Alexis nodded in verification even though the person on the other end of the line couldn't hear her. "Yes. Full pardons for all four inmates." There was a time when this would really hurt her feelings; after all, she had spent the better part of her career putting these monsters away. What choice did she have? She wanted Kristina back; Robin and the Spencers would have their own part in the negotiations when it came time for their children to be released as well. Luke had been outraged when she told them what the kidnappers were demanding and their lack of mention of Lulu and Morgan. Alexis' heart had gone out to Laura, because she understood the terror; there might have been a ten-year difference in their daughters' ages, but that didn't make the situation any easier to deal with.
The first twenty-four hours, Alexis had wondered if her daughter was being tortured. All the worst-case scenarios had flashed through her mind and she had had to make herself aware of the very real possibility that she could do nothing about it. Depending on the angle of the masterminds, a ransom might never be made. They might have been playing on a fantasy by grabbing a child, a young woman, etc. Sometimes fear was the motivator as in this case; oftentimes, the children were never recovered. "Call me when it's done. You have two hours." Alexis ordered as she watched Mac let himself into her office. He had a manila folder in his hands and she knew it must contain the DNA test results from both Kristina's bear and the blood on the locket Robin had given them just that morning.
Mac watched Alexis set the phone down carefully, but he was no fool to the terror she was constantly facing, had been facing these past two weeks. The folder was heavy in his hand and the grim line of his lips must have clued her in on what he had found. When the lab had offered to take the results to Alexis themselves, Mac intervened. He wanted her to see this before he had to go to Robin and tell her. It was possible that the blood on the locket had been caused by a million different things; he could have scraped his knee. In coming to this conclusion, he knew his niece wouldn't be able to. She would assume her son was dead or badly injured. From what Elizabeth had told him, the stress was having drastic effects on her body and he hated that he would have to deliver more bad news.
"Tell me." Alexis demanded rising up out of her chair. She met him halfway and he took the final few steps to her. With each foot fall, he could hear his breath growing more and more labored. His legs wanted to give out, the commissioner in him silenced by the terror he was feeling as a father and an uncle and a godfather.
"Positive match on both the bear and the locket. Either could be caused by a scrape or simply biting their bottom lips too hard as we've seen both kids doing." Mac informed her.
"Positive." Before now, Alexis had been able to believe that maybe the kidnappers were bluffing. When Kristina's Teddy Bear showed up two days earlier, she had watched her confidence slowly slipping away. The results were having an unraveling affect on her, but it wouldn't have been fair to lean on Mac. He was suffering just as she was. Not only was he worried about the kids in an official capacity; all three of them belonged to his family. She had been selfish in denying him the comfort he so badly needed, but there was no time for regrets. She had to stay sharp and get this over with. Four criminals were about to get their lives back; all she wanted in return was her daughter's life.
"All it proves is that they have the kids, nothing else." Mac insisted, touching her shoulder only to have her shrug his hand off.
"Tell me I'm doing the right thing." When she had taken this position, she had promised to uphold the law in every way and not be corrupted by the influence of the mob or accept bribes for giving lighter sentences. In her term, she had a one hundred percent success rate. It might have taken her a long time to get them put away, but once she reached her goal, she was able to throw away the key. Most of them had appealed, but none of the verdicts had been overturned. "The idea of these guys being back on the streets...I'm a disgrace to this office."
Mac lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger. "You are doing the only thing you can, the only option you've been left with. We'll put them back in, every single last one of them, but right now we have to get Kristina back."
"Is it right to put my daughter's life over the lives of the children in this town?" Alexis wanted to know.
"That's not what you're doing." Mac countered.
"Isn't it? Mac, what if someone else gets hurt because of my decisions?"
"What decision? Alexis, you have no other option."
"I just feel like, maybe if I were a better investigator, we would have had her back by now." Alexis admitted begrudgingly.
Mac wrapped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "It's almost over Lexie. It's almost over."
Something was different, every bit of Spencer sense she had ever been blessed with was screaming at Lulu something was different about today. The routine hadn't varied any. The breakfast was still delivered at the same predictable time. She could only hope Kristina and Morgan's weren't slid through the door and aimed right at the wall as hers was, but then again they probably hadn't tried to kick Logan the one and only time he attempted to bring her food, Lulu thought proudly.
Pressing her ear against the door, she tried to discern by the noises which of the four dimwits was downstairs. Logan had the same tendency to stomp through this hellhole of a prison as he did anywhere else he walked. Emily constantly talked, sometimes in way too much detail that Lulu prayed Morgan and Kristina didn't understand. When they got out of there, she was totally suing the Quartermaines for mental anguish. The silence led her to think the most likely guard was Courtney. The blonde was far too concerned with winning Morgan over to bother with her or Kristina.
The routine said Courtney would be the only one watching them right now. It was rare there was ever more than one of them in the house at the same time. Probably to keep suspicion down, she thought grimly. Fat chance of that, the first thing she was doing was going right to the cops and blowing this little pop stand to kingdom come. Well maybe the second thing after a real shower. She started to move the tumbler of the lock, hoping it wouldn't take her as long to move it this time as it had in her previous attempts. She may be able to beat up Courtney but she still had to get Kristina and Morgan out before Logan and Emily came back from where ever it was they were.
Mac watched Alexis rest on the lone couch in her office. She had only agreed to do so under his insistence, but she made sure to talk to him to keep from falling asleep. He obliged her every question and they had talked about the most inane things during the last hour and a half. The time was pressing on them and he knew she felt it too. "Two stories, black dog, white picket fence." He answered.
"Sixth floor, goldfish, old newspapers with play dates on the cover." Alexis informed him. "I did tell you my mother was an actress?"
"Yes." Mac recalled. "You said something about empty alcohol bottles earlier."
"Her live-in boyfriend, Milo's. He was also the director of all of the plays she got cast in." Alexis clarified quietly.
"Dinner at six o' clock, one television in the living room, lights out after I Love Lucy."
"Bad reviews, bedtime stories, and neon lights from the bar across the street."
"And now?" Mac wanted to know.
"Now...popcorn in bed, bedtime stories, and slow lovemaking." Alexis smiled.
"We'll see."
The phone atop her desk demanded immediate attention. She hopped up from the couch and slid across the floor, grabbing the phone and pressing it to her ear. "Is it done?"
Mac felt his heart climb into his throat as he waited for the caller to give Alexis the confirmation, and then for her to give it to him. Everything that phone call entailed would determine a little girl's life and the freedom of four hardened criminals.
"Let me know when they've been released." Alexis placed the phone on the cradle and gripped the edge of the desk. "All we can do now is wait."
Laura had only been to this room twice since Lulu had moved into it. She had trusted her daughter with most of the decorating which explained the Boys Like Girls music poster, the Crash movie poster, and the Hang In There Kitty poster hanging on each wall in the bedroom. The furniture was sparse, but comfortable. The room had certain amenities that would tempt anyone who happened across it to want to stay a little longer, even drifters. Laura had worried at first, worried that her husband would never forgive her daughter that her daughter would end up resenting her. Barely two weeks after moving out of their family home and into this tiny room at Kelly's Lulu was suddenly an independent woman instead of the impressionable little girl Laura had always thought she would be. Sure, she still came over for dinner when money was tight, but she was living on her own now and Laura knew she would have to learn to accept it.
Though there was a bed provided, Laura noticed that the couch was littered with a cream sheet, a blue and white comforter, and a pillow. The last night she had spent here must have been a long one. Laura was extremely proud of Lulu for the way she poured herself into her studies and balanced the rest of her life. She was kind of relieved that Bradley hadn't worked out, because she didn't want her daughter to ever question her worth.
Laura took a seat on the couch and pressed the pillow to her face, inhaling her daughter's scent. It was faint, but it still remained. She hugged it tightly, wishing she had Lulu in her arms. Alexis was supposed to get Kristina back tonight. Why hadn't the kidnappers said anything in relation to Lulu or Morgan? Were they even still alive? The questions had plagued Laura every night since they were taken. Were they hurt? Did Lulu ever cry out for her when she was scared or alone or was she so much like her father that she hadn't shown a bit of fear in the face of evil?
Luke was downstairs talking to Mike. He understood that she had needed some time to process everything. For the past week, she had been able to distract herself with baby Maria Alexandra or Majandra as Lance had dubbed her, but Bobbie and Cruz were closing ranks around their only daughter. She doubted they even noticed it. It was clear that they needed to be with her and she needed to face that her daughter and nephew weren't just gone, but had been intentionally taken. Alexis had received the ransom for Kristina. What could the kidnappers possibly want from her and Luke or Lucky? Would she be able to pay? What other option did she have?
"Angel? Why are you crying?" Luke's voice surprised her. She slowly lifted her eyes to meet him, finding him in the doorway.
"I didn't realize I was." Laura replied.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Luke offered, sitting on the floor in front of the couch.
"No. I don't even want to think about it. Why haven't they contacted us, Luke?" She demanded.
"They're trying to scare us. They don't realize how strong we are."
"I'm not." Laura argued miserably.
"You're not what?"
"Strong. I'm not strong."
"I didn't know it was Opposite day." Luke teased humorlessly.
"I wasn't born with the Spencer strength." She pointed out.
"We're strong because you make us that way." Luke told her.
"I don't want to be strong. I want Lulu back. I want Morgan back. There's been no demand. What if…God, Luke, what if…?"
"Don't go scaring yourself with the 'what ifs.' It won't do any good."
"I have to do something!" Laura shrieked. "Since when do we trust the police to get it right? I thought that was against the laws of being a Spencer."
"We ask for help when we need it and the police just happen to be family." Luke pointed out.
"Can't we go out and look for them?" Laura pleaded.
"We don't even know where to start. Besides, if we're being watched, I don't want to spook the kidnappers."
"You don't think they'd hurt the kids, do you?"
"God, I hope not." Luke's words brought Laura off of the couch and into his arms, her entire body shaking and her cries lost in his blue pinstriped suit.
There wasn't any real reason for him to be in here. The paint, a color Elizabeth insisted on calling "Spring Meadow" but for the life of him he could only see as green, had gone up weeks ago. When Lulu had been here, he had barely seen the walls for the clothes and books she had kept piled on the floor constantly and now, with the collection of animals looking back at him, it seemed as if his sister had never been there at all.
It had only taken a few short months, but that was all it took to erase all the evidence of her brief stay in his house. Was it really that short of a time between him wishing she would just move back home and now? Had he ever really been annoyed at her music, her disregard for a curfew, and the way she seemed to delight in getting Cameron to break the rules? What wouldn't Lucky give to have her back right now, just so he could yell at her for scaring him to death?
Slightly rocking in the chair his mother had insisted on giving them, he hoped she wasn't doing something stupid. Lulu hated rules and if there was one thing Lucky was sure of was, much like Faison, whoever had Lulu and the kids were dependent on rules to keep everyone in line. If Lulu talked back, smarted off or worse, tried to escape, he didn't want to think what could happen to her. His own shoulder still ached every now and again from the first escape attempt he tried. Some time after his return he claimed a basketball injury, but he could still feel the crushing pain when Faison had shoved him back into that steel door.
Just be smart Lulu, he prayed to a God he wasn't a hundred percent sure he believed in anymore. It only got worse if you try something stupid, he remembered. The threats got worse. The beatings got worse. If she just stayed quiet and didn't try to be a hero, if she could just trust that they were going to find her, do whatever they had to do to get her home, then it wouldn't be so bad for her. She could come home and be able to do what he so clearly couldn't, put it all behind her. If she would just stay smart.
Lucky closed his eyes against the voice that told him he knew exactly what Lulu was doing. She wasn't sitting still. More than likely she was planning on trying to get everyone out. She wasn't going to trust the system any more than he did right now. He couldn't let himself think about what would happen to her if she was caught. For him it had been beatings, but how much worse could it be for his sister? She talked a good game but she wasn't nearly as tough as she made herself out to be. Faison had broken him with very little effort. Who knew what Lulu's captors would do to break her?
Walking quietly into the nursery, Elizabeth hoped she wouldn't startle Lucky. He had been silent since Luke had brokenly explained the call Alexis got earlier. The news cameras were starting to air coverage of the release of the prisoners, hours before it was scheduled, and Lucky had left the room almost as soon as it began.
It wasn't just the silence—that she could handle and understand. It wasn't as if she was a bundle of conversation the past few days either. She had sworn to Robin she wouldn't tell anyone about her friend's pregnancy before she was ready so all she had done the past few days was sit and worry. Only Cameron seemed oblivious to the tension and had managed to continue on as if nothing was going on. To be young and not fully understanding everything, she wished fleetingly.
No the silence, Elizabeth decided, she could handle. It was the distance she was beginning to become concerned about. Lucky just wasn't there fully in any way but physically. He had moments when she could really feel that he was with her and Cameron, but the longer Lulu was gone the farther apart those times came. She had tried to convince herself it was just the way he handled crisis, but she couldn't believe it. She had been there during Cameron's coma and she never felt as cut off from him as she did right now. He had built a wall up over some issue and he wasn't giving her any clue as to how to break it.
Normally when she entered a room, Lucky demonstrated some sixth sense as to her presence. She didn't have to say anything, but he would look up and smile or wink. Give her some indication that he knew she was there. Now he just sat there in the rocking chair, staring at the wall. "Lucky?" She tried softly, hoping to break into his thought pattern. No response. Clearing her voice, she tried again, this time a little louder. "Lucky?"
Her voice brought him back to reality, back to his own home and away from the hell Faison had kept him in. Shaking his head, Lucky blinked in confusion as he saw her standing directly in front of him, confusion etched all over her face. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"It's almost time."
Everything was happening so fast, Georgie didn't know how to predict what was going to happen next. Mac had told her about the ransom demand and she was still baffled by the details of it. Didn't the kidnappers realize what they were doing? None of the prisoners had ever been functioning members of society. They had never contributed to anything but the body count of Port Charles' citizens. She understood that not all of them were murderers, but none of them would be considered innocent in any way. Alexis had rounded up enough evidence to put them all away for a very long time and now it was all going to be for nothing.
Georgie hadn't been able to ignore the confliction she saw in her father's eyes. He and Alexis had tag-teamed the criminals of this town and brought them to justice. They shouldn't be punished for their efforts; no one should have to pay for doing the right thing. There had been plenty of cases where their lives were put on the line, but her father had never backed down from the fight. He would not be intimidated by gutless criminals and they would never run the town again.
The releases alone left Georgie feeling very afraid. These guys hadn't gone away for tax evasion; some were murderers, thieves, and among them was a child predator. The only thing any of them had in common was that Alexis had put them away; they shared no other similarities. When Kristina had been the only one taken, it was easy enough to focus on Alexis, but when Morgan was stolen as well, it had been a fair conclusion to assume that it was mob-related. The attempt on Cameron had been completely out of left field and they still had no idea what the tiniest Spencer even had to do with the other kidnappings. She had heard Mac and Alexis arguing about it over and over again; those nights, she had felt as helpless as a child and depended on Maxie to distract her. When Maxie wasn't around—damn her for healing—Georgie wished, in the quiet moments, to still be in Paris where Steven would soothe her fears.
The walk from her car to Kelly's entrance wasn't extensive, but the effort was a tad laboring on her part. Her tan thick-soled shoes slapped mercilessly against the slippery concrete as she crossed the courtyard and let herself into the restaurant. Shoving defiant strands of golden hair behind her ears, she was greeted by Mike who had just begun to close up shop. Maxie had asked her if she would stop by and pick up her check since she didn't trust the roads and Georgie had nothing better to do. Begrudgingly, Georgie agreed and maneuvered her pea-green mini Cooper down a somewhat unforgivable road.
"Hey Mike, how's business?"
The graying restaurant keeper mimicked the smile Georgie offered him and wiped his hands on the front of his apron unconsciously. He hadn't been aware she was even in town, but then he never left the diner so it wasn't that much of a surprise. Besides, with the disappearance of her sister and cousin, it was only a matter of time before she returned home from her school trip. It was just how Georgie was. He could remember her and Maxie following Robin around as tiny little girls and how they would make this diner a daily hang-out. He could still remember what they ordered: peach sherbet, strawberry shake, and a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
He had thought when his son relocated to Port Charles with his bright and shiny new family, he would have the same kind of memories with his grandchildren, but it just hadn't happened that way. Michael had warmed up to him almost instantly, but Morgan was far too wary of the old man's intentions to do more than call him grandpa and accept sugary treats from him. Carly hadn't made her dislike of him a secret. He would often be a threat thrust at the children when they misbehaved, a surprise realization for Mike.
"As good as it can be with all of this commotion." Mike motioned toward the television hanging above the jukebox.
"How much longer until it's done?" Georgie wanted to know, letting the door slam behind her.
"Twenty minutes. This reporter won't shut up about it. She's not bad to look at it, but she leaves a lot to be desired in the information she presents." Mike reasoned.
"Are you kidding? That's Kate Howard! I've been following her career for the past four years." Georgie defended.
"To each his own." Mike gave in. "What are you doing in these parts?" He asked with a fake Southern twang.
"Maxie asked if I would pick up her check." Georgie explained, leaning her back against the bar, caught up in the news report.
"How do you like France?"
"I love it." Georgie tried to express how much she was enjoying the trip, but something about the last two weeks had worn her down. Steven would say she was losing her spark.
"It's good to see you. I wish the circumstances were different." Mike admitted.
"Have you talked to Robin at all?"
"I didn't think it was my place."
"Mike, you're still Morgan's grandfather. You don't have to feel left out at all."
"Robin hasn't excluded me or anything. It's just hard to see my grandsons after everything that happened to their parents."
"I can understand that. Does this mean we'll be seeing you at holidays now?" Georgie smirked.
"I can understand that. Does this mean we'll be seeing you at holidays now?" Georgie smirked.
"Is that an invitation?"
"An open invitation."
"I might take you up on that. How are you holding up?"
"I'm okay. I'm missing the kids and it's weird not to get calls from Lulu about this new dress or that, but it's harder for my dad and Alexis."
"Well that's understandable. I missed a lot of Sonny's childhood because of my own selfish reasons, but I never stopped worrying about him. Courtney too. They're both adults now and there seems to be nothing I can do for them anymore."
"I know how lucky I am to have my dad." Georgie assured him, her eyes widening at the sudden weather change. The rain from this morning had made the roads slick; the fog had made driving difficult; the snow would make it impossible. "Would you mind if I stayed here until the weather's clear?"
"Why would I mind? I just happen to have some peach sherbet in the back." Mike smiled.