Claudia's hospital room.

Claudia felt like a cat about to toy with a very squeaky mouse. Let's face it, there was a lot of fun to be had here. At the very least, she could use the distraction of someone else's agony for awhile. Cryptic it up a bit. But. There was Nikolas. Claudia felt out of the loop. Ever since she stopped toying with Nurse Nadine, she hadn't been keeping track of Nikolas' life -- let alone his love-life. Okay. If Nikolas was going to insist on getting Claudia so well, the least she could do was return the favor. So what would Nikolas want? Was he seeing the Technician? Or did he want to get rid of the Technician? Nikolas basically idled in circumspect, so who knew what was going on with him. Although ... now that she thought about it ... circumspect wouldn't be such a bad choice. Then Nikolas could play it any way he needed to when the time came.

Not to mention it wouldn't hurt to have the Technician and her jealous suspicions gone before Sonny got back. Time to dust off the charm. Charm. That thing hadn't been in her arsenal since the early 80's. She hoped it wasn't too creaky.

"Hi." Not bad. "I'm Claudia -- Claudia Corinthos. And you're asking about Nikolas Cassidine?"

"Yeah." Rebecca couldn't read this woman at all.

"He's a good guy."

"I know, but --"

"The thing is -- what's your name? I know you look like the deceased wife, but I never did catch your name."

"Rebecca. I -- "

"The thing is, Rebecca, I'm a liar. I don't mean that I occasionally tell a small fib. I mean that I'm so good that sometimes I don't know when I'm lying. So anything that comes out of my mouth, you're going to someday hear is a lie. From someone. Eventually. And after that, you won't know what to believe. To be honest here, Becky -- can I call you Becky? -- I probably won't know what to believe at that point either."

Claudia kept a straight face, but added a smidgeon of her best soul-baring look to it before she went on. "Nikolas is straightforward. He's the real deal. So before you force me to say something that will ending up coming back to bite both of us, truth or no, ask Nikolas your questions. He'll tell you the truth, and you can take it to the bank."

Claudia watched a dozen expressions flicker over Rebecca's face. One finally settled.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't be here," Rebecca said.

Claudia flinched as the handle to her room's door turned. Please, oh please, let this not be Sonny. And for once, she got what she wanted. It was Nurse Johnson.

"Miss Shaw, I thought you were off the clock," Epiphany said.

Claudia was about to cover for her, when Rebecca countered, "I am -- I mean, I'm supposed to be, but ..." Rebecca thought fast. "... Nurse Webber asked me to stop by."

"For what?" Epiphany was not going to let her just slip away.

"I don't know. I need to check the chart."

Epiphany held up a file. "This chart?"

"I guess so," Rebecca answered.

Claudia sat back and watched. This was better than the cat/mouse game. Not as good as a crossword puzzle, but it would do.

Nurse Epiphany opened the chart and gave it a perfunctory once-over. She flipped it shut. "Nothing here I can see."

"Maybe I got the wrong room number. I'm sorry, Mrs. Corinthos," Rebecca said, backing up to the door.

"No harm, no foul," replied Claudia.

Rebecca left the room.

Nurse Johnson held up a blood pressure cuff. Claudia nodded. Playtime was over.

******************************************************

Rebecca hurried down the hall and flipped open her cell phone. She pressed a number and waited. "Hello -- Liz? It's Rebecca. I just made a complete mess of things."

******************************************************

Claudia's hospital room. An hour later.

Claudia was asleep when Sonny got back. Epiphany Johnson had stopped him on his way in, letting him know that Claudia was cleared to go home tomorrow afternoon. Sonny watched Claudia sleep. If she was this calm when she was awake, his baby would have a fighting chance.

When he sat down in the chair next to her bed, the chair creaked and Claudia's eyes shot open.

"Hi," said Sonny. "I brought you dessert." He held out a tin swan.

Claudia cautiously sat up, keeping her hand near her pillow. She didn't take the swan.

"Don't be so suspicious of me," said Sonny. "I'm the only ally you got right now."

Claudia rolled her eyes and got to the point: "You want to kill me."

"Hey, I'm the only one who wants you alive right now. Except for your brother. And where is your brother?"

Claudia's eyes narrowed. "What have you done with him?"

Sonny shook his head, "Relax. He's out on assignment. I let him know what happened and he's on his way home. My point is: how come I had to call him? Shouldn't he be checking in on you in your condition?"

"My brother and I understand each other. Don't try and get between that."

"Or what?"

Claudia was silent.

"This is what I'm saying, Claudia," Sonny continued. "I'm the best you got. You try to leave me, you got nowhere to go. And who's gonna protect you? Start thinking with your head and not with your fear. I said I'd take care of you if this baby was mine, and that's what I'm going to do. So relax."

Claudia sank back down on the bed. Relax. Like that was going to happen.

******************************************************

Nikolas had worked his way through the first and last pages of twelve books with Spencer. They'd start one and then Spencer would want to just get to the end. While he knew he probably shouldn't have indulged Spencer, he'd had other stuff to get to once his son was asleep, so his main priority had been to do whatever it took to wear Spencer out.

And then Nikolas spent the entire evening checking every portrait at Wyndemere. Alexis had said that she thought Helena and Rebecca were connected. And the last thing Helena had wanted from him was a painting.

This was pointless. He didn't know what he was looking for. He'd set up a meeting with Alexis tomorrow. Maybe she'd have some idea.

His thoughts were interrupted by Alfred. Alfred extended a phone to Nikolas. "Miss Elizabeth."

"Thank you." Nikolas took the phone. "Liz? ... I don't know. Yesterday? ... Yes ... Why? ... Did she say what they had talked about? ... What did you say? ... That's fine. ... Thank you for letting me know. ... You too."

Nikolas hung up.

******************************************************

Claudia's hospital room. The following afternoon.

Max had been sent to get the car. Sonny finished packing Claudia's bag. Claudia hovered by the bed, wondering how she was going to retrieve the gun without Sonny noticing. And the door opened. And there was Nikolas.

"Great," said Sonny. "Great."

Nikolas breezed past Sonny and went directly to Claudia. "I'm so sorry to do this, but I need some answers."

Claudia opened her mouth to speak, but Sonny caught her off. "Sure," he dragged out the word. "Let's have the questions."

Nikolas kept looking into Claudia's eyes. "Вы имели посетитель вчера." You had a visitor yesterday.

"Да." Claudia answered. Yes.

"No. Uh-uh. No more Russian in this room," Sonny commanded.

"Fine." Claudia turned to Nikolas, asking, "Είσαι σε άπταιστα ελληνικά;" Are you fluent in Greek?

Nikolas burst out laughing. It was crazy, he knew she was dangerous, he knew she'd probably done dozens of things that would turn his stomach -- but he liked Claudia. She made him laugh. No one else made him laugh anymore.

"Oh, so this is funny to you, Cassadine?"

Nikolas regained his composure. He noticed Claudia hadn't cracked a smile. "At least someone in this room is happy," he said pointedly to Sonny.

"If Claudia's not happy, she knows where she can go," said Sonny.

Claudia grimaced, remembering last night's conversation. Nowhere. She had nowhere to go. Nikolas watched Claudia perform mental gymnastics until he'd had enough. He turned back to Sonny.

"I'm not sure she does."

Claudia and Sonny both stared at him. Sonny asked the question. "What do you mean?"

Nikolas turned to Claudia. "Claudia? Any time you want, you're more than welcome on" -- what was her name for it? -- "Spoondymere."

Claudia smiled, and then gently shook her head. "There's a boatload of reasons why that wouldn't work."

Nikolas wasn't letting either of them off the hook. "Name one."

Sonny really, really, really didn't like the way these two were with each other. "She gave you your answer, Nikolas."

Claudia continued as if Sonny hadn't spoken. "Okay. Spencer."

"Spencer is Sonny's nephew. It hasn't gotten him hurt yet. In fact, it hasn't even gotten him a visit from Sonny. So if you're looking to lose Sonny, the quickest way to do that is to sit yourself by Spencer."

Sonny's hand shot out and shoved Nikolas backward.

Claudia cleared her throat. "Sonny."

Nikolas quickly regained his balance. His fist landed squarely in Sonny's solar plexus, winding him. Sonny rose up and went for Nikolas again.

Claudia spoke firmly and calmly. "Sonny."

As Sonny reached Nikolas, Claudia raised her voice. "Sonny."

Sonny glanced over at Claudia, who was now wielding her gun.

Claudia spoke again. "Step away from Nikolas."

Sonny slowly stepped away from Nikolas, never taking his eyes from the gun. Claudia lowered the gun.

"Where'd you get the gun?," Sonny asked softly.

Claudia was silent.

"Perfect," Sonny said. He looked into Claudia's eyes. "You want to go with him?"

Claudia was silent for a moment.

"Yes."

Sonny looked from Claudia to Nikolas to Claudia again. "Fine. You can go with him. But I think you should know what you're getting yourself into. This is just Nikolas returning a favor."

Claudia shook her head. "I'm the one who owes Nikolas."

"No, I mean this is payback for me getting Emily." He looked at Nikolas. "Right, Nikolas?"

Claudia didn't check for Nikolas' reaction. She was quiet for a moment. And then she said, "So what?"

Sonny turned and stared at Claudia. "I'll be back for that baby," he said. Then he left. Nikolas and Claudia exchanged sideways glances.

Nikolas picked up Claudia's bag. "Are you ready to go?"

Claudia stood stock still. She felt a little like Alice right before she disappeared down the rabbit hole. But this time the hole was supplied with scones, even if it was designed a little like Dracula's house. She looked at Nikolas. She hoped he knew what he was getting into. She nodded. She was ready to go.