Late afternoon. Wyndemere. The Study.
Nikolas sat on the floor, playing with Spencer.
"You sure you don't want to play with a real horse, Spencer?"
"No."
Too bad Spencer wasn't old enough to mess with his mind about what "no" meant. A little "No, you're not sure? Or no, you don't want to play with a real horse?" would go a long way to getting Nikolas back on Sheba. Instead, Nikolas was stuck in that place that all parents eventually reach. The Land of No. No, no, no. There was no question, no suggestion that could be answered any other way. Nikolas wasn't sure how long this phase was going to last; all he knew was that he at least had a few hours until the roughest time of all in The Land of No: bedtime.
"Master Nikolas, I didn't know you you had returned."
Nikolas looked up at Alfred. "Yes, I thought it best, once Mrs. Corinthos was taken care of. How was she when you left her?"
"Most grateful for the ..." Alfred coughed, noticing Spencer. "... piece."
"Very good, Alfred," said Nikolas, impressed that Alfred even knew what a "piece" was. Maybe Alfred watched old gangster movies at night when he retired. Nikolas had made it through one gangster movie since he'd moved to Port Charles. Then he figured he had enough of gangsters in the real world. Better to stick to Andrei Tarkovsky. Which reminded him of Claudia's surprise fluency in Russian. He shook his head in amusement, and then realized Alfred was waiting for something more from him. "Thank you for taking care of that for me. I trust Mr. Corinthos wasn't too rambunctious?"
"No, sir. Miss Zacchara interceded. And then --"
"And then he came to me. Very good, Alfred," Nikolas dismissed Alfred. But apparently there was more. Nikolas looked questioningly at Alfred.
"Sir, would you be wanting dinner?"
Before he caught himself, Nikolas asked Spencer, "Are you ready to eat, guy?"
"No."
Nikolas steeled himself. They were going to eat. Now it was a matter of whether there'd be a chorus of "no's" or a full-blown temper tantrum.
*******************************************************
Claudia's hospital room.
Claudia picked at her tray of hospital food.
"You know," said Sonny, "if you don't like what they gave you, we can order in. Or I can make you something and bring it to you."
Claudia looked up at Sonny. "This" she gestured at a lump of over-dry chicken, "may offend me, but it won't kill me. The hospital doesn't need that kind of lawsuit. You, on the other hand..."
Sonny couldn't resist the obvious rejoinder. "Maybe you only eat food that Nikolas Cassadine brings you."
"Maybe you're changing the subject," she shot back.
Sonny leaned in to Claudia. "You wanna tell me what's going on between you two?"
"Nothing's going on between us. And you know what? Even if there was, no matter what I told you, you'd still think I was lying. I don't know why we bother talking any more. We should just skip to the threats."
Sonny wasn't going to play this game. No more stress for Claudia meant no more high octane debates, no more operatic arguments.
Claudia waited. And then spoke again. "His sister dated my brother. We know each other."
Sonny almost let it go. And then, "And that's why you speak in foreign languages with him."
"I'm not interested in talking about Nikolas Cassadine with you." Claudia was through waiting for Sonny to take the initiative. "I want to know what you're going to do. About me."
"It's my baby."
"That's not a surprise to me," Claudia choked out defensively. All those weeks of proclaiming fidelity had made this a hair-trigger response. "I always knew that. And I told you I don't care who the father is. But maybe it means something to you. What does it mean to you?"
"You're carrying my baby. It means what it means. I can't do anything to you. You're safe." Ordinarily, Sonny wouldn't care if Claudia believed him, but right now his child's future hinged on her blood pressure. Back to the other subject. "Nikolas Cassadine's sister isn't dating your brother anymore."
"Really?" Claudia pointed her butter knife at Sonny. "I hadn't noticed. Who is Johnny seeing now?"
Sonny took the knife from her. "Maybe it's better if we don't talk."
After a moment, Claudia went back to picking at her chicken. She couldn't believe she'd spent her whole life being miserable, and now it looked like the rest of her life was going to go the same way.
**********************************************************
Elizabeth's cottage.
Lucky had come over with a bucket of chicken and a full set of sides. Which was great, because Liz had done so much busybody work today, she hadn't had time for anything else. Busybody work. That was pretty funny. Liz looked up from setting the table and considered sharing the joke with Lucky. Nope. Not going to share the joke. The joke would leave her open to too many questions. And she wasn't ready to share any answers with Lucky.
The truth was that ever since Lucky had come back from being held captive by Helena, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. And he definitely had the knight in shining armor thing going on. So telling Lucky about Rebecca and Ethan would do more harm than good. Because of Rebecca. On the other hand, if Liz voiced a suspicion about Ethan -- and Ethan alone ... Not a bad idea. Needed a little tweaking. She'd run it by Nikolas when she saw him again.
**********************************************************
Later that evening. Hospital. Fifth floor nurses station.
Rebecca typed the last of her lab reports into the computer. Nikolas hadn't called all day, and now she was starting to wonder where he'd disappeared to. Every hour that went by, she got a little more anxious. Did he know? Had someone told him? Had he figured it out? She was getting desperate enough to do something stupid and completely out of proportion. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the two nurses at the station were chattering away, distracting her from the Paranoia Chorus in her head.
"I don't know. I thought he had a thing for hospital people. You know, first Dr. Scorpio, then the young Dr. Quartermaine and then Nadine. But this is really different."
Nadine. Why was that name familiar?
"I definitely think something's going on. First he sends over breakfast, and then the husband storms into his office. And you know what else?"
"What?"
"I think he's been in her file." The dark-haired nurse gestured to the file at the top of the stack.
"Now I know you're hallucinating. Mr. Cassadine is as straight as they come."
What?
"This hub, Nurse Jackson, is a place of business," Epiphany interrupted. "These charts, Nurse Grabowski, are far from done. What are we paying you for?"
The nurses scurried to the other side of the hub, with Epiphany close behind. Rebecca sidled over to the files and looked at the name on the top chart.
"Miss Shaw," Epiphany was standing over her. When did that happen? "Did you misplace something?"
"No."
"Then I suggest you get back to your own pile of goodies."
"Right." Rebecca went back to the computer and closed her current file. She checked over her shoulder. No Epiphany. She typed in a new name. Claudia Corinthos.
*************************************************************
Claudia's hospital room.
Sonny had finally left to go get himself dinner. Of course, he'd left strict instructions about who could and couldn't get into the room. Basically, unless you worked for the hospital (and your name wasn't Nikolas Cassadine), you didn't get in.
Just as well. If there were no surprise visits, the gun could stay under her pillow. If Sonny really did decide to try anything, she had enough time to get to it.
She couldn't get over the gun. This whole time, she'd been thinking that Sonny got her -- because of the Life, the Business. And there was definitely something to that. They were great at business together. And the sex was phenomenal. But Nikolas... Nikolas got her. The constant threat of death from those closest to you. The isolated childhood. The way her place in the family dictated the person she'd become. It was probably better not to follow this train of thought. She'd closed that door a long time ago. But she would never forget Alfred and that gun as long as she lived. However long that was.
She reluctantly turned her thoughts away from Nikolas and toward her brother. How come he hadn't been to see her yet?
She looked up as the door to her room opened. A Lab Technician? At this hour? Then she looked into the Technician's face. Ah. She knew who this was. This was the lookalike. This could be fun. Claudia decided she was never getting well. Out in the real world, people avoided her. Her life was so much more social in a hospital room.
The Technician spoke. "What's with you and Nikolas Cassadine?"
And Claudia remembered that the reason most people annoyed her: they were tedious and repetitive.
