Cassadine Industries. Nikolas' Office.

Lulu entered the office, putting down her handbag and a pizza.

This place was fully decked out, with two couches, a desk, and a conference table. There was even a fireplace.

It looked like someone had recently squeezed in all of the equipment that would be needed for tonight. Two copiers. Digital recording duplicators. Flash drives. Brand new portable hard drives still in their boxes.

But none of that was what first caught Lulu's eye.

No. That would be the multiple T.V.s. The stereo system.

Lulu had no idea why Nikolas spent most of his time at his hospital office instead of here.

That refrigerator was inhumanly slick. Lulu opened up the refrigerator. Fully stocked. A note taped on top of the beer: "Lulu, Just don't drink anything alcoholic. Take as much as you want of anything else. Nikolas."

Lulu took a soda can and popped it open. Then she sat down in the largest, plushest chair and turned on the T.V.

"In other news, Puerto Rico is still reeling from this morning's series of gang-like executions."

Who needed to see that? Lulu changed the channel.

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

Hidden Room Under General Hospital.

The outer door slid open and Viktor wheeled Claudia in.

Nikolas and Johnny hurried to her side.

"Sonny's on his way, if he's not here already," she said.

"How are your contractions?," Dr. Waters asked, helping her up and leading her into the delivery room.

"Five minutes --," she turned to Viktor for confirmation, and he nodded. "Five minutes apart. 60 seconds long."

"You were cutting it close," he said.

"It all worked out," she said. She sat on the bed as another contraction ripped through her.

Nikolas hurried over with his three envelopes. "I have the documents ready for --"

Dr. Waters shook his head at Nikolas. "Not now."

Nikolas looked at Claudia. Her eyes were closed. She moaned a little.

"Claudia?," Nikolas said.

"Give her a minute," Dr. Waters said. "This is normal."

In a minute, Claudia's eyes opened again. She turned to Nikolas.

"Hi," she said. She kissed him.

"Hi. Are you all right?"

"Mm-hmm. Puerto Rico started early."

"I heard."

"What do you have for me?"

Nikolas opened the first envelope, and took out a set of papers. "Divorce," he said, holding out the papers and a pen.

Claudia signed.

"Annulment," he said, holding out the next set.

Claudia signed.

"Custody."

Claudia signed.

She looked up and saw Johnny transferring the contents of the fake labor bag into an archival file box. "John?," she called out.

"Yeah?"

"Leave the two wrapped presents for me. The camera too. That's for you to take pictures of the baby."

"Okay."

Claudia turned to Nikolas. "I put together the real labor bag too early. I forgot a few things. Oh. Anything marked with green tape is what you can use for immediate leverage. Everything else is good, but you only really need it for back-up."

"All right."

"The flash memory with the green tape is really important. That's the conspiracy to commit murder."

"No statute of limitations."

"Right. I made an extra copy of it just in case mistakes are made. You being the guy who usually orders people to make copies and not being used to doing busy work."

"I'll be careful."

"Just in case."

Another contraction. Claudia went inside herself.

Nikolas put the envelopes away, sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her.

Viktor came in.

"Clothing?," Viktor said.

"In the closet of the waiting room," Nikolas said.

Viktor nodded.

Nikolas took out the other set of papers.

Claudia came out of her fog.

"Hey," Nikolas said.

"Hey. What do you have there?"

"It's a photocopy of your Will. Just in case Sonny finds you."

"'Kay." She took it and put in on the table next to her bed.

Viktor came in, wearing an EMT uniform. "I am ready," he said.

"Johnny can tell you about the car," Nikolas said. "Here are your other keys."

Viktor went back into the waiting room.

"I have to go change," Nikolas said.

"Okay."

"I'll be back."

He kissed her. She stroked his cheek.

He pulled away and went into the other room.

"John?," she called out.

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

General Hospital. Maternity Ward.

"People do not just disappear," Sonny haranged Nurse Crowell. "Not when they're as big as my wife is right now."

"Sonny," Jason said.

"And she's got a big Russian dude following her everywhere."

"Sonny. Can I talk to you?"

Sonny and Jason went over to the waiting area.

"Nikolas isn't in his office. And get this: Dr. Waters is on vacation."

Sonny got a dark look on his face.

"Sonny. I have to get back to business."

"Yeah."

"We can't have any more defections. And I've got to get your island taken care of."

"Yeah."

"I've put a guard on every entrance into this hospital. If she's still here, she's not getting out. Can you handle the rest of it on your own?"

"Leave me Freddy."

"Okay."

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

General Hospital. Service entrance.

Viktor came out, dressed in his EMT uniform. He pulled his cap down over his eyes and walked past two men who were clearly on a stake out. Whether it was legitimate or mob-initiated, he wasn't going to stick around to find out.

He searched the parking lot and saw the Buick that John Zacchara had left for him. He went over, took out the keys and popped the lock.

He slipped inside and opened the glove compartment. The directions were there.

He fired up the engine and left G.H. for the garage at Crimson Pointe.

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

Claudia's Delivery Room.

Nikolas came back into the delivery room, dressed in a security guard's uniform, complete with hat.

He sat down next to Claudia, and waited out a contraction.

"I have to go," he said when her eyes focused.

"I know," she said, her eyes now filling with tears.

"It's only a few more weeks."

"I know. I just -- keep safe. Be very careful."

"I will."

She stroked her thumb across his lower lip.

They kissed.

They pulled apart. She straightened his tie.

"You look really good in uniform," she said.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said.

She pulled him back to her and hugged him tightly. "I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too," he whispered back. He probably never hated Sonny more than he did right at this moment. This was something Nikolas was supposed to be here for. And he was leaving.

After a moment, she pulled back. She was struck again by how unbelievable it all was that he was doing all of these crazy things for her.

"All right?," he said.

She nodded, brushing a tear away.

He kissed her one last time.

Then he left, picking up the file box full of evidence on his way out.

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

GreyStone. Living Room.

Max, Milo and Jason came into the house.

"I have to go to Puerto Rico for awhile," Jason said. "This is going to be a rough time here. Our people are going to start to get scared. I'm going to be depending on you two to keep things on track with the men who work for Sonny."

"What about Mrs. C.?," Max asked.

"Sonny says he'll take care of finding her."

"Any direction you want to give us for right now?," Milo asked.

"Yeah. Check out the house. Claudia may have left something behind, some kind of clue about where she is or where she's headed."

Max and Milo nodded.

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

General Hospital. Emergency Room.

Nikolas pulled his hat down over his eyes and kept his head down.

Liz made him out right away, and stifled a grin.

"You!," Epiphany said, pointing to Nikolas.

Nikolas turned her way without looking up.

"You got permission to take that box out of the hospital?"

Nikolas took a form from his pocket and handed it to Epiphany. The permission form, coincidentally enough, had been signed by Nikolas Cassadine. Epiphany looked it over, and then looked the box over.

"Okay. You can go," she said.

Nikolas went out through the metal detectors, only to be stopped by one of Sonny's men.

"What's in the box?," Sonny's man said.

"Who are you?," said Epiphany, who had followed Nikolas out. "What are you doing on my property? Keep this up and I'll have you taken in for disrupting emergency care."

Nikolas slipped away, making a mental note to give Epiphany a raise.

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

General Hospital. Nikolas' Office.

Monica Quartermaine watched Sonny slip into Nikolas' office.

She hesitated, and then followed him inside.

Sonny jumped at the sound of the door shutting behind her.

"Hello, Sonny. Nikolas is out right now. May I help you?"

"He...has...my...wife.," Sonny said through gritted teeth.

"What do you mean?," Monica asked. She hadn't seen Nikolas since before she'd signed the Will, and had been wondering about the connection between Nikolas Cassadine and Claudia Corinthos.

"My wife disappeared. She's giving birth. Do you know anything about it?"

"No," Monica said. "Why would you think Nikolas had anything to do with this?"

"Do you know where he is?," Sonny said, raising his voice.

"If I did," she said, "I wouldn't tell you."

"He's taking my son!"

"Well. I know how that feels. You have my sympathy. Now if you'd please..." Monica opened the door and held it open for Sonny.

Sonny left, followed by Monica. She locked the door behind her.

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

GreyStone. The Nursery.

Max and Milo stood with their mouths agape, surveying the nursery.

Every piece of furniture had been cracked wide open. There were empty baby supply boxes strewn haphazardly on the floor.

The rocking horse was missing its saddle and appeared to have an empty hollow belly.

They glanced at each other.

"You tell him," Milo said, hurrying out of the room.

Max followed him out, calling out to him, "You opened the door. You saw it first. You tell him!"

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

Diane Miller's Office.

Max had called earlier. Cancelled their date.

She had made plans for an early getaway from the office and now this. A glowering Sonny demanding she obtain a search warrant.

"That would not be my department, Sonny. You'd need to talk to Mac about that."

"I need you to do something. File something. Call it a missing person's report."

"She needs to be missing for twenty-four hours."

"Can we sue him for something?"

"For what?"

"I don't know! That's your job!"

"Do not raise your voice to me. And I will try to figure something out."

There was a knock on Diane's door. She was never getting out of here.

"Entrez!," she called out.

Two men dressed in crisp suits entered.

The first one flashed an F.B.I. identification card. "Ma'am, tonight we rescued one of our agents from an abandoned building owned by your client Michael Corinthos. We'd like to ask a few questions."

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

Claudia's Delivery Room.

Claudia was soaked in sweat, grimacing.

"Now? Oh God, please let me push now," she pleaded with Dr. Waters.

"I'm sorry, Claudia. I know how hard this is. But you're not dilated enough. You're feeling pressure because the baby descended before you were ready. He's pressing against your cervix, but you're not dilated enough."

"Is that bad?," she asked anxiously.

"No. Can you hang on?"

Claudia moaned, and then nodded.

Johnny held a glass of water up to Claudia's mouth. She took a sip.

"You're doing great," Johnny said. He wiped her face with a wet cloth. "You're gonna make it."

The contraction passed. Claudia took a deep breath and looked at the fetal monitor. Everything was in normal range.

"I'm sorry," she said to Dr. Waters.

"No need to apologize. It shouldn't be too much longer now."

Johnny rubbed her back as she shifted on the bed.

Claudia turned to Johnny. "Have I totally ruined you ever wanting to be a father?"

"You're gonna have to do a lot worse than this."

Claudia cried out in pain again.

"Come on, Claudia," Johnny said. "Breathe. Breathe through it."

Claudia was starting to appreciate those breathing exercises. The contraction passed. She looked into Johnny's eyes.

"You're so good. I missed you so much when I was away." Claudia started to cry. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Hey," Johnny said. "I promise. We'll see each other again. And it won't take as long this time."

"Claudia," Dr. Waters said. "You're ready. You can start pushing with your next contraction."