SLD-94 (Book 2 Chapter 34)

Central Command, Moscow

The dawn light was only beginning to enter the tall windows lining the long corrider where Constantine Korolev was walking through. Though his steps were light, his heart was heavy and his nerves were stretched tight. Upon receiving word of his son Ivan's injuries, he had returned to Central Command - the heart of the DVX. Ivan was out of surgery but still had not regained consciousness. He was in serious condition but his prognosis was good. About his wife and daughter, there was no news. Not yet.

At the end of the corridor, he knocked on a door labelled "Stairs." After a quick glance around, he opened the door and stepped through.

In the stairway, he went down two flight of stairs snapping his fingers every few seconds. He reached a landing and stopped. He listened.

Another man called out from below, "Constantine?"

"Yes," replied Constantine.

"Full delivery is confirmed."

"Good." Constantine breathed in deeply. Ava had reached Sochi. She and their daughter Nina were together and safe. He began to turn away to return up the stairs then paused. "Piotr, get your family away."

"And you?"

"I will not be leaving. I cannot," said Constantine.

"Will you take care of … the problem?"

"I have no choice," answered Constantine. "Obey my last order. Leave. Today."

Constantine returned to his office. On the way, he passed a woman pushing a cart with crates full of paper. A sign saying "Shredder" swung loosely on the cart.

He removed a slip of paper from his jacket pocket. Casually, he tossed the paper on top of a crate. He barely glanced at the woman as he walked away.

The cart was pushed into an elevator. As the doors closed, the woman palmed the note. It would change hands a few more times until the message, if not the note itself, reached its final destination.

Constantin poured himself some water. He sat down at his desk. He rubbed at his throbbing temples. He took out some headache pills and took them.

He lay back in his chair and closed his eyes. Relieved that his family was safe, he let his mind wander to another topic - his house guest, Cesar Faison, his problem.

After speaking of a traitor, Faison had received a series of calls. He had grown increasingly agitated and distracted with each successive call. Faison had dismissed Constantine. The house staff had told him that Faison had locked himself in his room for some time before leaving the house in a hurry.

Constantine had verified that Faison had left the country. Glancing down at an intelligence report sitting on his desk, he felt he had a good idea where Faison was destined for - Australia.

Scorpio Ranch, Australia

Robert opened the door to their bedroom laden with a breakfast tray. He closed his eyes and walked backwards into the room.

"Robert, what are you doing?"

"Isn't it bad luck to see the bride on the day of the wedding?" asked Robert. "The wedding is on, yes?"

"Those superstitions have the opposite effect on us - bad luck," said Anna ignoring his real question.

Robert heard the soft padding of Anna's feet on the wood floors. He heard the door lock click into place. Shortly, he felt Anna standing close by. He held his breath but kept his eyes closed.

Anna took the tray from Robert. "You didn't have to sleep in the spare room."

Still with his eyes closed, Robert answered, "My survival instincts kicked in. Why tempt your refined homicidal tendencies?"

"It could have been fun after I cooled down." Anna circled Robert. Her hand grazed against his body as she moved around.

"Wh-what's going on?" asked Robert instantly suspicious.

"Open your eyes."

"I … I don't want to. You're in a strange mood."

"Aren't I allowed? It IS my wedding day."

Robert grinned but still did not open his eyes. "Have a good breakfast, luv and then-"

"Um, no."

"No?"

"I have something to do first."

"What's that besides look gorgeous?"

She placed her palms flat against Robert's back. Her hands glided upwards and stopped at his shoulder. A wry smile appeared on her face as she felt Robert's shoulder muscles tense. She said, "I did a lot of thinking last night."

"So did I," said Robert. "I should have told you about the arrangements earlier. It was wrong of me to ambush you. But all's well that ends well, right?"

"You will always be impossible," said Anna. "I shouldn't bother to expect different."

Robert's voice softened. "You know why I don't want to waste anymore time. It's running out too fast."

"Shhhh. I understand. I do."

"Don't forget to repeat that later, luv."

"Not later."

Robert's eyes snapped open. "What?!"

Anna walked around him. "I realized that I've made mistakes - four times. Today, I'm changing things."

Robert's eyes took her in. He looked for signs of distress or anger and found none. Dressed in her night robe, she stood smiling at him like a kid who had found the cookie jar. His eyes swept around the room. Everything was neat and in its place. Feeling more unnerved by the second, he cleared his throat and said, "Anna, what's going on? What changes? Something about the ceremony?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine with it now. Everything's arranged. I only have to show up," said Anna.

"And you will won't you?"

"Of course. I don't want to disappoint our family and friends," said Anna. She kneaded and rubbed at his shoulders. "You are so tense, Robert."

Robert sighed. "Well, so much to deal with later. We stopped for a bit and things blow up in our faces."

"Relax."

"You've got the magic touch." Robert's eyes shuttered. He shoulders bowed giving in to Anna's massage. "What changes did you want to make? We still have half a day at least."

Anna's voice was a near purr. "Yes, we do. Not a minute to waste."

"The dress will be here in a few hours. Tiffany and Felicia gushed about it enough. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will. Sean knows my tastes pretty well." Anna pressed close to him and gently forced him to walk backwards towards the bed. "The change I have in mind is more … immediate."

Robert's hands found Anna's waist and lingered there. "Does it involve me?"

"Oh, yes," said Anna. She stopped their backwards progress when Robert's legs bumped the foot of the bed. "You see everything about us is backwards but we keep trying to fix things by putting them in the right order thinking that it's the way to fix our, um, backwardness. It's like a self-inflicted curse, Robert."

"Backwards? I'm not following."

"We met, fell madly in love, got married despite not knowing each very well at all, divorced, got to know each other, became best friends, remarried or so we thought," said Anna.

"I … I had our lawyer Roger verify that we are both utterly unattached to any former spouses this time around."

"I commend your forward thinking," said Anna. "Do you want to know my fix to our situation?"

"I can listen to you forever when you're like this."

Anna laughed softly. "I've decided that our backwardness works for us and we shouldn't change it. Therefore, we are having our honeymoon BEFORE the formal ceremony. In fact, right now."

"Technically, it's not a honeymoon if we're not married," said Robert. "But I don't have a problem pretending we are and-"

"No pretense necessary." Anna took Robert's hand in hers. Her face grew serious but her eyes were bright with happiness. She said, "I, Anna, take you, Robert, to be my husband, now and for always, in the good times and the bad, during the calm and the crazy times of our life to come. Together or apart, I promise the things that mean the most to me - love, honesty, loyalty, forgiveness and compassion."

Anna raised their joined hands and kissed Robert's hand. She looked up and into his shining eyes.

He said hoarsely, "I, Robert, take you Anna, to be my wife, my partner, my best friend, my everything. This isn't fair. You had all night to think of your vows."

"Improvise."

Robert grinned then continued, "From this day forward, whatever comes, we stand together in … in joy, love and trust. I love you, Anna, and that will never change. I promise."

Robert echoed Anna's gesture and kissed her hand. They stood close savoring the moment. They couldn't seem to stop smiling at each other.

"You have to believe in your heart that we're married, Robert, or this won't work to lift the curse," said Anna.

"I absolutely do believe. Can I kiss the bride now, Mrs. Scorpio?" asked Robert.

"And then some, Mr. Scorpio."

They fell into each other's arms. Eyes closed. Hands wandered and traveled. Lips met. And the world was shut out for a while.

Unfortunately, the world stops for no one. People went about their lives in every timezone and continent. For most, it was a regular day. For others, it would be an extraordinary one.

CHIONE Base, Mersin, Turkey

Charlotte avidly read the emails and other communications as they streamed across her screen. She was running several field operations and the fact that all were proceeding as planned lifted her mood. One notice caught her attention.

She read the message out loud to herself. "Marick plane gone. Flight plan for Australia. Passengers unknown."

"I really should let Alexandra have the day with her sister," said Charlotte.

In her peripheral vision, she spied Peter standing at her doorway with his hand raised as if to knock. "Yes, Peter?"

"How many operatives do you have? They seem to be everywhere," said Peter.

"Only in the places I need them to be," said Charlotte. "I'm familiarizing myself with the operatives we've inherited from Elena's network. Most are quite impressive - retired agents on the payroll, suborned intelligence officers, bribed military officials and a few mid-level politicians with unusually healthy campaign war chests."

Peter came inside and took a seat on the sofa. "Betrayals in her past made Elena exceedingly careful of recruitment. She avoided the ideological zealots and stayed with those she could control by various means."

"A wise policy," replied Charlotte. "I thought you would be in your lab for the rest of the week. What with your client doubling their order."

"I will be. I'm having a break," said Peter. "I also wanted to thank you for your assistance in the matter."

"Your work funds our very existence," said Charlotte. "And, we all must work together, don't we?"

"We should also get to know each other better," said Peter. "You know more about me than I know about you."

"I've led a very dull life in prison."

"I doubt that."

"I assure you I was indeed incarcerated."

"From Elena, I know some things about Helena's past history but you are an enigma," said Peter.

"I am as what I appear to be."

"No. What you choose to present is what I am allowed to see," said Peter. "You are confident, intelligent, charming, witty and ambitious but you are also very closed off. There's a part of you that no one sees, isn't there?"

"I forget you're a trained psychiatrist. You don't miss much," said Charlotte evading actually answering the question.

"Professional reflexes and habits are hard to shake or stop," said Peter. "However, I won't delve too deeply. I shall respect your boundaries and earn your trust. However, I do expect reciprocity."

"I agree," said Charlotte. "And in the spirit of beginning a rapprochement, I will tell you how I found your past."

Peter grinned. "As I recall, you said that I had been sloppy. I may have been. I'm a doctor not a spy. I must have left quite a trail."

"Only if one knew what to look for," said Charlotte. "I was investigating someone else and found you instead."

"Interesting. Who were you looking for?"

"Your cousin, Cesar Faison." Charlotte watched Peter's reaction. His expression lost all animation. "In the few people who have encountered him, he always elicits such strong reactions."

"He's not one to be trifled with. Leave him alone and he will do the same to you."

"Everyone has a weakness even him," countered Charlotte. "For various reasons, I cannot leave him to his own devices."

"Can't you not be glad to simply be alive?"

"Like you are?"

"If he ever finds out what I did to Robin Scorpio, he won't rest until I've paid," said Peter. "Permanently."

"But you kept her imprisoned with impunity."

"Desperation not impunity," said Peter. "I wanted to prove to him that my work was effective. That's all. Things spiralled out of control. I never ever meant to harm her."

"You kept her alive to protect your own neck?"

"Yes."

"Why keep her? Why not return her?"

"Her recovery was too long. I wasn't even sure if Robin WOULD wake up," said Peter clearly agitated. "By the time she did, my … my double was established."

"It was too late to repair the damage and if you tried, Faison would have known."

Peter nodded. "I treated her as best as I could. I even toyed with the idea of … of using Compound A to mold her into someone else."

"It could have killed her," said Charlotte.

"Combined with the effects of HIV on her body, yes, I believe it would have. I don't know how she survived at all the first time."

"She's very strong-willed and brave."

"I'm relieved she's off my hands now," confessed Peter. "One less thing for Cesar to kill me for."

"Are you referring to your treatment of Robin's mother, Anna, while she was at Skyview?"

"I left too many notes on the trail didn't I?" asked Peter. "I thought they would have incinerated everything after the sanitarium closed."

"You did not account for an overly dedicated archivist. Many records and documents were stored at the local library. Ready and waiting to be found by me," said Charlotte. "You were a prominent citizen, Peter."

Peter shrugged. "I did my early work there and left in disgrace. One would think they would want nothing to do with me."

"Your amnesia serum was effective. It prolonged Anna's amnesia," said Charlotte.

"The treatment was unfinished. She made treatment difficult. She fought back. No one wanted to help me with her," said Peter. "Obviously, she is no longer an amnesiac."

"No but according to my sources she is still prone to seizures. Some parts of her memory may still be broken or missing," said Charlotte. "Are the seizures a side effect?"

"I'm not sure. I never intend long term harm to my patients, Charlotte," said Peter. "If only I'd known who she really was. Faison asked me to look out for her until he could come and get her himself. I did. He never told me that he was in love with her."

"If he had, would you have refrained from giving her the amnesia serum?" asked Charlotte. "Would your fear of Faison have overriden your … desires?"

"In that instance, yes. I'm not a fool or a courageous man, Charlotte," said Peter.

"Anna and Alex seem to attract the most … devoted of men. It is a continual source of amusement for me," noted Charlotte. "Why didn't Faison get Anna sooner? She was in Skyview for months."

"Who knows. When he did come for her, she'd already escape and I had to get away myself."

"And you did not try to find her?"

"I was too busy trying to survive myself," said Peter. "I watched the newspapers. But with no news about her for more than three months, I assumed she was either dead, in hiding or reunited with her family. I put her out of my mind. I had my research to see to."

"Is it coincidence that the treatment you began on the mother reached fruition with the daughter?"

"It is a tragic one to my mind," said Peter.

"You never not once knew that Anna was Robin's mother?"

Peter shook his head. "Cesar referred to her only as Anna. I knew her as Tessa or Natalie. And, physically, she was changed - gaunt, underweight, very pale, strong but very thin. I never studied the pictures that Robin had wanted to have of her family."

"You wanted professional distance from your prisoner."

Peter nodded. "A coping mechanism. If I didn't see that Robin had connections to the outside world, it made maintaining her captivity … easier to bear for me. When Elena showed me a picture of her, I recognized her."

"And the pieces of the past and the present coalesced into a very different picture."

"Then Eve goes off and DIES!" railed Peter. "The cover identity had worked for years. No one was the wiser. And … and she was happy. She had a family, a child of her own. I left her alone to have that life. I did what I thought was right! What happened to her is … is not MY fault!"

Through this tirade, Charlotte remained silent watching the play of emotions on Peter's face and form. The less he knew of Helena's part in the unmasking of his doppelganger, Eve, the better. Of course, it was one tidbit of information that Charlotte could find useful to employ some day if her partners proved difficult.

Paris, France

The shabbily dressed elderly woman small valise in hand made slow progress across the lobby of a rundown hotel in the poorer section of the city. Its walls were decorated with chipped paint, peeling wallpaper and faded art prints that were probably in vogue in the fifties. Buckets could be seen strategically positioned to catch the rain from the leaky roof. The woman reached the ancient elevator. She sighed gratefully as it began to ascend seemingly by centimeters instead of meters.

Once in her room, Helena Cassadine removed her faded overcoat and nearly flung her dirty shoes out the window. From her valise she removed some bread, cheese and bottled water. A folded newspaper was set aside for later reading. The journey by car had been uneventful but tiring. She would eat and then sleep for a very long time.

Conclave was tomorrow. After rest and time to think and plan, she vowed to be ready for the assembly. She would be prepared to fight, debate and even beg should that serve her purposes best. Most of all she would best Thanos D'Ercy at his own game. Who did he think he was facing? Helena Valakos Cassadine was a woman to inspire respect and fear. She bowed to no one.