Author's Note: This will be in three chapters. The first chapter just describes how Gerard's schemes led to his undoing, which placed the Collins estate into the hands of Edith.

The second chapter is my attempt to resolve some seeming plot inconsistencies from the show. It will detail how Gerard's vaguely aware spirit felt about the ghost of Quentin, and his brief takeover of Collinwood in 1968, and what that might have meant for Gerard's plans if Quentin's ghost had reigned.

The last chapter will be a retelling of Gerard's triumph and the destruction of Collinwood in 1970, in light of this story.

ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo

Year: 1840 CE

Gerard stepped into the foyer of Collinwood and smiled triumphantly.

Thus far, his plan had been a smashing success. Already, he'd avenged himself upon one of the descendants of Amadeus Collins- for Quentin Collins was dead.

He'd been beheaded at the public square for the charge of witchcraft, which Gerard had just returned from witnessing. He wouldn't have missed it for anything. For just as Amadeus Collins had once had Judah Zachary beheaded for witchcraft, so Gerard had made happen to Quentin.

However, Quentin's death was not enough. Judah's spirit whispered within Gerard's mind that he would see every Collins destroyed, while he took the Collins estate for himself.

That part of the plan was already as good as accomplished. The wheels had been in motion several months before Quentin's execution, and there was a delicious irony to all of it.

Thinking that Quentin had died at sea, his widow Samantha had become engaged to Gerard. Only Quentin hadn't been dead. He'd returned to the estate and made Samantha choose.

Samantha had chosen to marry Gerard for love, but Quentin Collins couldn't leave his ex-wife penniless. He'd made her his inheritor, in the event of his death. Now, with Samantha dead and Quentin executed - their son Tad was legally in Gerard's keeping.

It did not matter if he let the boy live for a while, or if he killed him at once. The end result would be the same.

Gerard's smile gave way to an expression of violent fury. Why wait? He would see Tad dead - NOW!

Gerard slowly began to ascend the stairs to Collinwood's second floor, already resolved to his purpose.

There was one more Collins to kill, and Collinwood would be his forever. Everything that Amadeus Collins had helped build - his fortune, his estate, the family mansion- would belong to Judah Zachary.

Gerard smiled, but that furious evil didn't leave his face. He paused at the door to Tad's bedroom.

"Tad," he called. "It's Gerard! I'd like to speak with you."

Tad slowly opened the door with a sulky expression.

"What do you want?"

"Just to speak," Gerard said, closing the door to give them privacy. "How are you holding up?"

Tad's mouth moved, but no words would come. Instead, his facial expression completely collapsed under the enormity of his recent losses. His father dead. His mother dead...

Tad's lips quivered, his eyes misted over, and he sobbed into his hands.

"I hate you," Tad blubbered. "You made her choose you, and not my father. Now my father's dead. Gerard, I hate you!"

"You don't mean that," Gerard said, feigning a sympathetic tone of voice. "You're just upset. Poor child..."

Gerard had a seat next to Tad on his bed, but Tad didn't move, or so much as acknowledge his presence.

'Kill him,' Judah Zachary's spirit whispered into his mind. 'Kill him now...'

Gerard hesitated, but only for a moment. For only a moment, he'd tried to make sense of what Judah's disembodied voice had commanded. Then he roughly locked his hands around Tad's neck and squeezed with all his might.

Tad coughed hoarsely, trying in vain to clear the pressure on his windpipe. His cheeks, still stained with tears, began to turn red.

Gerard's lips twisted into a deep scowl of pure hate as Tad gasped for air, his skin now a sickly shade of yellow.

"Tad?" a girl called. "Are you alright?"

The bedroom door swung open.

"NO!" Carrie screeched.

Gerard threw Tad aside. The boy let out a last desperate gasp for air and didn't move again.

Carrie had turned to run, but Gerard was faster. He jetted into the hall and was upon her moments, jerking her up roughly by the arm.

"Let her go Gerard!" Daphne ordered and began to advance. "I said let her go!"

Gerard put his hands on both sides of Carrie's head and twisted, cracking her neck and killing her instantly.

"No!" Daphne sobbed. "Carrie!"

Gerard lunged at Daphne, resolved to handle her in the same way he had Tad. He began applying fatal pressure to her windpipe.

"G-Gera...," Daphne gasped, but couldn't form the words.

Hearing the sounds in the hallway outside her bedroom, Edith Collins eased open the door a crack, and saw what was happening. She saw Carrie's lifeless body and put everything together quickly.

She went to her nightstand quickly and took up her revolver.

Gerard never saw what was coming. His back was turned to Edith as she came into the hallway. He was still focused on Daphne, who was gasping desperately for air in her final moments.

Gerard heard the loud bang and felt an explosion of fiery pressure erupt in his chest as the bullet entered his back.

He fell to the floor, rolling and coming to a stop on his back, so that he could see Edith. Her expression was hard and cold as ice.

"E-Edith," Gerard gasped. "Y-you..."

"Yes Gerard," Edith said confidently, her tone unexpectedly triumphant. "I know how you thought this was going to play out. You thought with Quentin dead, you'd do away with Tad and take everything. Well, today I won everything. Didn't I?"

Gerard began to laugh, though it took some effort. He laughed in spite of the overwhelming pressure in his chest and the nearness of his own death. He laughed at her for the fool she was.

"Isn't it ironic?" Edith pressed on, as though she didn't hear his laughter. "To think that I, the wife of Gabriel, the despised son should end up with everything. I will control the fortune. I will rule the estate. My children will inherit it all. It will be Gabriel's descendants that carry the Collins name and legacy. Now what would old Daniel Collins think about that?"

"You fool," Gerard rasped weakly, clearly struggling to breathe, much less speak. "Then it is...upon your children...that the curse of both Judah Zachary and Gerard Stiles will rest! For I swear to you Edith...that my...my spirit will remain here. I will lie dormant within this house, slumbering until the appointed time of my...my choosing. Then when the reincarnation of Carrie Stokes...she whom Gerard loved so well...when her r-reincarnation appears in this house, m-my s-spirit will awaken. Then I..I...we will...Judah and Gerard...will destroy the Collins family forever..."

Then Gerard's head fell back, and he died.