry. Sofi never had a voice.

- "I'm sorry. Is she… is she hurt?"

Lifting her daughter into her arms, Elizabeth smiled gratefully at both the boy and the woman for their concern.

- "She's fine, Miss. It's quite alright. Isn't that right, Natasha?"

The little girl who had pressed her face into her mother's shoulder finally turned her head and met the gaze of the woman who had caused her to scrape her knee.

- "I'm fine, thank you."

Helena's eyes noticeably widened at the sight of the girl; she was the spitting image of the man. Looking at the woman who now stepped closer to Andreus, she noticed the ring on her finger; she was his wife.

- "Very well then—"

She nodded curtly at the family.

- "Goodbye."

As she left holding the hand of the older boy, the younger lagged behind as though knowing his place.

- "Feel better… Natasha."

He waved at the girl he had helped before continuing on with his mother and brother leaving Elizabeth and Andreus dumbfounded.