GreyStone. Morning.
There had been no more surprise visits from Sonny.
Claudia had slept in; it had taken her a very long time to fall asleep, so she'd let her body take control this morning and get as much rest as it needed. But now she was starving. She got out of bed and looked in the mirror. It was a little shocking. Her hair was a mess, her body was swollen, and she looked tired. She was headed for the bathroom when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. What did she care? So she looked ragged. It wasn't as if anyone was really going to see her. And if they did? So what? After last night, she certainly wasn't going to be seducing Sonny anymore.
She grabbed a robe from the closet, put her hair in a ponytail, and gave one last look in the mirror. And she had to laugh. She looked like a parody of a housewife in a television commercial.
She left her room and started down the stairs. Only to find Olivia and Sonny on the couch.
"I spent years trying to keep him away from this life, Sonny. I couldn't tell you." Olivia reached out to touch Sonny, and Sonny pulled away from her. Olivia looked up at Claudia on the stairs, and then back at Sonny. "Does she have to be here for this?"
Claudia silently finished coming down the stairs and went into the kitchen. Does she have to be here for this? She pulled some pans down and started gathering ingredients from the refrigerator. Claudia would bet anything that Sonny hadn't even tried to contact Uncle Rudy. Claudia began mixing omelette ingredients in a bowl. Sonny would rather wallow than save his business -- or even his life. There wasn't going to be anything left for John by the time Sonny was through. She poured the mix into the pan, went back to the refrigerator and poured herself a large glass of milk. She was starting to have a horrible feeling that everything she was planning for her child was going to backfire too.
She finished making the omelette, and set her meal on a tray. Her stomach grumbled. "All right, all right, almost there," she said.
She came back out into the living room with the tray, and started up the stairs.
"Not only -- not only did you keep my son from me -- he was sent here to put me away," Sonny said, in a heated tone.
Olivia stroked Sonny's face. "Sonny, please. I'm asking you, as your friend --"
A voice rang out from the living room doorway. "Claudia. Sono sicuro che questo non è tuo marito sul divano con un'altra donna." I am sure that this is not your husband on the couch with another woman.
Claudia turned to the door, dropping her tray. Uncle Rudy.
Uncle Rudy laughed. "Ciao, Claudia." He turned to Sonny, laughing an almost too-hearty laugh. "Sonny." Claudia hurried over to Uncle Rudy and kissed him on the cheek. Sonny might be fooled, but Claudia knew Uncle Rudy was no jolly Santa Claus type. Uncle Rudy also preferred Sonny to not know that he was fluent in English. And he pretended not to know that Sonny understood Italian.
"Ho provato a chiamare l'ultima notte," Claudia said. I tried to call last night.
"Sono lieto di vedere che si torna a casa." I am glad to see you back home.
"Questo è il luogo dove io appartengo." It's where I belong. "Rudy. Domenico è un agente federale." Dominic is a federal agent.
Uncle Rudy's eyes narrowed. This was not expected.
"Sonny, you tell her to shut up about my son," Olivia said.
Uncle Rudy turned to Claudia. "'Shut up?' Che cosa è questo? " What is this?
"This is a family discussion," Sonny said. "Fam-i-ly," he repeated, as if Uncle Rudy was an illiterate.
"Sì." Uncle Rudy said. "Famiglia." He patted Claudia's belly meaningfully. He looked Claudia in the eye, and said in a stage whisper, "Dobbiamo parlare in privato." We must talk in private.
Sonny sprang into action. He stood up, saying to Olivia, "I can't talk about this right now."
"But --"
Sonny whispered to Olivia, "I'll be by later." He looked at Olivia meaningfully.
Olivia left, shooting Claudia a death glare. Uncle Rudy looked at Claudia, raising an eyebrow.
"What can I do for you, Rudy?," Sonny said exceedingly slowly.
*********************************
District Attorney's office.
Alexis handed off a file to the A.D.A. The A.D.A. brushed past Sam, who was on her way into the office.
"Hey," Sam said. "Got a minute?"
"Sure," Alexis said. "It's not as if I'm actually getting anywhere with anything today."
Sam sat down across from Alexis. "I can't find Nikolas."
"I was afraid of that."
"It's like he's erased all of his fight plans."
"Well, hopefully, if we can't find him, no one else can."
"Any luck on my new uncle?"
Alexis got a sour look on her face.
"What?," asked Sam.
"I wish I had a button."
"A button?"
"A set of buttons. On my arm. In little row. Defect buttons. So I could choose my defects as I needed them. Then if, for some reason, I needed to hyperventilate, I could push the yellow button. Bad lovelife instincts, red button."
Sam nodded slowly, looking at Alexis as if she were nuts. "What button are you looking for now?"
"The murderous, conniving, knife-wielding, warped sense of family one. The Helena one."
"You want to be Helena."
"Just for a second. To get inside her head. Bad idea?"
Sam played along. "I can see where that would help you right now. With figuring out where my uncle is."
"Thank you."
"But Helena likes being Helena. You would never be able to push another button to get you out of there. You know -- the Anything But Helena button."
Alexis frowned. "Huh. I somehow missed that glitch when I was thinking this up."
"Then I'm glad I got here before you got too far into it."
Alexis took off her glasses and tilted her head.
"What?," said Sam.
"My idea was sound. I just had the execution wrong," said Alexis.
*********************************
GreyStone.
"You can -- how do you say? -- prepare another colazione --"
"Breakfast," muttered Claudia.
"Breakfast," Uncle Rudy said, slowly and deliberately, as if committing the word to memory. "Breakfast for Claudia," he said to Sonny. "Prepare another breakfast for Claudia."
"Max!," Sonny shouted.
Max came into the room. "Yeah, boss?"
"Make a breakfast for Claudia." He gestured to the dropped tray. "And get that taken care of."
"Yeah, boss."
Max left the room. Uncle Rudy stood, waiting. Sonny waited. Claudia sat down on the couch. Uncle Rudy sat down next to her. Sonny sat down in the chair.
Uncle Rudy looked at Claudia, outwardly smiling, and inwardly fuming. This is what had become of Claudia Zacchara? Rudy had helplessly watched the deterioration of Claudia's mother Domenica. If this Corinthos marriage was Anthony's idea of a private joke, the joke was about to be over.
"Perché fai colazione così tardi? ," Uncle Rudy asked to Claudia. Why do you eat breakfast so late?
"I slept in. Ho dormito tardi. Because of the baby."
Uncle Rudy beamed. "I pirati ballano sul ponte delle navi," Uncle Rudy sang.
Claudia smiled indulgently, wondering what was going on. She wondered whether Uncle Rudy had lost his mind in the year and a half she'd been away.
"Oo," said Uncle Rudy. "I almost forget. I have something -- if you promise to, uh, stay out of hospital until the baby comes." Claudia nodded. Uncle Rudy reached into his pocket. "Un regalo per il bambino. " A present for the baby. He pulled out the Giacchi.
Claudia's breath caught. She stared and then slowly, dazed, reached for the toy. "This is one-of-a-kind," she said.
"Sì," said Uncle Rudy.
And she'd given it to Spencer. The world tilted on its axis.
"Tutto andrà tutto bene. Per voi e il bambino," Uncle Rudy said, patting Claudia's arm. Everything will be all right. For you and the baby.
"Can I see that?," Sonny asked. Claudia mutely handed the toy to him.
Nikolas been to see Uncle Rudy. She hadn't lost Nikolas at all. Nikolas was working with Uncle Rudy. Claudia was in a whole other kind of trouble. She now knew she was in love.
She was supposed to say something. Luckily, it was exactly what she wanted to say. She looked into Uncle Rudy's eyes. "Thank you," she breathed. He nodded.
*********************************
GreyStone.
After Uncle Rudy had gone (back to Italy, with assurances from Sonny that he would be kept apprised of the Dominic situation), Claudia's mind was racing in several directions at once.
Had Sonny noticed something was wrong with her? Uncle Rudy didn't look too alarmed at her behavior, but the man was a master thespian. She'd seen other people in love and hoped she wasn't glowing or looking like she'd been knocked in the head by a two-by-four.
As the afternoon wore on, she was having trouble figuring out how to start with her own plans. On the one hand, Sonny was suddenly being solicitous. On the other hand, Sonny was now watching her like a hawk, and she hadn't figured out a safe hiding place for everything she needed to gather.
Sonny and Rudy had discussed some business, and they decided it would be best for Claudia to check over some things. With Spinelli. Sonny might not have a clue about information storage, but Spinelli was sure to know what was going on the second he saw Claudia's jewelry.
She poured herself a glass of water and sat down on Sonny's desk, watching him work. Didn't he have some place to be? Wasn't he supposed to head over to Olivia's? This figured. She finally wants him to go see Olivia, and now she's stuck with him at home.
She idly picked up his desk pen. It was large. Lots of room.
"What are you doing with my pen?," Sonny said.
"Nothing," she said. "It looks like a good crossword puzzle pen."
"You have plenty of pens. This goes with the desk set," he said, taking the pen and putting it back in its place.
The living room door opened and Alexis entered, looking harried. Claudia and Sonny looked up at her.
"Alexis? Is something wrong with Kristina?," Sonny asked.
"What? No. No, it's not Kristina. Actually, I need to talk to your wife," Alexis said.
"Why?," Sonny asked, with a great deal of suspicion.
"I need to pick her brain."
"Why would she need to talk to you, Claudia?," Sonny asked. He'd suspected Nikolas wasn't through with Claudia. He didn't think Alexis would be a messenger -- the idea of Claudia and Nikolas must turn her stomach -- but those Cassadines had a family loyalty that made them do unexpected things.
"I don't know," Claudia said. If this was Nikolas' way of being discreet, he had a lot to learn. Two visits in one day was going to get Sonny's radar going.
"It's about Helena," Alexis said.
"Helena? Helena Cassadine?," Sonny said.
"Yes," said Alexis. "And that's how I feel about her: 'What? You again?' When I'm not living in mortal terror." She stopped the wisecracks long enough to turn to Sonny and say, "Thanks for Spinelli and Jason the other night, by the way."
Jason had mentioned something about Luke, but he'd never said anything about Helena. "You're welcome," Sonny said. "I would've sent them sooner if I'd known it was about Helena. Or Luke. No one ever told me they were looking for Luke," he said, looking pointedly at Claudia.
"The phones were tapped," Alexis said. "May I?" She gestured to Claudia.
"Sure," said Sonny, sitting down in a chair to watch the whole thing.
Alexis sat down on the couch. After a moment, Claudia followed.
"So this is about my brother," Alexis began.
"Yeah," said Claudia.
"This is about Stefan? Or is this about Stavros?," said Sonny.
"This is another brother," Claudia said.
"Right," said Alexis, looking from Sonny to Claudia. They obviously didn't talk much. Dinner must be a laugh riot around here, she thought. "You think he's the youngest brother?"
Claudia was quiet for a moment. She didn't understand what Nikolas wanted from her. This was a stupid way to get the information from her. But then she thought of Spencer and Nikolas, and she had no choice. "I think he was born in 1965. The year the painting was first moved. I think he didn't know he was a Cassadine. I think at that point, Helena was keeping tabs on him to make sure that Stavros assumed his rightful place with no interference. She didn't want this boy to know he was a Cassadine. And if he'd known, she would have eliminated him. It was only after you and Nikolas changed the line of succession that Helena changed her game plan. This is just what I think."
"I understand. What else do you think?," Alexis asked.
"Well, I think he's dangerous. If he's going along with Helena, he either wants the power for himself, or..." Claudia looked right at Alexis. "She had Lucky brainwashed, right?"
"Right," said Alexis. "Right."
"That's all I have, Alexis. And it's just guesswork."
"I realize that. Thank you. This was helpful. Nikolas is out of the country with Spencer and I haven't heard from him." Claudia's heart picked up speed and she worked hard to keep her face impassive, catching up to Alexis' babbling just in time. "... so there's nobody else I could go to. And you're..." Alexis stopped herself.
"That's okay," said Claudia, finishing Alexis' thought, "I'm the Zacchara version of Helena."
"Without the knives."
Where were Nikolas and Spencer? Obviously, they had been to Italy, but why weren't they back by now? Why would Nikolas take Spencer with him? Claudia began to panic at the thought of them in Russia.
"Claudia." Sonny called her attention back to the conversation. "Alexis is leaving."
"Sorry," said Claudia, covering. "The baby kicked."
Alexis nodded and left the room, leaving Claudia and Sonny alone.
"That was a good thing you did, helping Luke Spencer," Sonny said.
"Thank you." Where was Nikolas?
"Let me make you dinner."
"That's my reward? You make me dinner every night."
"Well, okay, what do you want?"
Careful, Claudia. "A nursery. For the baby."
"You're gonna get a nursery anyway. For the baby. What do you want for you?"
Keep it light. "I want... your pen."
"You want my pen?"
"Yeah. A real pen. For my crosswords."
Sonny picked up the pen and turned it over and over in his hand. Then he shrugged and handed it to her. "You got it."
"Just don't tell Luke Spencer what his life is worth," she said.
"Dinner will be ready in an hour."
"Okay," she said.
***********************************************
GreyStone. Claudia's bedroom.
Sonny was busy with dinner. This had to be quick.
Claudia unscrewed the top of the pen. She replaced its ink refill with a smaller one, and put the larger original one in her purse.
Maybe Nikolas isn't in Russia.
***********************************************
Wyndemere.
Nikolas came into the hallway, carrying Spencer. Some of the staff walked past him, carrying his luggage.
Alexis met him in the hallway, followed by the nanny.
"Thank God you're back," Alexis said. "I was starting to worry about you."
The nanny took Spencer from Nikolas and carried him upstairs.
***********************************************
GreyStone. Claudia's bedroom.
She took her watch off and opened a latch under the face. A flash drive fell out. She re-did the latch and tossed the watch into her jewelry box.
Why hasn't anyone heard from him?
**********************************************
Wyndemere.
"How was your trip?," Alexis asked.
"Good," he said.
"Good. I think I'm making progress on our Cassadine problem."
"You've been busy."
"Well, Claudia helped."
Nikolas stood stock still.
"You saw Claudia?"
***********************************************
GreyStone. Claudia's bedroom.
Claudia squeezed the flash drive into the top of the pen. She screwed the top of the pen back on. She shook the pen. No rattle. Everything was snug.
Why did he take Spencer? How am I going to find out if anything's happened to them?
**********************************************
Wyndemere. The Living Room.
"She seemed fine."
"I'll bet she did," Nikolas said. "Did you happen to tell her that Spencer was with me?"
"I think I did."
**********************************************
GreyStone. Claudia's bedroom.
She felt the front of her abdomen tighten and a slightly painful cramp.
"No, no."
Uncle Rudy was right. Love kills.
"Sonny!," she called out. "Sonny!"
**********************************************
Wyndemere. The Living Room.
"Even if everything is fine, you can never do this again," Nikolas said, raising his voice to Alexis.
Alexis was starting to get a little nervous. "Why not?"
Nikolas was not going to be able to get away with not answering. "Claudia is in trouble. Her life is on the line. No more trips to GreyStone except to see Sonny."
Alexis was about to press the matter further when Alfred entered with the phone. "Miss Elizabeth for you, Master Nikolas."
Nikolas took the phone. "Hello?" Nikolas went pale. "When?... Thank you." He hung up and handed the phone to Alfred. "Thank you, Alfred." Alfred left and Nikolas sank down into a chair.
"What is it?"
"Claudia's being rushed to the hospital."
"Well, then, let's go."
Nikolas didn't move. "We can't."
Alexis took in his lost demeanor. She came and knelt in front of Nikolas and said softly, "Maybe you'd better tell me what's going on."
