General Hospital. Emergency Room.

Elizabeth was overseeing triage, so Claudia was seen as soon as she arrived.

Claudia was surprised to see Sonny step up and make sure she was being taken care of. He even brought her a glass of water while they waited for Dr. Lee. He was acting like a husband.

The pain hadn't gotten any stronger, and the contractions (which is what, it turned out, those muscle spasms in her abdomen were) had finally subsided.

But Claudia still didn't feel well. Her head ached, and she felt like she might faint at any moment. Her eyes began to close and Sonny grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Hey," he said, firmly, but gently. "Hey. You still with me?"

"Yes," she said. She noticed Elizabeth come into the room and check the fetal monitor.

"You've gotta stay awake, Claudia. I know it's hard, but you're a fighter. Use that."

She nodded. "John," she said.

"Johnny?," Sonny repeated, confused. A look of realization. "You want Johnny?"

"Please." Elizabeth put a blood pressure cuff on Claudia.

"Okay." Sonny hesitated to leave her. "Okay. But I'll be right back. Don't go to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay."

Sonny let go of her hand and left the room.

Claudia grabbed Elizabeth's hand. "Nik?"

"I just spoke to him. He knows you're here."

"No. Nikolas and Spencer. Are they back?"

"I don't understand."

Claudia's heart monitor sped up. "In Port Charles."

It hadn't occurred to Elizabeth that Nikolas might be anywhere else. But right now, her patient was the most important thing. "I'll find out," Elizabeth said. "Just keep calm until I get back. Okay?"

Sonny came back in the room. "Johnny's on his way," he said.

"Okay," Claudia said. To both of them.

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

Wyndemere. Living Room.

Nikolas studied Alexis for a long time. He didn't believe in telling other people's secrets.

In his early days in Port Charles, Lucky and Nikolas had traded family secrets like knife wounds. And they were felt like knife wounds. Later, when he and Lucky had finally become brothers in every sense of the word, Nikolas kept going over his past mistakes. And as much as he had no tolerance for lies, he also believed that the truth was best served when it was traded between the two people who owned the secret.

He hated that Claudia had lied about visiting Helena. But even more than that, he'd hated that he hadn't heard it from her first. The fact that she had told him so soon after lying was important. But it was even more important that she had told him herself. Years before, Nikolas could have been spared a world of pain if he'd been told about the possibility of Stefan being his father -- if he had heard it first from Laura or Stefan.

It was inevitable that Alexis would have to be told some of Claudia's secrets. Today had proven that much. And if he ended up failing to get Claudia out of this alive, he would need to have a lawyer prepared for the custody battle for Claudia's child. There were no "b" or "c" choices for a lawyer. Alexis was The One.

He opened his mouth to speak, and the phone rang. "Excuse me," he said to Alexis, picking up the phone. "Hello. ... I understand. ... Tell her that Spencer and I are both home again. Tell her we were always safe. And don't tell her in front of anyone else. ... Thank you." He hung up the phone.

He let out a deep breath and turned to Alexis. "You can't see Claudia again."

"So you said," she said, looking at him strangely.

"Do you have any idea what it took to get her out of a high risk pregnancy? And it only took two days with Sonny and a conversation with you to destroy all of that."

"Nikolas!"

"Claudia is marked for death the moment her child is born. Try and imagine what will happen should she lose the baby."

Alexis couldn't begin to figure out whether Nikolas' pronouncements were true or not. But she could tell that he definitely believed what he was saying. "Marked for death by whom? And why?," asked Alexis.

Nikolas hoped he was making the right decision. "The answer to your first question is Jason and Sonny. I can't answer your second question. This is what I can tell you..."

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

Claudia's Hospital Room.

Claudia had been moved to a room.

Sonny sat by her bed while they waited for the doctor. They didn't have to wait long.

Dr. Lee came in carrying Claudia's chart.

"How are you feeling?," she asked Claudia.

"Better," Claudia said. "What happened?"

Dr. Lee took a seat by Claudia's bed. "Well, first of all, your blood pressure is fine."

"Good."

Kelly looked from Sonny to Claudia. One thing was certain: this was not the typical blessed event. Kelly wasn't sure what it was. Granted, Claudia Corinthos was a piece of work. The first third of her pregnancy, Ric had been hovering and making noise about being the father. Then there was the -- well, "weird" was the word for it -- weird introduction of Nikolas Cassadine into the second trimester. And now it was just Sonny again. And she had to to figure out how to ease her way into an odd conversation.

"It's only been a week since your last visit, Claudia. And I'm concerned about the changes."

"What changes?," Sonny asked.

Dr. Lee put down the chart. "Claudia, what you experienced tonight were Braxton Hicks contractions. They're not a cause for alarm, but typically, they don't start until the third trimester."

"So why am I getting them now?," Claudia asked.

"Last week," Dr. Lee said, "You had a clean bill of health. Everything was in normal range. You were taking care of yourself. Today, you're dehydrated."

Claudia didn't say anything.

"You're weak. Have you been eating?"

"I slept through breakfast this morning. But I ate as soon as I got up."

"What about dinner last night?"

Claudia didn't say anything, just looked at Sonny. Sonny knew why she hadn't eaten the night before. It was because she couldn't get into the kitchen. Claudia had been asleep by the time the drama was over, and Sonny'd had to throw out last night's sauce.

"I'm going to keep you here overnight," Dr. Lee said to Claudia. "But I can't stress enough how important it is for you to take care of yourself."

"I understand," Claudia said.

"Your fluids should be back to normal soon. And we'll get a meal in here as soon as it's ready."

"Thank you, Doctor," Sonny said.

Dr. Lee left.

"I'm sorry," Sonny said.

"Here's the thing, Sonny," Claudia said.

"Yeah?"

"I can't have any more stress. So I'm not fighting with you. I'm not fighting with you about little things around the house. I'm not fighting with you about Olivia. Or the business. This is new for me."

"Understood."

"But there is now one exception to the rule. I will fight you for my baby's health." She lowered her voice. "No more skipping meals because there's F.B.I. agent being taken down in the kitchen. No more late night visits that wake me up and make me miss breakfast the next morning. This is the way things have to be."

This was the first sign Sonny had seen of his wife since she'd returned home. "Fair enough," Sonny said.

There was a knock at the window. Jason peered in and gestured to Sonny.

"I'll be right back," Sonny said.

Sonny left.

And Elizabeth entered. "Hi," she said. "I checked. They're home. They're fine. Nikolas said to tell you that they were always safe."

"Thank you," Claudia said. "I would appreciate it if you would let him know that I'm fine. And the baby's fine."

"Sure," said Elizabeth. Elizabeth left.

And Claudia was alone with her thoughts. Love made you expect to be cared for. It made you too used to not being alone. It made you worry. It made everything else invariably fall flat. Love was a disadvantage. Too bad there was no choice.

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

Empty hospital room.

"How is she?," Jason asked.

"Looks like she's going to be fine," Sonny said.

"The baby?"

"We'll make sure he makes it. Happy and healthy."

Jason nodded. "I know this is a bad time, but what do you want to do with Dante?"

"I can't think about that now."

"You have to. I'm sorry, Sonny, but when the FBI has a missing agent, they're going to look for him."

"We've got a bigger problem than the F.B.I."

Jason looked at Sonny questioningly.

"Claudia's Uncle Rudy came for a visit today."

"Why?"

"He said it was about the baby. I don't know. That's not important. Claudia told her uncle about Dante," Sonny said.

"And?"

"And? Now we've got to deal with this."

"Sonny, we always were gonna have to deal with this. And Claudia's uncle should know about this. They need to prepare. Just in case."

Jason too? What was so hard for everyone to understand? "He's my son."

"And I'm sorry. I know this puts you in a bad position. But you can't ignore the fact that he's a Fed, and you can't ignore the fact that this could bring everything down around us. Claudia's thinking straight. You need to too."

"Not now, Jason."

"When?"

"I don't know. Soon." Sonny needed a break from all of this. There wasn't a single conversation he wanted to have with Jason. Or Claudia. Or Olivia. Time for something less poisonous and more medicinal.

Sonny left the room.

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

Wyndemere. Living Room.

Alexis was speechless for a very long time. She'd open her mouth to speak, and then nothing but voiceless, shapeless air would come out. Then she'd close her mouth again.

Nikolas was starting to think that confiding in Alexis might not have been the greatest plan, when she finally managed to get words out.

"Sonny would never hurt the mother of his child."

"He shot Carly."

"He didn't know he was shooting Carly at the time."

"That's comforting. But fine. I'll grant you he might not deliberately hurt a Carly. But consider this: whatever Carly and Sonny's relationship has been, they care for one another. Claudia and Sonny got married as a business arrangement."

"And somehow they transacted a baby."

"This is not my story to tell. You're going to have to trust me."

"I'm going to have to trust Claudia. Via you."

"I trust her."

"You trusted Rebecca."

Nikolas had no response to that one. Alexis was afraid she'd completely circumvented all future discussion about anything with Nikolas when he spoke again. "Alexis. I know the worst there is to know about Claudia. Worse than you know. Worse than I'd say anyone else in town knows. And yes, it's worse than what you've imagined. But she tells me the truth."

That shut Alexis up for awhile. She decided to forego the "Sonny Wouldn't Kill Claudia" discussion. "All right. But that still doesn't answer my biggest question. What is Claudia planning? How on earth does she expect you to get custody?"

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

Claudia's hospital room.

Claudia's eyes opened when she heard the door to her room creak.

John.

"Hi." he said.

"Hey."

John hurried to her side. "How are you?"

"Okay."

"How's the baby?"

"I think he's going to be okay. Listen, John, I need to talk to you before Sonny comes back."

"You sure he's coming back?"

"Forget about that. Forget him. This is important."

John took the seat next to Claudia's bed.

Claudia took John's hand in both of hers.

"I didn't mean for you to go back to Sonny, Claudia."

"I know. But this was the best I could do. I would do anything for you. And I know you would do anything for me." She muttered under her breath, "Except kill Ric. Or Jason Morgan."

"Claudia --"

"Hey, whatever, those ships have sailed. I have another, not so big favor to ask of you."

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

Dark Bar. Just outside of Port Charles.

Sonny downed another bourbon.

"Let me buy your next one," Rebecca said, sitting down beside him.

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

Wyndemere. Living room.

Alexis continued to think out loud. "I mean, she herself said it: she's the Zacchara Helena. So what does she plan to do? Kill Sonny from beyond the grave? Even then, you've got dozens of Zaccharas who will be coming out of the woodwork to claim the youngest Zacchara prince."

"Claudia isn't the Zacchara Helena."

"I can understand why you wouldn't want to think that. A little too Über Oedipal for you. But that's why I went to her today. Because she can get into Helena's head like no one else. Because they're alike."

"She can get into Helena's head because she's smart," Nikolas corrected. "Claudia isn't Helena. Helena is what Claudia is scared of becoming. Sometimes Helena is what Claudia thinks she has to become to survive," he allowed. "But underneath all that, Claudia is us. Only born female into a family that despises females. Threatened with death since the day she was born, from almost everyone she's ever known. She's me. She's you. Without Stefan. Under worse circumstances. If you can imagine that. Living by a code that has dictated her death, and accepting it. What you need to do, if you're going to figure out what Claudia's up to, is figure out what you would do if you were in her position and wanted me to gain custody."

Alexis momentarily pursed her lips and tilted her head. Then she conceded. "All right. I'll accept your premise. For now. So she's not going to have Sonny killed after her death, because that would be pointless. She needs to find a way for the courts to have to give you custody. A way to prevent Sonny and the Zaccharas from being the inevitable choices. And remember, you're in no way biologically --" Alexis stopped. Her jaw dropped open. "Oh. My. God."

"What?"

"She wouldn't. No one has ever... If anyone found out, she'd be dead. But she's going to die anyway, so that makes sense in a way. But what would happen to her brother? Unless..."

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

Claudia's hospital room.

Claudia brushed John's hair back.

"I'll listen, but that doesn't mean I'll do what you want," John said.

"I'm shocked. I think you'll like this one. John, I need you to leave the organization. I need you to leave here and disappear."

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

Wyndemere. Living room.

Alexis got up. She walked a few feet. Then she turned to face Nikolas.

"What is it?," he asked.

"Claudia's planning on taking down the whole Mob -- Corinthos, Zacchara, you name it. From the grave."