Kelly's Diner.

The breakfast rush was over.

Mike had just finished wiping down the last table when Nikolas and Spencer came in.

"Grandpa!" Spencer barreled his way over to Mike.

"Spencer!" Mike scooped Spencer up in his arms and hugged him. "What a great surprise!"

Spencer turned to Nikolas. "My surprise?"

"One of them," Nikolas said.

Mike looked from Spencer to Nikolas as he put Spencer down. Something was up. He turned back to Spencer.

"How about a glass of milk and a cookie, Spencer?"

"Yes, please."

Mike looked at Nikolas, raised his eyebrows and mouthed the word "Please?". Nikolas shrugged.

"Thanks for saying please, Spence. What kind of cookie would you like?"

"I do it," Spencer said, as he struggled to get up onto a bar stool.

Mike grabbed a big-boy high chair and pulled it over to the counter. He lifted Spencer onto it.

"Just one, Spencer," Nikolas said.

"Okay," Spencer said.

Mike set a small plastic cup of milk down by Spencer, engaging him in conversation. Mike moved all the cookie server plates close to Spencer. Spencer set about making his choice with a very solemn expression on his face.

This was going to be difficult, Nikolas thought. After Emily died, Nikolas was of no use to anyone. He could barely get through each day, let alone take care of a child. Mike had been the one to pick up the pieces for Spencer. Even though they hadn't spent much time together lately, Spencer had a pull toward his grandfather that was unbreakable. And why not? Mike had been one of the only constants in the boy's life. Not to mention the fact that Spencer was all Mike had left of Courtney.

Spencer finally selected a cookie.

Nikolas beckoned to Mike, and Mike joined Nikolas.

"He's getting so big. And polite."

Nikolas laughed. "The politeness comes and goes."

"I have to say, I'm glad to see you both. To what do I owe the honor?"

"It's about Helena."

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

Alexis' Office.

At least she'd made it all the way to Alexis' office, Claudia thought. Alexis' pretext was plausible. Too bad Alexis hadn't thought it all out to the point of getting Sonny and Diane unglued from Claudia's side.

Claudia, Diane and Sonny all took seats across from Alexis.

"Thanks for coming, Claudia. I just have a few questions for you about Helena, in a semi-official capacity."

"She shot me," Claudia said. "What more do you need?"

"What my client meant to say," Diane Miller hastened to add, "is that she'll cooperate to the best of her ability."

Alexis wondered what was taking so long. She had signaled to her secretary the moment Sonny and Diane had shown up with Claudia, but either the woman had thought Alexis was playing Charades (which, considering that every one of secretary's fingernails was painted a different color, and she had an assortment of Hello Kitty desk supplies, was not such a stretch), or the PCPD deserved its reputation for being slow on the uptake. What did Mac need -- a map and a flashlight?

At least Claudia was behaving appropriately surly about being called into Alexis' office. Although with Claudia, surly was almost her constant state of being, wasn't it? When she wasn't with Spencer.

"Alexis, do you have questions or not?," Sonny said.

"Yes, I do. Claudia, when Helena first --"

The door to Alexis' office opened, and her secretary ushered Mac and Lucky in.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Davis, but we need to take Mr. Corinthos in for questioning."

Claudia's eyes widened.

"This should be good," Sonny said.

Diane stood up. "This is unconscionable, Commissioner Scorpio. On what grounds?"

"The firearm discharged by Mrs. Corinthos during the recent alleged attack by Helena Cassadine was obtained illegally."

"Oh," said Claudia, struggling to rise, "Do you need me to --"

"That won't be necessary, Mrs. Corinthos. You have a clear-cut case of self-defense. I take it the gun was not yours, particularly due to the array of fingerprints we found on the bullets not discharged."

Claudia hesitated, and then conceded. "No, it wasn't."

"Mr. Corinthos?"

"Just a moment," Diane said. She pulled Alexis aside. "We will need to reschedule Mrs. Corinthos' interview."

"It's okay, Diane. I waive my right to an attorney," Claudia said.

"No, you don't."

"Uh, yes, I do. I don't want to waste any time if they're looking for Helena. If somehow -- by some miracle, since I can't imagine how -- I can help, let me get this over with."

Lucky rolled his eyes.

Claudia looked at Sonny, silently pleading with him.

Sonny took a moment to think about it. He kneeled by Claudia. "I'm going to let you do this," he whispered. "But no guard-ditching or you'll be stuck in your room for the rest of this pregnancy."

Claudia whispered in Sonny's ear, "Don't threaten me. Or you'll be needing a royal taster."

Sonny flashed his dimples at Mac. "Let's go."

Sonny and Diane left, followed by Mac and Lucky.

The secretary closed the door and waited for instructions.

"Wait until they've left the building, and then make the call," Alexis said.

The secretary left, closing the door behind her.

"Thanks for picking up your cues," Alexis said.

Claudia stared after the secretary and then turned to Alexis. "Her fingernails must be killing you."

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

Kelly's Diner.

"I heard what happened, Nikolas," Mike said.

"Helena got too close," Nikolas said. "If Sam hadn't been there, I would have lost everyone, including Spencer."

"Daddy!" Spencer held up his hands.

"Okay," Nikolas said. He went over to Spencer and helped him down from the chair.

Spencer went into the bathroom.

It was a long way up to that sink, Nikolas thought as Spencer closed the door.

Nikolas turned back to Mike. "I'm sending Spencer away."

Mike's face fell. "Why?"

"I need to keep him safe."

"Can't you get more guards?"

"It was one of Helena's guards that set her free."

"Nikolas, there's got to be some other way to handle this than sending him away."

"I hate to do this, Mike. You're the perfect grandfather. Spencer is lucky to have you -- especially because you're the one connection he has left to his mother."

"He has Sonny, too."

Nikolas didn't touch that one.

"How much does this decision have to do with Claudia Zacchara?," Mike asked.

"You mean other than the fact that Helena actually shot Claudia?"

"I mean you obviously have feelings for Claudia if you let her stay with you. Does this decision in any way have to do with keeping Sonny from his nephew?"

"Mike. Sonny is Spencer's uncle in name only. He always has been. It's not like you and Spencer. Sonny has always kept himself away from Spencer. I wouldn't send Spencer away from you unless I had to."

"I'm sorry, it's just your timing is --"

"I don't want him growing up around danger. I want him to have a normal childhood. I'm done with nannies and guards for him. I don't want him spending most of his time with people who are paid to spend time with him. That's something I've only realized recently."

"So what does this mean? How long are you sending him away for?"

"I don't know. And I can't tell anyone where he's going either. But he'll be safe and happy there. And as soon as things are settled, you'll be back in his life. I would never keep you two away from each other."

"I hope not."

"All clean," said Spencer, coming back in the dining area. He tugged on Mike's pants. "I want to play table hockey."

"Then that's we'll do," Mike said, picking Spencer up and carrying him to a table. He nodded at Nikolas over Spencer's head.

Nikolas carried Spencer's empty plate and cup into the kitchen. He exhaled in relief. Then he went to check on the damage Spencer had done to the bathroom.

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

Alexis' Office.

Alexis laid out two copies of a fresh legal document.

"I didn't have a lot to go on, so I basically set up two parts to the Will. One covers your basic worldly possessions and the other covers your son. I assumed you wanted the worldly possessions to be placed in a trust. If Nikolas has custody, he's more than equipped and willing to provide before the trust is given over to your son. I've already discussed this with Nikolas."

"Alexis."

"What?"

"Well. You know. Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't met your witnesses." Alexis took out a pen and uncapped it. She handed it to Claudia. "I had no name to go with. For your son."

Great. Alexis was going to be the first one to know her child's name.

"I'm sorry if this is so abrupt," Alexis said. "Do you have a name?"

"Yes."

Alexis pointed to a line in the Will.

Claudia carefully printed the name in block letters on both copies.

Alexis looked surprised.

"What?," Claudia said.

"Nothing," Alexis. "I guess I was expecting something Italian."

"I thought I'd spare him the weight of his family history," Claudia said. "And yes, I did think of naming him after Nikolas, but I didn't want Spencer to feel strange about that. Spencer's going to have a tough enough time adjusting to a baby brother, even if it's 'Claudee's' son."

Alexis' intercom buzzed. She pushed the TALK button. "Yes?"

"They're here," her secretary announced.

"Ready?," Alexis asked Claudia.

"Sure."

Alexis pushed the TALK button again. "Send them in."

The witnesses came in.

One was some guy with enormous dimples -- bigger than Sonny's -- whom Claudia had never seen before. From the way Alexis was looking at him, Claudia guessed that his invitation was more about Alexis' frustrations than Claudia's Will.

Unfortunately, Claudia did recognize the second witness. It was Dr. Monica Quartermaine, and she looked at Claudia with the same disgust with which she'd looked at her the other night at the hospital. Oh, joy. Ah, well, whatever it took, right?

"Can we get this over with?," Dr. Quartermaine said.

"Thank you both so much for coming," Alexis said. She gave Claudia a pointed look.

"Yes," Claudia said, picking up her cue. "Thank you."

"I have two copies of Claudia Zacchara Corinthos' Last Will and Testament here to be signed and witnessed, so Claudia, if you would..." Alexis pointed out the signature lines.

Claudia signed each copy.

The copies were handed over to the guy witness. He signed quickly, smiling at Claudia. He handed the copies to Dr. Quartermaine and held out his hand, saying, "Ned Ashton. Quartermaine-in-Waiting."

Claudia tentatively took his hand and then shook it. "Thank you," she muttered.

"Anything for Alexis," he said.

Claudia tried to avert her gaze, but all that ended up doing was putting Dr. Quartermaine in her sights. Dr. Quartermaine signed the two copies so hard, the pen almost ripped the pages.

"Thank you," Claudia said.

"This isn't for you," Dr. Quartermaine said. "It's for Michael."

The hair on the back of Claudia's neck rose. "Michael?"

"Yes, the Quartermaines are more civilized about forcing custody issues. We like to do mundane things like sign documents, rather than hang people from meathooks."

"Thank you, Monica," Alexis said. "I'm sure Claudia appreciates that, since she's obviously trying to remove her son from that lifestyle."

"I'm sure," said Monica. "What does she plan on doing if she lives?"

"Well, now that we've all done what we came here to do, it's probably best to get going before anyone -- before we take up any more of your valuable time," Alexis said. "Ned, always a pleasure. Monica, thanks once again."

But Monica could not leave without the final word. She got up in Claudia's face. "You remember what you could have done when your child ends up shot because of the life you chose."

And with that, Dr. Quartermaine left.

Ned looked at Alexis. "I'm staying at the Metro Court," he said.

"I'll see you later."

He left.

Alexis folded up the copies of the Will and placed them in two separate envelopes. "I'll make sure they're safe," she said. "Thanks for not making a scene. I know how hard that is for you."

"If that's your idea of a compliment, it could use a little work. And thanks for bringing in Dr. Feelbad."

"Monica is very likely to keep this a secret. It wasn't personal, anyway. Her axe is really meant to be ground with Sonny."

Claudia had a feeling Alexis wouldn't feel that way if she knew the truth about Michael's shooting.

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

The Office in Back of Sonny's Coffee Shop.

Jason came in as Sonny was finishing up a phone call.

"Spa See Bah," Sonny said into the phone, reading from a legal pad. "Spa See Bah Zah Zuhvah Knock."

Sonny hung up.

"What's that?," Jason said.

"Russian," Sonny said. He held up the legal pad. "This half of the paper says what it means, and this side says how to say it."

"Claudia make that up?"

"I told her what I needed, she said it out loud, I wrote it down like it sounded. Then I sent her out of the room and got Cassadine's guard in there, read it out loud to him, and asked him what I was saying. It all checked out."

"You're going to get rid of that, right?"

"I'm gonna take it home. Get good at it. I should have done this years ago."

Jason sat down. "What did the PCPD want?"

"It was bogus. We were out of there in twenty minutes. They tried to link the gun Claudia used on Helena to me."

"What did they have?"

"Diane's taking care of it. Did you start keeping an eye on Claudia?"

"I've been busy with Puerto Rico. I think I should take a trip there."

Sonny got up. "I told you I need Claudia taken care of."

"And I told you I think it's a bad idea to kill her."

"And that's it?"

"We kill Claudia, there are going to be casualties on our side. Milan won't take it lying down. It's not like when I got rid of Lorenzo. I told you, we're too mixed up with the Zaccharas."

"If you don't do it, I'll do it."

"I'm not saying I won't do it, I'm just saying we need to think this through. I haven't heard anything about when, about how, about where. And what are we going to do about her family once it's done?"

"Okay, see, now you're talking sense. Let's figure this out."

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

Wyndham's Department Store. Toy Department.

When Johnny was born, his mother Maria had been very good about making Claudia feel important as his big sister. So Claudia didn't need to figure out why she was drawn to Wyndham's when she was supposed to be helping Sonny out at the office.

She wanted to find something for Spencer. Something that would let him know that he was still important, and that it was a great thing to be a big brother.

So many of the toys were computerized. Claudia liked Spinelli, but the thought of a twenty-something Spencer speaking in impenetrable sentences in five different languages sent Claudia running from that aisle.

"Daddy."

Oh, no. Nikolas and Claudia had agreed that they would keep their distance. That was partly why they both felt so comfortable with Claudia provoking Sonny: he'd have no proof of anything.

And yet...

That was definitely Spencer's voice.

Claudia ducked out of the aisle she was in and peered into the next one. There they were.

"You like that one?"

"Up please."

Nikolas lifted Spencer up to the highest shelf. While Spencer was looking at some convoluted driving game, Claudia caught Nikolas' eye. He smiled. She quickly looked back at Sonny's man. He too busy watching Viktor to notice anything amiss. She smiled at Nikolas and surreptitiously waved. And then quickly left the department.

This will all be over soon, Claudia thought to herself as she caught an elevator with her two shadows.

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

The Office in Back of Sonny's Coffee Shop.

By the time Claudia arrived, Sonny and Jason were gone.

Claudia opened her gym bag and removed some plastic gloves. She was about to put them on when she noticed Sonny's Russian crib sheet on the desk. She tore it off the legal pad, folded it, and put it in her gym bag.

Then she tore another sheet off, set it on fire, and threw it in the wastepaper basket.

Sonny was really making things too easy for her.

She put on her plastic gloves and removed the new flash memory. Time to see whether Nikolas was right.

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

GreyStone.

When Claudia got home, Sonny had dinner waiting for her. She followed the smell into the dining room.

"Where were you?," Sonny said as he came out of the kitchen.

"I thought we were meeting at your office." Claudia put down her bag and sat down. "What happened with the police?"

Sonny set a salad in front of her. "Nothing. What happened with Alexis?"

"You know lawyers. A lot of talk." Claudia took a bite and then paused as if something had just occurred to her. "Hey. You left your English to Russian cheat sheet at the office. You really shouldn't leave that lying around."

Sonny sat down at his side of the table and unfolded his napkin. "You pick it up for me?"

"I burned it."

Sonny dropped his fork. "You what?"

"Sonny, you think the police were overzealous about Enzio's gun? They would have been holding you overnight for that cheatsheet, and then you would've gotten ten years. From now on, burn those. We'll make new ones each time."

Sonny looked at her suspiciously.

"What?," she asked.

"What are you up to?," he asked, pointing his knife at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You're being all protective. Yesterday you were all threatening. What is this?"

"I don't know," she said. "One minute you're threatening me," she picked up her knife and pointed it at him, demonstrating. "... and the next you're telling me you'd never hurt the mother of your child." She put down the knife and picked up her fork. "What's that about?"

She took another bite of her salad.

Sonny sat back and watched her. Sooner or later she was going to slip up. And he'd be ready for her.

But he didn't mention any of that. Instead, he casually said, "Your rocking horse arrived today."

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

GreyStone. The Nursery. 3 A.M.

Claudia hoped she wasn't tempting fate or Sonny's consciousness by setting her alarm clock for 2:30 in the morning. She'd spent half an hour speeding through her digital recording and then she found it.

The whole plan for her murder. Claudia didn't think it was possible to love Nikolas any more than she already did, but her heart was now overflowing. The man was a genius when it came to planning, not to mention psychological warfare.

Claudia marked this flash memory with a small green adhesive flag and then taped it to the inside of the horse, alongside all the others.

She was probably the only wife in the United States, if not the world, who thrilled to the sounds of her husband detailing her demise. But Claudia had her eye on the prize. And all of her hard work, except for childbirth, was now done. She swung the saddle shut and secured it.