General Hospital. Fifth floor supply closet.

Elizabeth stood there, caught red-handed with medical supplies.

Matt's eyes twinkled. "Can I give you hand with those? I've got a lot of time on my hands these days."

"No," said Elizabeth, silently breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm just moving this stuff to the sixth floor and going home. I can handle it."

Matt sat down on a crash cart.

"What are you doing here," Elizabeth asked him.

"Haven't you heard? I have no office."

"I'm sorry, Matt. I had heard. I forgot."

"Yeah, I kinda figured everyone's noticed by now," he said, looking downcast.

Poor guy, she thought. "Are you on tomorrow night?," she asked.

"Whatever that means," he said, nodding.

"So am I," she said. "Why don't we take our dinner break together, and I can tell you all about some of the trouble I've gotten into over the years." She quickly added, "Or we could just talk."

Matt looked like he was about to say no, but he ended up surprising them both. "Yes," he said.

"Good."

He held the door open for her as she left with the supplies.

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

Kelly's Diner. Same night.

Sam sat at the counter eating ice cream.

Jason entered. When he caught Sam's eye, he sat down at a table. Sam joined him, bringing her ice cream with her.

"I thought we were having dinner," Jason said.

"So did I," countered Sam. "But you were late, I started without you, and I'm now up to dessert. What's up?"

A waitress appeared at the table.

"Coffee," Jason said.

The waitress left the table.

"Sorry I was late. I've been looking into something, and it took longer than I thought it would," Jason said.

"Hey, that's okay, I'm fine with waiting for you, just don't expect me not to eat," Sam said, taking another spoonful of ice cream.

The waitress served the coffee and left.

"I need to ask you something about your cousin."

Sam put down the spoon. "Shoot," she said.

"How does he know Claudia Zacchara?"

"Nikolas?," Sam said in disbelief. "He doesn't. I mean, not as far as I know."

"Well, she's living with him."

"Living with him."

"Yeah."

"And Spencer."

"Yeah."

Sam sat back in her chair.

"So you know nothing about it," Jason said.

"No. I gotta admit, some small part of me is like 'Yay, Nikolas is finally getting back in the game.' But the other, really, really big part of me, is wondering what he's thinking. Claudia Zacchara." Sam suddenly inhaled sharply.

"What?"

"I wonder if Alexis knows."

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

Wyndemere. Study. Late the next morning.

Alexis carefully arranged a stack of binders, a pile of art history books, another pile of Russian history books and and a set of worn folders on Nikolas' desk.

Nikolas came around the desk to join her.

"I thought I'd start with the symbolic significance of the saint, since it's our family," Alexis began, "and well, we all know of the Cassadine fondness for naming plots."

"Ice Princess."

"Yes. Like that. And Timoria."

There was a knock at the door. Nikolas was fairly certain that it was Claudia; she hadn't shown up for breakfast, and had left word with Alfred that she'd by in the late morning to spend time with Spencer. Spencer was due at the study. Later. Nikolas was hoping to get Claudia's opinion on what Alexis had uncovered, and arranged for Claudia to arrive a few minutes early.

"Come in," Nikolas called out.

The door opened, and Claudia peered in. When she saw Alexis, she didn't address her at all, just looked right at Nikolas and said, "I thought it was the study at eleven."

"He'll be here soon," Nikolas said. "Have a seat."

Claudia went and took a seat a little away from Nikolas and Alexis. Alexis looked at Nikolas in confusion and frustration.

"It's all right, Alexis," he said. "Go on."

"Sure. Why not? Maybe Maxie Jones would like a piece of this, too. Maybe we should call her in on this."

Nikolas crossed his arms, gave Alexis a stern look and waited.

"I found no significance in the saint, or the artist, or the transport of the painting throughout the years," Alexis continued. "I can't see why Helena would ask for that painting at all. Unless there was something hidden in the painting."

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

"Helena asked you for a painting?," Claudia asked.

Alexis stared at Nikolas. Nikolas ignored her and answered Claudia. "Yes."

Claudia nodded and went silent again.

Alexis waited for a beat, and then continued. "The painting had been moved only twice by the time you gave it to her: once in 1965, from St. Petersburg to Greece, and once in 1996, from Greece to Port Charles. Each time, it accompanied Helena."

"She left it behind here?," Claudia asked.

Alexis turned to Claudia, exasperated with the interruptions. "Yes." The subtext was definitely Now shut up. Claudia didn't pay the subtext any mind.

"How often do you guys sell your artwork?," she asked.

"Only when we're being exiled," Alexis replied sharply, and then turned back to Nikolas. "I'm going to spend the next few days looking into the ships' manifests to see what else Helena brought with her, and check into who else traveled at the same time using the same route."

"You have a theory?," Nikolas asked.

"Nothing concrete," said Alexis.

Claudia made a sound that was related to "Pfft."

"What?," asked Alexis. "What is your problem?"

"Nothing," said Claudia.

There was a knock at the door. The nanny brought Spencer in. He ran to Claudia. The nanny left.

"Hey, there, Mr. Since!," Claudia said, gathering Spencer into her arms.

Alexis shot Nikolas a questioning look.

Claudia opened her purse and brought out a small toy fire truck. She gave it to Spencer, and sat him down on the floor.

"Before Helena wanted you-know-who," Claudia said to Nikolas, "What was her thing?"

"Control of the family. That's always been her supreme goal," Nikolas answered.

"You got an illustration of the family tree somewhere?," she asked.

"Yes."

"I'd like to see a copy."

"All right. I'll get you one."

Claudia nodded, satisfied. She knelt down to Spencer. "How do you feel about lunch, Little Man?"

"No!," said Spencer.

"I know!," said Claudia. "That's how I felt about breakfast. Let's go find somewhere to play."

She led Spencer out of the room.

The moment they were out of the room, Alexis turned on Nikolas. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I think she could have some necessary insight into psychotic family dysfunction," he replied.

"Well, we'll talk about that later. I'm talking about the fact that letting Claudia 'play' with Spencer is like letting a nascent Helena spend her version of quality time with your son!"

"They'll be fine."

Alexis threw up her hands.

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

The docks. Late evening.

Rebecca stared across the water to Spoon Island.

When all this started, it was supposed to be easy money, getting her fair share. When his grandmother got involved, she thought it would help. But that was before she had felt something for Nikolas.

When someone's behaving like a stalker obsessed with his dead wife, you tend not to think you'll ever get emotionally involved. But that was before the polite awkwardness that sometimes came upon him. Before the dancing. Before...well, everything else. And now she was in trouble. Because not only was the grandmother getting nasty, not only was she dealing with Ethan's snarkiness, but she also had to contend with her own overly-suspicious jealousy.

One day. He hadn't called when he said he was going to, and there was a green-eyed monster playing babysitter to her every thought. She took out her cell phone and dialed. "Hello, Alfred. It's Rebecca Shaw. Is Nikolas there? ... Do you know where he is? ... I see. ... No, no message. Just tell him I called."

That settled things. She was just going to have to go over to Spoon Island herself and check things out. Set her mind at rest, and gather information that would calm down both Helena and Ethan.

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

The Guest House. Living Room.

Claudia was relaxing on the couch, a large pair of stereo headphones cupping either side of her belly, when Nikolas knocked.

"Come in!," she called out.

Nikolas entered. "Rebecca called. Alfred told her I was with you. She's should reach the Island any moment. What are you doing?"

"I'm giving my child a head start in good taste," she said, reluctantly lifting the headphones off and sitting up. "Rebecca's here? What do you want us to do?"

Nikolas looked around the room. Window curtains were already drawn open. Good. What next?

"First time, huh?," said Claudia. "That's okay. Let me take the wheel and you can drive next time."

"Didn't you get into an accident the last time you took the wheel?" The second the words were out of his mouth, Nikolas knew he had said the worst thing possible at that exact moment. Claudia's hands flew immediately to her abdomen, and her eyes became watery.

"I'm sorry," Nikolas said quietly.

Claudia sat silently for a moment. Then she gathered the headphones, got up, went to the stereo, put the headphones down, and shut the stereo off.

She walked over to the door and brought the lights up just the slightest bit.

She got up and went over to the desk where she'd left the tech company file. "Might as well get some work done while we're at it."

Nikolas went and stood by her side.

"Behind me," she directed. He looked questioningly at her. She stared back evenly at him. He moved behind her. "Lean over my shoulder."

Nikolas leaned over her shoulder. Her hair brushed his cheek, and he caught the scent of her perfume. Somehow, in all of his planning, he'd forgotten that he'd need to be so close to Claudia. This was a mistake.

"Good," she said. "Now look intrigued, but while you're doing that, I need help with a problem." She opened the file.

So do I, thought Nikolas. But he didn't say that. He just asked, "What?"

"I think there's a problem with the Chinese arm of your operation, but I'm not sure. My Mandarin sucks."

How was it possible that she was even curvier than before? "You said you were fluent."

"That's because I thought it would be in Cantonese. Oh."

"What?"

"Hey. I..." She turned so that she was facing him. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was smiling. She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her belly.

"What are you...?" And then he felt it. The baby was kicking.

"I guess the kid likes Frank," she said quietly.

"Frank?"

"Sinatra." She gestured with her head over to the stereo. He got it. He laughed. And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rebecca leaving.

Claudia must have seen something in his look, because she tilted her head to get his attention. "Where is she?"

"She's gone."

"Good." She pulled away from him and slipped away from the desk. "You did good. It was intimate, but no concrete evidence that we're lovers." But he wasn't off the hook. She added, "The best lies always have something real in them."

She shut the file.

"Thanks for letting me spend time with Spencer today. We can finish up the business talk tomorrow. Don't forget to get me your family tree. I'm heading up to bed." She started up the stairs. "Gonna have a talk with the kid before we both go to sleep. You should probably wait ten minutes, and then you can go."

And with that, she finished her climb and went to her room, leaving Nikolas dumbstruck.