Voices carried from the 5th floor General Hospital waiting area into a nearby corridor.
"You're not falling for him, are you?"
"No. It's just ... back when we planned this, I didn't know him. And he's not like I thought -- like we thought."
"Next time I ask that question, stop at 'No.'"
Rebecca leaned in toward Ethan and lowered her voice. "This isn't a good place to talk."
Ethan rolled his eyes, and got up, making his way to the elevator bank. "Fine. The Haunted Star --"
"Right. Because no one ever overhears anything there --"
"One hour."
Ethan ducked into an arriving elevator. After another quick look around, Rebecca hurried off.
Nikolas eased back into the adjoining corridor, out of sight, trying to focus on just one emotion, one train of thought. Half-wit. He had one relative left who knew him inside out -- Alexis. And he'd brushed her off for a carbon copy with an ulterior motive. Great. Add guilt to the embarrassment of stupidity. And the pain of losing Emily twice. But over all that, something more powerful was searing through him like an electric shock. Rage. He couldn't see straight. If he stayed one more moment, he'd explode. Or he'd get himself under control. Because that was what Cassadines did with their anger -- they got it under control and THEN they annihilated the enemy.
"Hey. What did you want to talk about?"
Nikolas almost jumped ten feet when Liz spoke to him. Yeah. Right. Control.
Nikolas quickly recovered. Careful. Elizabeth was very good at reading him. Too good. What was her question? Right. The reason he'd asked to meet with her before he'd gotten blindsided. "Lucky."
But before he could continue, he caught a glimpse of Rebecca making her way to the corridor. He grabbed Liz's shoulder and moved her into the corridor with him. Liz cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Nikolas... What's with the subterfuge?"
He peered over Liz's shoulder. "I'm sorry. But I have something to take care of. Come by Spoon Island later?"
Liz followed Nikolas' gaze and then turned back to him. "Sure."
"Liz," Nikolas said. "I wasn't here." Elizabeth nodded.
Nikolas hurried into a patient's room just in time. Rebecca never saw him.
Rebecca smiled at Liz as she passed her. Liz smiled back, but the second she was looking at Rebecca's back, her eyes narrowed. Liz waited a moment, and then followed Rebecca down the hall.
***************************************************
Nikolas peered through the door window. When Rebecca was gone, he reached for the door handle.
A groggy groan came from the hospital bed. Apparently, he wasn't alone. And he knew that voice.
Claudia struggled to sit up. "Nikolas? What are you doing here?"
Nikolas looked around the room, with its multitude of machines. All at once, he felt a million miles away from what had happened outside. "What are you doing here?"
Claudia scoffed as much as she could in her weakened state. "This is my home away from home."
"What happened?"
Claudia's brow furrowed, trying to remember. "Car accident. I think. Last thing I remember was being in a car."
Nikolas moved a chair next to the bed and sat down. He looked up at the monitors, and asked, "How are you feeling?"
Without warning, Claudia grabbed his hand. He tried to pull away, but Claudia pulled him closer to the bed, and said, "Listen ."
Claudia took in his sudden apprehension, and let go of his hand. "Sorry. I just -- could you find a doctor or somebody who knows something? I need to know if my baby's okay."
They stared at each other. She broke first.
"Yeah. I'm pregnant."
She silently willed him not to say anything. She remembered being in his bed and ranting about how much she hated Sonny. She really didn't want to explain any of this. Because Nikolas always made her tell the truth. She didn't know how much trust she had left in her, and she really, really didn't want to give herself a reason to hurt him.
But Nikolas didn't ask any questions. He just patted her hand and said, "I'll find somebody."
He got up to leave, and then turned back to her. He wasn't going to be able to stop himself from asking one question. Which was simple, but held a lot more than its literal meaning: "Where's Sonny now?"
Direct hit. And that was why she liked Nikolas. He never seemed to notice that she wasn't a lady. She errantly wondered what Nikolas would have thought if she'd passed that napkin to him her first night in town.
Which brought her back to his question. Where was Sonny? "Probably off with It Came From Bensonhurst."
"What's that?"
"Olivia Falconari," Claudia bit off the words. Wow. From zero to ninety in three seconds.
Nikolas pretended to cower. And somehow Claudia found herself laughing. "Doctor, please," she demanded.
"You're very charming when you want to be," Nikolas sarcastically pointed out.
"This coming from 'Mr. I'm So Anti-Social I Live on My Own Island."
Nikolas had a unexpected memory of Claudia babbling in his arms as he carried her down the Wyndemere stairs. A life time ago. There was something a little bit different about her now. Her hand went to her abdomen. And he suddenly knew. The whole time on the island, Claudia had been fatalistic about her own lifespan. But as a mother, she ...
He watched Claudia try to make out the fetal monitor.
"Hey." He gently tugged her attention away from the monitor.
"What?"
"I'll be right back."
Nikolas opened the door to find Sonny standing right outside.
"What are you doing here, Nikolas?," he said suspiciously.
Nikolas shot right back. "I think the bigger question is why weren't you here, Sonny?"
