Spoon Island. The Guest House.

Claudia sat on her living room couch, her head in her hands. She was not going to get worked up about this. John continued to rant and rave.

"For all you know, he's just using you to make his girlfriend jealous!"

Claudia turned her face away from her brother, so he couldn't see her smile. Granted, John was way too over-protective about her -- sometimes to the point of irrationality -- but Nikolas' plan was starting to seem more and more sound. If only the grandmother could see THIS, she thought.

She was drawn away from that thought when she realized the room had gone silent. Oops. She turned her head toward John, running a hand through her hair.

"Have a seat," she said.

"That's all you have to say?," he shouted.

"You wanted me out of Sonny's house. I'm out of Sonny's house."

"Where is he now?" From the uninterrupted volume, there was no question of who the "he" was; John was not going to be deterred from a Nikolas Rant. "Is he at the house?"

"Forget it," she shrugged. "I'm not telling you."

"And now you're protecting him?"

"I don't have time for this, John. I have things to tell you, and they're important. And on top of everything else, I'm in a high risk pregnancy, so I can't get into a screaming match with you. It's not good for the baby."

John tried, he really did, but he ended up letting out an unintelligible roar and looking around the room for something to throw. He went towards a lamp.

"Don't you dare, John. I can't be picking up all the pieces tonight."

He stepped toward the coffee table, but right before his hand swept over it, she snatched the technology lab file off of it. His eyes pleaded with her. She handed him a pillow.

"This?!"

"What do you want?," she shouted. "It's all I can deal with tonight! Come back tomorrow morning when I'm rested, and I'll let you break something!"

He buried his head in the pillow, howled into it, and then flopped down beside her on the couch. He punched the pillow a few times and then tucked it behind him. She brushed her hand through his hair.

Then she leaned back against the couch, propped her feet up on the coffee table, and rested her hand on her belly.

"Sonny found out about Michael. He has proof."

John went pale. "I knew we should've gotten you out of the country."

"And I knew we should have killed Jason Morgan," she countered.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"John, why do you think you were sent out of town without him? Jason's the one who gathered the proof to give to Sonny. And he sent you away so you wouldn't be here when it happened."

"No, no, no," John burst out as he rose and went to the door.

"Where are you going?," Claudia asked.

"Jason came over on the launch with me. And if Nikolas is in the house, Jason is with him now."

John reached for the doorknob.

"Wait," Claudia said. John stilled. "Let Nikolas handle this," she said calmly.

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

Wyndemere. Living room.

"I'm asking you to let us handle her," Jason said.

"Handle her?" Nikolas looked more collected than he felt.

"Claudia has done some things -- things I'm not sure you know about." Jason checked Nikolas' expression, but all he got was the Impassive Prince.

"Claudia is pregnant," Nikolas said, as if that were the only factor that mattered.

"And Sonny has said that because it's his child, nothing will happen to her."

Nikolas decided to let Jason keep talking. The longer Jason was here, the longer he was away from Claudia. And the more Nikolas could find out about what kind of protection he was going to need to put on Claudia.

Jason went on. "Claudia is dangerous. She's treacherous. You don't know these people."

Still nothing from Nikolas.

"In the past few weeks -- since she's known that I've been looking into what she's done -- I've been shot at. By several people at once. The only reason I survived is because her little brother saved my life. Claudia wanted me dead."

Now Nikolas couldn't help himself. "And why would she want that?"

"Because she didn't want me finding out anything."

"Why?," Nikolas persisted. "If she had done whatever it is that you're being so mysterious about -- and you found out that she had -- what would happen?"

"Then she'd have to deal with the consequences."

"Which are?" Jason must really take me for a fool, Nikolas thought.

"Look, this life is what it is. There are consequences."

"Mightn't whatever Claudia might have done been a consequence?"

"Then it ends here."

"No, it doesn't." Nikolas silently added the words "you Neanderthal" to his sentence. "Emily was a consequence. A consequence of you leaving two children without their father." Jason looked a little taken aback. Did the man honestly believe that Nikolas didn't get together with his cousin to put all the missing pieces together?

The two men stared at each other.

"You believe in consequences?," Nikolas asked rhetorically. "Then march yourself down to police headquarters and turn yourself in for your crimes." Jason did not say anything. So Nikolas continued. "Until you do, until you stop being a hypocrite and hiding behind your brain damage, don't come back to this Island."

Jason stared at Nikolas. "This is not going to end well," he said. He started to leave.

"Oh, and if anything happens to Johnny Zacchara, you will truly find out what consequences are," Nikolas said to Jason's departing back. Jason froze. "Because I will take it upon myself to end this cycle, Jason. I may be nice, but that doesn't mean I'm not dangerous."

Jason went out of the room.

Nikolas picked up his phone. "Security? Please escort Jason Morgan directly to the launch. And see that he doesn't return."

He hung up the phone. And left to find Claudia.

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

The Guest House. Kitchen.

When Nikolas arrived, Claudia and John were finishing up dinner. He nodded at Claudia.

"How'd it go?," she asked, massaging the back of her head.

"He won't be bothering you here," Nikolas said.

"What's in it for you?," asked Johnny.

"John," Claudia implored, wincing.

Nikolas turned to Claudia. "Claudia, I promise you this isn't a 'you are the little woman' thing, but I need to talk to your brother alone."

"If you need to talk to him alone, it is an 'I am the little woman' thing," came Claudia's rejoinder.

"Can I talk to you alone for a moment?," he asked.

Claudia nodded. She went into the living room. Nikolas picked up a glass of water and followed her out.

"You have a headache?," he asked.

"A little one. Under the circumstances..."

"You look flushed," he said.

"I've been cooking."

"You've been stressed out. Did you have much to drink at dinner?"

Claudia's eyes narrowed. Nikolas had been reading her hospital file.

He cut her off before she could argue. "Let's sit down." He handed her the glass of water. "Indulge me."

Claudia sat down and downed half the glass. Nikolas sat down beside her on the couch.

"I'm not going to threaten your brother. I'm not going to antagonize him. I'm going to help him protect himself."

She opened her mouth to speak, and he cut her off again. "If I do it in front of you, you are going to go into big sister mode. Johnny does not need this sugar-coated. And he doesn't appear to take you seriously enough."

That stopped her cold.

Nikolas continued. "I'm not going to go into how disgusting I find your whole business. I get why you're in it, but I don't have to like it. I'm going to ask you some questions. Don't answer yes or no out loud. Just do it in your head. Did you order a hit on Jason Morgan?" He had her complete attention. "Did it fail? Did it fail because Johnny protected Jason? Your brother, although I admire and prefer his morality, is in a business where his morality will get you killed. I want to make sure he understands that. And I want him to know how smart I am. That's all. Do I have your permission?"

Boy, and she thought she would feel horrible if Nikolas found out about her machinations to split up Lulu and Johnny. "Yes," she answered.

"Thank you," he said. "Why don't you go upstairs while we finish up in the kitchen? I'll have the staff clean up afterwards."

Claudia slowly got to her feel and ascended the stairs.

Nikolas got up and went into the kitchen, silently reminding himself that if Johnny had Claudia's instincts, what he was about to say to Johnny would get him killed.

John had coffee ready at the counter. He offered some to Nikolas.

"I don't drink coffee. But thank you. Have a seat."

They both sat down at the kitchen table.

Nikolas tried to figure out where to start. "When your sister showed up bleeding on my dock last year, she was pretty out of it. She thought I was you."

"I remember."

"I remember it more vividly. Claudia doesn't remember it at all." Nikolas let Johnny absorb that, and then went on. "You're headstrong, Johnny. You lead with your emotion. But you're not smart about the business you're in. Tell me something: if I know that Claudia would die to protect you, and I know that Claudia keeps insisting that she was the only one involved in the botched hit on Sonny, and I've divined that you were involved -- how long before Sonny and Jason figure it out? Your sister doth protest too much. And if Claudia is now untouchable because of my protection, what's her greatest weakness? It's losing you."

Nikolas absentmindedly toyed with a teaspoon.

"You have to be careful, John. You have to make sure you don't fly off the handle, that no one knows that you were involved, and that no one knows where you are when you're not with someone you can trust. This is it. If you can't do that, either you die or Claudia and her baby will die."

"If you're so big on protecting her, why can't you get her out of the country?," Johnny asked.

"She can barely take the launch, John. She was dehydrated when I got here tonight. This is not the same, strong Claudia you're used to." He let the teaspoon fall with a clatter. "I know that you and your sister are very possessive and protective of each other. Watch that you don't drive her blood pressure up because it. That's her weak point physically right now."

Johnny looked furious. But he wasn't arguing.

Nikolas continued, in his measured way. "Why don't you go upstairs and say good-night to your sister? And then I'll walk you to the launch."

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

When Nikolas returned to the guest house later, he found Claudia brooding in the living room. This time she ordered him to sit.

She sat on the coffee table, across from him. "Do you remember a conversation we had about the dark side?," she asked.

Nikolas would never forget it. He nodded.

"I don't...," her voice trailed off. "I don't want to take you down with me. If I make you into something you've fought against your whole life, I'll never forgive myself."

Nikolas looked into her eyes. "We'll be all right," he said.