Chapter 12
"You can't freeze me to death! Laura! I have a child, your granddaughter. You don't want to be the reason that Charlotte doesn't have a father anymore. Don't allow Luke Spencer to make decisions for you. He always did. He's the reason behind all the bad decisions in your life. That's how you ended up in the looney bin", pleaded Valentine while being held by Robert and Lucky.
"Shut up, Cassadine! You know nothing!", yelled Luke.
Laura touched Luke's arm to calm him down. "We, as a group, decided that it is time to end you. Luke does not nor did he ever control me. I am my own person. I make my own decisions. You have no insight into the life I had. All you have are stories. You weren't there. Will I feel bad when I go back to Port Charles and tell Charlotte that you had an accident and never woke up? Of course. It will break my heart to break her heart. The only thing about you that it admirable is how Charlotte loves you, but everything else is pure evil", said Laura.
Valentine scoffed and said, "You can't prove anything evil about me. All you have is stories too."
Laura rolled her eyes and responded by saying, "You held myself and others hostage and threatened to kill us. You almost killed me and shot Kevin instead. How would you have felt if I held you and Nina hostage and held a gun to your face but shot Nina instead and got away with it?! I watched that man take a bullet for me and almost die for me! And you got away with that. You attempted to kidnap Spencer because he was in your way to the Cassadine fortune. When in reality, you had the claim all along! You got away with those charges too! Then, you kept Charlotte away from her own mother! Why? LuLu isn't a bad person. All she wanted was to bond with her daughter and you didn't even want to introduce them! You didn't want to because you were afraid. Afraid that Charlotte would want to be more Spencer than Cassadine. Well, hate to break it to you, but that girl was born Spencer. She does not have an evil Cassadine bone in her body. But, you got away with that too. Finally, onto the worst of all. You murdered my son! My first-born son! The son who I left when he was so young and I had to work to gain his trust and love. The son who was always there for me. The son who had a child of his own! The son who would have given you anything just to let him and his family free. And what kills me is that you didn't have to kill him. You already had the claim. His death was in vain! People tell me that Nikolas died a hero, but I don't see it like that. I see it as my baby boy dying without a reason. And you got away with that! You got away with everything because for some reason seven witness statements weren't good enough to put you away! Well, your reign of terror is over. Now."
Valentine remained silent. He had no smart mouth response to Laura's rampage. Valentine knew that the only way to spare his life was to stop with the smart remarks and attempt to apologize. Valentine spoke up and said, "Laura, I truly apologize for-"
"No! No! You don't get to say that you are sorry! You're not! You are just trying to get out of your punishment! It's over Valentine! There is nothing you can say or do that would make me or everyone else here change their minds about putting you in the freeze chamber. Everyone here hates you for valid reasons. And if you were truly sorry, you would have apologized a long time ago", interrupted Laura.
"My mom is right. You hurt everyone here. You took away my brother. My only brother. I know that Nikolas and I weren't friendly at the start, but he became not only my brother, but my best friend. You took him away from me. From LuLu. From his son. And you don't care. You almost killed my mom. But you didn't care about that either. You have no remorse for any of your actions", Lucky said to Valentine.
Tiffany spoke up and said, "You almost killed my best friend and you killed her son. You may have not done anything to me personally, but when you hurt my best friend, I will come after you. Just from being around you for a short period of time, I could tell that nothing matters but power and fortune to you. You are a cruel, cruel man. And darlin', your reign of terror ends today."
"Listen here, Cassadine. See this woman over here", Robert pointed at Laura. "I've known her since she was about 18 years old. I am very protective of her. If someone gives her a hard time or bumps into her the wrong way, I will go after them. You almost killed her and killed her son. You broke her. You broke her heart because her children are her heart. Nothing will stop me from ending you. Right here. Right now."
Luke took a step forward and said, "Cassadines have always had their issues with Laura and myself. It's in your DNA. I understand that all of you hate us because I accidentally killed Mikkos. Not Laura. For some reason, Laura always gets the blame for killing Mikkos when I was the one who pushed him into the freeze chamber. We had to stop your father from freezing the world. Everyone would have died. But it wasn't my plan to kill the man. That truly was an accident. But then, Helena cursed us and shortly after that she had Laura kidnapped. Stavros raped Laura and she had Nikolas. Yes, Laura kept Nikolas a secret and I hated him, but he was her son. You took her son from her. You took my kids' brother from them. Nikolas and I were never best friends, but he meant something to people that I love. And one thing that you should have learned throughout your study of mine and Laura's history is that if you hurt her, I will kill you. Well, you hurt her and I'm going to kill you."
Valentine looked around at all the people who were telling him the reasons why they wanted to end his life and the one reason that stood out was that he hurt Laura. Everyone here and in Port Charles seems to idolize Laura. They would go to the ends of the earth for her. She is Port Charles' queen and he destroyed her life by killing her son. Valentine knew that there was no way out of this. These people hate him. He can't say anything that would change their minds. They all want to kill him. It's finally time to pay for his sins.
Lucky and Robert dragged Valentine to the room that held the freeze chamber with Luke following behind them. Laura decided that she didn't want to be the one to press the button or be in the room when they froze Valentine. She understands that she is agreeing to the freezing of him, but she doesn't want to see it happen. Tiffany decided to stay with Laura while the guys did the dirty work.
"Darlin'? You okay?", Tiffany asked Laura.
Laura gave a sad smile and said, "I will be. I just, I don't know how to feel. I want to feel horrible for allowing my son, Luke, and Robert kill my granddaughter's father, but I have a little bit of relief in me right now. He'll be gone. Forever. I'll have justice for Nikolas' death. I just feel horrible for Charlotte."
"Honey, you always had the biggest heart", said Tiffany with a small smile. "I know you didn't fully want to freeze this man to death, but isn't it the only way that would end the evil Cassadines for good?"
"I suppose so, but I just wish that there was another option besides freezing him to death", said Laura.
Tiffany responded, "Well, honey, you were married to Luke Spencer. You should know multiple ways of torture and murder."
Laura rolled her eyes, "Tiffany! Luke was never some kind of paid mobster like Sonny Corinthos or Jason Morgan. He would help them, but he wasn't one of them. Sometimes, I didn't even want him to help them. It was too dangerous."
"He was the man you chose to love, but I see from the rock on your finger that you found a new man. Please for the love of God tell me that it's not Scotty Baldwin! Again", said Tiffany.
Laura let out one of her signature belly laughs. "No, it's not Scotty. It's Kevin Collins."
"The shrink who was with wacky Lucy Coe?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Tell me everything! Come on! Sit, sit, sit!" Tiffany and Laura sat on the table that Valentine tied Robert on. "So, tell me about your new hubby How did the two of you find each other?"
Laura laughed. "Well, Helena left me some stupid clue for a scavenger hunt she left for me to follow. I needed a cryptographer and messaged him anonymously online. I went to meet the cryptographer and it turned out to be Kevin. We were surprised to see each other. He deciphered some words and we went on this hunt together. He then followed me to Cassadine Island where Valentine kept us hostage and killed Nikolas. Kevin ended up taking a bullet for me and I dug it out of him."
Tiffany interrupted, "Some bonding experience, huh?".
"Haha. Yeah. Well, we came back to Port Charles and went on our first real date. We had a little bump in our relationship road, but we got over it. Umm. I flashed him while he was dressed as Santa", continued Laura.
"Excuse me? Santa? Laura Webber Baldwin Spencer you are kinky."
"No. No. It wasn't like that. It was a weird accident that he was dressed as Santa. When Spencer came back to town, we moved in with Kevin. Kevin proposed twice. First time, I shot him down. The second time on Halloween I accepted. It was very romantic. And we married on Christmas. That's pretty much our love story", said Laura.
Tiffany asked, "Does he really love you? They way you deserve to be loved?".
Laura smiled and replied, "Yes. Without a doubt. He's such the opposite of Luke, but he's kind, gentle, and so smart. He's stable and funny. He has Luke's best qualities and the qualities that I was always trying to pull out of Luke. He's pretty perfect."
Tiffany grabbed Laura's hand and squeezed it. "I can tell. Your eyes were always very telling. When you speak of him, your eyes light up. I will always have a soft spot for the Luke and Laura relationship, but I can tell how hurt and scarred that relationship left the both of you. I am so glad that you found someone again. Someone who appreciates the amazing woman that you are, darling."
Tears welled in Laura's eyes. "Thank you. You and Sean have been my inspiration. The way the both of you love each other for better and for worse. I always admired the way that you and Sean looked past each other's shortcomings and loved each other anyway. You never brought them up for argument's sake, just for humor. Meanwhile, Luke and I would use those short comings as jabs and argument points. I wanted to find someone who could be the Sean to my Tiffany. I think I found it in Kevin."
Tiffany pulled Laura into a hug and said, "Thank you, honey. I am so glad that you found what you were looking for and always deserved. When we get off this forsaken island, I want to go home and get Sean so we can visit Port Charles and spend time with you and Kevin. I think Sean might like him more than Luke."
Laura and Tiffany laughed.
"So, tell me. How's life in London? How's Sean? Anna? What's she like?", asked Laura.
Tiffany replied, "London is nice. We had to learn 'God Save the Queen', which was difficult because I barely knew the 'Star Spangled Banner'. Sean is in a wheelchair due to the gun shot years ago and polonium poisoning. He gets around pretty well. He's still very stubborn. He's very much the same as the last time you spent time with him. And Anna, well, she's everything I ever wanted in a daughter and more. She has a lot of Sean's characteristics, but she's very fashionable and up on pop culture like her mother. She's the perfect mix of super spy and movie star."
"I am so happy for you. I know how badly you wanted to be a mother. I always knew you would be great at it. I hope to meet Anna someday. I want to tell her all kind of crazy stories about us. I am so glad you came to save us. After this is all over, I want to keep in touch", said Laura.
"Everyday", replied Tiffany.
Laura responded, "Multiple phone calls a day."
Soon, Laura and Tiffany's conversation was interrupted. The door opened and Lucky, Luke, and Robert waltzed through. Laura and Tiffany hopped off the table. Laura asked, "Did you do it? Did you freeze him?".
"Yes. It's over. The evil Cassadines are all dead. We are finally free, Angel", answered Luke.
"What happened? Tell me the details", said Laura.
A confused Luke responded, "Why? It's over. Let's get off this island and go home."
"Luke! I need to know what happened. Please. Even though you pushed the button, I am just as guilty in this decision", replied Laura.
Luke took a deep breath. He knew Laura wouldn't let anyone leave unless he told her what happened. "Angel, we walked him to the freeze room. We put him in and I asked if he had any final thoughts. He said he was just living up to his family name. He also said to tell you that in the Cassadine security box at Wyndamere is a piece of paper that will make Spencer really happy. We closed the door on him, activated the machine, and pressed the button. He's gone Laura. We are finally in the clear of all evil Cassadines."
Laura knew that this needed to be done, but she felt some remorse for what they all just did. As evil as Valentine was, he had a child and a wife. She allowed Luke to take Charlotte away from the father she idolized and Nina's husband away. Laura doesn't really care for Nina, but she knows how it feels to be in love and to think the one you love is dead, except this time Nina's husband is really dead. Lucky interrupted her thoughts when he said, "Mom, I don't believe that murder is always the best option, but we had to punish this guy. He got away with everything. He took Nikolas away from us. He almost took you away from me and LuLu. I know that you will carry some guilt for the rest of your life about this. I will too. But, it was the only way to make sure he never hurt any of us again." Lucky drew Laura into his arms and hugged his mother.
Robert said, "As soon as I can find a phone, I will get in contact with the WSB. I'll tell them what happened here. Luke and I will take one hundred percent accountability for all the actions. Laura, Tiff, and Lucky will remain in the clear. The WSB will make this look like an accident and we can go home back to our mundane lives."