Stefan Cassadine felt spineless and inarticulate as he guided Katherine to the launch for her trip back to the Port Charles mainland. He had attempted to explain their unique situation several times over dinner. He had lost his words each and every time. How did you explain to the woman you loved that you were half siblings? Words did not exist that could explain their twisted reality.

There was more though. There was the issue of his mother. He could imagine her reaction. She would cackle, feign amusement, and then launch into a tirade about the disappointment he had become, the disappointment he had always been. His older brother, Stavros, had been the favored son, the heir. The Cassadine lineage passed from oldest son to oldest son to oldest son. A daughter or a second son were without value, at least from an inheritance standpoint and little else had ever mattered to Helena Cassadine. That alone explained her obsession with her grandson Nikolas, Stavros's son, the Cassadine heir.

It would hardly end there. If he had believed it might then Stefan might have been able to find the strength and the resolve to have told Katherine the truth. He could handle his mother's merciless taunting. He had faced years of it on the Cassadine Isle before he was sent off to boarding school in Switzerland. Even after there had been holidays and summer vacations. His fear stemmed not from what he feared his mother would do to him, but from what she would do to Katherine. He would be ridiculed. Katherine, the indisputable evidence of Mikkos' infidelity, would be slain. That was why Stefan could never tell Katherine that she was the illegitimate daughter of Mikkos Cassadine not Avery Stanton.

"The moon is beautiful tonight," Katherine said as they walked along. She turned in towards Stefan and looked up at him with anticipation.

Stefan offered her a quick chaste kiss on the cheek.

Katherine pursed her lips into a pout. She batted her eyelashes for effect.

In the past that would have been more than enough to draw him in. In the past he would have been in her arms. Instead Stefan steeled himself, and his resolve. He took a few steps away from Katherine and quickened his pace. "We shouldn't keep Cyrus waiting," he offered.

When they reached the launch Stefan addressed Cyrus, "Please ensure that Ms. Bell returns home safely."

Cyrus nodded. "Of course, Master Cassadine, shall I then wait for Ms. Davis and Master Nikolas as well?" he asked.

"Yes, Cyrus, you shall," Stefan said. He maintained his eye contact with Cyrus as he extended an arm to help Katherine into the boat. He refused to drop his countenance. He didn't want to see the disappointment in her face.

"I'll call you in the morning, Stefan. We'll make plans for our ride," Katherine said.

Stefan heard the desperation in her voice. He knew he would be unavailable. Eventually Katherine would get the message that he was always unavailable to her and would always be unavailable to her. She would move on. Mac Scorpio had left town in August, so Stefan suspected she might go back to chasing after a certain married ELQ Corporate Counsel, or perhaps she would truly find love. He realized he wanted that for her even if he doubted he would ever find it for himself. "Goodnight, Katherine," Stefan said. Then he quickly turned away from the launch and trudged along the path back to the main house.

XXXXXXXX

Rex Stanton lingered for a few moments and watched his bed companion sleep before he extricated himself from beneath the satin sheets and down comforter. Standing upright beside the king size bed in his suite at the Port Charles Hotel he glanced over for another moment to assure himself that Lucy hadn't awoken. She hadn't.

Rex chuckled, on his stroll into the suite bathroom, as he recalled how easily the valium had dissolved into Lucy's glass of the champagne earlier. He just hoped the dose would be sufficient that she wouldn't awaken before he returned. It would be convenient, although not absolutely essential, if Lucy were to believe that he had spent the entire night in bed beside her.

Rex had learned the hard way not to leave things to chance. He had a ready explanation in case Lucy should awaken. Unfortunately, that ready explanation depended on the cooperation of his youngest niece, Danielle. In recent months Danielle had become less and less cooperative. First, she had gotten engaged to the ethical, yet boring, PCGH intern, Dr. Jake Marshak. Then she had refused to further his agenda by getting a job at Baldwin, Jordan, and Baldwin. At the same time Danielle owed him too much and was far too afraid to deny him completely. For those reasons, Rex was confident that she would back up his tale for Lucy if it came to that. Life would just be much neater if it didn't have to come to that.

XXXXXXXX

Dr. Matt Harmon wheeled through the automatic doors into the Port Charles General Hospital Emergency Department fifteen minutes before his scheduled twelve-hour overnight shift. His fourth rotation was winding to a close. In just over a week he would be starting on his fifth block, Cardiology, with Dr. Monica Quartermaine. Unfortunately, he first had to get through a block of overnights with Dr. Larmon, the EM attending one of his fellow interns had claimed made Dr. Burgess seem flexible, accommodating, and supportive.

July 11, 1997

Dr. Matt Harmon balanced his cafeteria takeout box on his lap a bit precariously preparing for the stretch to reach the door into the house staff lounge. Just as he was about to brave the process he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, let me get that!" Dr. Jake Marshak offered as reached around and opened the door.

"Thanks, man," Matt said as he wheeled past Jake into the house staff lounge.

Dr. Julie Devlin glanced over from the table where she was eating a sandwich out of one of those Tupperware sandwich boxes Matt remembered from elementary school. "Matt, you got the message that Dr. Quartermaine's port insertion was pushed back until afternoon, right?" she asked.

"Yes, there was a problem with the platelet count. They're going to transfuse before we go to the OR, that's wise," Matt said as he set his takeout box on the table where Julie sat with another of their internship mates, Dr. Chris Ramsey.

Chris scowled in Matt's direction before taking another bite of the salad he had ordered delivered from the Port Charles Grille. "I'm surprised that Dr. Quartermaine is allowing you to scrub," he said with a raise of his eyebrows.

Matt opted to ignore Chris's insinuation that his disability was an automatic disqualifier for surgery. Instead he just opened his cafeteria takeout container and started to eat.

Julie apparently missed the insinuation all together. "Dr. Quartermaine lets us do a lot. He is definitely a lot more confident about my abilities than I am," she said.

Julie's words were punctuated with a nervous giggle and Matt noticed that she quickly took another bite of her sandwich as if to save her from further comment. They had both been assigned to the general surgery service for their first rotation of internship, so he had come to realize that Julie's self-esteem wasn't exactly soaring. He had also learned that Julie's father was also a physician at PCGH. Apparently, he had taken a month of vacation to coincide with his daughter's first month of internship to allow her to establish herself on her own merits. Matt could relate to the importance of that in ways he never intended to share with his fellow interns.

The slam of a door interrupted Matt's thoughts and he looked up to see another intern classmate Dr. Joe Scanlon come through the door.

"Life in the ER just isn't all it's cracked up to be on television," Chris quipped.

Joe glared in Chris's general direction. "I just did a twelve-hour overnight shift with Dr. Larmon which turned into a sixteen-hour shift because I had to stay after to dictate all of his charts. I swear the guy makes Dr. Burgess seem flexible, accommodating, and supportive!"

Laughter quickly enveloped the room, but Matt didn't join in. He wouldn't say he was looking forward to his own ER rotation, but he supposed he saw their Internship Program Director slightly differently.

Chris must have noticed his silence. "Oh, lighten up, Matt, I promise Burgess isn't lurking behind the door listening in. I guess you've gotten so good at sucking up you can't even turn it off for a minute!"

Three months later, Matt saw a lot of irony in Chris's words. Actually, there had been irony at the time as Chris had been on his OB-GYN rotation and spending all of his free time in the ER just in case there was a trauma or something he might be able to "assist" Dr. Quartermaine with. Of course, he did have to agree that Dr. Larmon would never be a house staff choice for attending of the year. He also felt even more convinced that his first impressions of Dr. Burgess, that beneath her tough exterior there was a sense of humanity and caring for her patients…and her house staff, had been spot on. The last part was another issue entirely. The more he got to know Dr. Burgess the more she intrigued him. That was a problem because even if he could somehow penetrate through her exterior Teflon she would still be his superior and the latter made her forbidden fruit. Perhaps another dreadful overnight shift with Dr. Larmon could be a blessing in disguise…it would certainly keep him from thinking about Ellen.

XXXXXXXX

As the boat approached the Port Charles Mainland at Lock 10, Katherine reflected on the abomination of the evening. It was bad enough that Stefan hadn't proposed, as she had imagined he would, but he hadn't even invited her to stay the night. Katherine didn't understand the distance, and almost cold formality, that Stefan had inserted into their relationship, but she had a pretty good idea that Alexis had to be involved. She always was.

January 17, 1997

Ensconced in a cashmere throw blanket, Katherine Bell settled down onto the sofa in the Wyndamere Front Parlor and picked up the tea cup from the tray Mrs. Lansbury had just brought in. She reflected on her current circumstances while she sipped her tea. Circumstances was an apt term. Stefan had never meant to harm her, he had merely been trying to frame Luke Spencer for attempted murder. Unfortunately, the bullet had lodged in her liver instead of one of the weeping oaks along the path to the manor. She had been rushed to Port Charles General Hospital where the surgeon on call, Dr. Alan Quartermaine had inserted a chest tube to inflate her lung and then taken her to surgery to remove the bullet and part of her damaged liver.

Some had suggested she had been fortunate that Dr. Alan Quartermaine had been the trauma surgeon on call that night. His surgical skill was practically unparalleled, at least in Chapparal County. Others had offered pity and suggested that she had merely been a victim of unfortunate circumstance. Katherine herself had known much better. While the circumstances were unfortunate Katherine Bell had never been a victim in her life and when she had awoken from the anesthesia after surgery she had affirmed that December 2, 1996 wasn't about to be any different.

Sure, she had played the victim card over the years. It had suited her purposes at the time. Playing the victim could be a fruitful strategy, it didn't require that one had actually been victimized just that other well-intentioned people might believe they had. That had basically been the root of her relationship with Scott Baldwin and perhaps even with Ned Ashton although when Katherine was honest she knew she and Ned had never had a relationship. It was different with Stefan. He acknowledged she wasn't a victim and seemed to respect her even more for that. She was beginning to believe that she might have finally met her soul mate. Katherine smiled at that thought as she sipped some more of her tea.

Katherine's blissful thoughts were soon interrupted by a familiar, yet unwelcome voice. She frowned as she saw Alexis Davis coming towards her. Then she gulped when she realized what Alexis held in her hand. It looked exactly like the diary she had hidden in her suite.

"You have the moral perspicacity of seaweed," Alexis said.

Katherine wasn't about to admit to Alexis that she was unclear what she had just implied. Alexis's tone and facial expression clearly conveyed her disgust anyway. Instead she reached for the leather bound black book.

Alexis pulled the book back and away out of reach. "You need not bother. I have already made a copy for Stefan," she said.

"Stefan will never believe you! You have no proof that book is actually mine," Katherine asserted. Yet, even as she offered the words she didn't believe them. It wouldn't be hard to realize the book was hers when one started to read about her dirty deals with Damian Smith, her efforts to defraud Scott Baldwin, and how she had drugged Ned Ashton.

Alexis didn't say anything more. She merely cackled and retreated to her own quarters to await Stefan's return.

Alexis's departure had left Katherine to lament her situation and attempt a cover story. She hadn't come up with much and by the time Stefan had returned she had prepared herself for banishment. Except the banishment had never happened. Stefan had returned her diary to her unread. He had stated that she would share her secrets with him in her own time. Then he had taken her out to a romantic dinner at the Port Charles Grille and left Alexis home to stew and sulk.

Katherine smiled at the earlier memory but then frowned as she started to question what had changed. There was definitely distance in her relationship with Stefan. She had tried to ignore it at first, but it had only grown and become impossible to deny. So, she had faced the facts and worked to pull him back in. That had seemed to work. Or maybe she had just wanted to believe it had. By the time the boat pulled up to the pier at Lock 10 of the Port Charles Harbor Katherine had accepted that she was on the verge of losing Stefan. She had also reaffirmed her vow to fight. If Alexis thought she could run, her off so easily then Alexis was sorely mistaken.