October 15, 1997

When he exited the Port Charles General Hospital North Elevator on the fourth floor, Nikolas Cassadine veered to his left slightly and made his way down the corridor that led to the 4 North Stepdown Unit. As he walked, he debated whether he should be proud of his resourcefulness or insulted that his cousin Alexis still felt it was her place to make decisions about his life. In less than two months he would be eighteen. Seven years after that he would take control of his birthright. He was definitely no longer a child!

He pulled the door open to the stepdown unit and stepped inside with authority. Alexis might have sent out a courtesy reminder memo Monday afternoon reminding all nursing staff that all intensive care unit visitors were restricted to immediate family only. Fortunately, Dr. Ross had transferred Katherine out of the Neuro Critical Care Unit at six AM and the stepdown units did not have such a policy. Nikolas had checked.

When he finally stood in the doorway to Katherine's room it took Nikolas a moment to regain his composure as he took in the multiple external reminders that she really could have died three nights earlier. He really could have lost her! Yet, from the chest tube, to the hard-cervical collar that still encased her delicate neck it was clear that she was still very far from well. He could still lose her!

With that last thought Nikolas stepped into the room cautiously. As he watched her fitful and surely pain wracked sleep his heart ached for her. How horrible it must be for her to be abandoned by his uncle at such a vulnerable time. He made his way over to the bed and picked up her right hand gently. "I am here now, Katherine, I will stand by you," he whispered. Then he gently brushed his lips across her forehead.

XXXXXXXX

Katherine Bell awoke to a familiar voice and realized that she had a choice to make. It had been one week to the day since Stefan had dismissed her from his life without warning. It was as if she no longer existed to him. In his mind she probably did not. Meanwhile Stefan's nephew, the true Cassadine heir, remained steadfastly devoted to her. She saw Nikolas as a child, but he would be eighteen in a few more weeks and in seven years he, not Stefan, would control the Cassadine fortune.

Katherine had contemplated all of that before. In fact, she had first contemplated it moments after Stefan's initial dismissal. Then she had still held out hope that perhaps Stefan could still be hers. Now she had started to accept the futility of that wish. Now Nikolas was technically half her age. In time that would no longer be mathematically possible and in time she was sure she could accept him at least as a lover, even if not as a true partner.

Decision made. Katherine knew the next step.

XXXXXXXX

In the back seat of the SUV, Port Charles and Chapparal County ADA, Dara Jensen, pretended to read as PCPD Detective Alejandro Garcia cruised down I-95 to the New Jersey Turnpike on their way to Pine Valley, Pennsylvania. Dara was familiar with the small city just outside of the Philadelphia city limits. After all, she had started her law career just across the river in Llantano County.

"So, Alex mentioned you practiced in the area before joining the DA's Office?" Detective Allison Jordan asked.

"I worked across the river in Llanview. I was an attorney with the Llantano County Public Defender's Office," Dara said.

"That must be a big change," Allison suggested.

"Not really, I just try to stay on the side of justice," Dara said.

"That sounds like something my husband would have said," Allison said. She looked somewhat wistful as she said that, as if she was remembering the moment.

"So, do you have a plan for how you want to handle this?" Allison asked after a minute of awkward silence.

"Don't you have some kind of protocol for serving a DNA warrant?" Dara asked.

"Yes, of course, and, at least for that aspect of the encounter, I plan to follow that explicitly and implicitly. I was more wondering if you wanted an opportunity to question Mr. Chandler. We rarely have ADAs tagging around when we execute local search warrants, so I just figured there had to be some reason you were accompanying us.," Allison said.

There were multiple reasons Dara was stuck trekking three hours. The most obvious was that her boss had demanded it because Mayor McClintock had demanded it of her. Apparently, the Chandler family felt that it was inappropriate for someone to just show up at Chandler Enterprises and start questioning their employees. Dara just didn't feel like explaining that to some newby detective who had been born with her own silver spoon in her mouth.

XXXXXXXX

Ned Ashton sent the email and then extended back in his chair for a moment. Since it was still only six-thirty in Utah he likely wouldn't hear back from his cousin Celia for at least an hour or two. He could make good use of his time and touch base with his grandfather about the FDA hearing he had just returned from. Although the approval wouldn't be official for at least a few more weeks he had received positive feedback after his presentation to the committee and basically been all but told that the approval was a given. Anyway, it was always much more efficient to meet with his grandfather when he had time than when Edward demanded he make time.

When he reached his grandfather's office, Ned heard him on the phone. He seemed to be having an anything but pleasant conversation with Stuart Morris who was currently running ELQ's Harver Shipping Subsidiary in Jakarta. Harver Shipping had officially become an ELQ Enterprises Subsidiary towards the end of Ned's second full year as Pro-Counsel. Personally, Ned hadn't been in favor of the decision but his grandfather had shown him that occasionally loyalty or fulfilling one's patriotic duty should take precedence over the business bottom line and the Harver Shipping Bail Out seemed to fulfill both obligations. That had essentially made it a done deal even before the final numbers were crunched.

"You need to be more proactive about getting to the bottom of this, Stuart. Now get back to me when you have something helpful to contribute. That will be all! Farewell," Edward Quartermaine finished his rant and terminated the call. He looked up and realized his grandson was standing in the doorway. "Ah Ned, I really hope you're bringing me better news than I just got from Stuart Morris," he said.

Ned took a few steps into his grandfather's office. "Oh I am. The committee chair was particularly pleased with the efficacy and superiority studies. We should definitely have approval for Carvedilol before the end of the year. Dare I ask what is going on in Jakarta?" he asked.

Edward Quartermaine clapped his hands together. "Good, good! At least something is going well. Stuart needs to grow a backbone and figure out how to release the embargo at the Port of Tanjung Priok," he said.

"Good luck with that," Ned said.

"He will figure it out, or he will find a new job," Edward said.

Ned supposed that was one way to look at it. "On that note, I have a stack of royalty agreements Celia sent over while I was in DC. I should probably get working on those. I just wanted to give you the good news in person," he said.

"Thank you. By the way, apparently Victor Newman is stopping in Port Charles on his way up to Montreal. I arranged for lunch at the Country Club at 12:30 and a 2 o'clock tee time. Perhaps you would like to join us. Or perhaps Carly could take the current Mrs. Newman shopping," Edward said.

Ned raised an eyebrow. He wondered if his grandfather referred to Victor's wife as the current Mrs. Newman because he doubted the marriage would last long or if he just couldn't keep up and had no clue what her name even was. Perhaps it was both. Ned believed her name was Diane Jenkins and she was either Victor's eighth or ninth bride but technically maybe only his sixth or seventh wife because he thought he had married Nikki Reed at least three times in there. Of course, perhaps being on his own third wife before his thirtieth birthday didn't give him much room to comment.

Or maybe it did. Ned would admit he had made two major mistakes. The first was marrying Jenny Eckert. The second was ever letting Lois go. But he had done both, so he was where he was. Although he had no disillusion that Carly loved him any more than Jenny ever had he had meant every word of the vows they had exchanged. He would stand by Carly and they would raise her child together. In that sense it really would become their child.

"Unfortunately, I have a Conference Call at two. When I left the house this morning Carly was preparing to spend the whole day working on the nursery. Beth was going to come over and help her so it probably can't be easily pushed to another day," Ned said. He was pretty sure that part of standing by his wife was not subjecting her to entertain the wives of his grandfather's business associates.

"Ok, I guess I'll just have my secretary arrange to have a spa pass sent over to their suite at the Port Charles Hotel. Apparently, they are not planning to check out until tomorrow morning," Edward said.

"Somehow this sounds less like a stopover on the way to Montreal and more like an attempt to enlist your financial support into that Clear Springs Project they have been floundering with for the past year," Ned said.

"Of course, that is what it is. Unfortunately for Victor, I'm not interested unless something has changed. Still hospitality has a place," Edward said.

XXXXXXXX

In Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, Adam Chandler was surprised to see his wife, dressed in one of her business suits, sitting at table when he entered the kitchen. He hadn't seen that in over a week Was she planning on going into the office? She hadn't done that since the miscarriage over a week ago. Heck, she hadn't left the master suite since she had come home from the hospital. Or at least it had been the master suite until she kicked him out of it!

"Good morning, Liza, you look well," Adam said warily.

Liza took several gulps of coffee before she met his eyes. "Is the Chandler Board of Directors Meeting still at noon?" she asked.

"Yes, in the main conference room," Adam said.

"I guess I will see you then. I have a few appointments to keep before then," Liza said. Then, without kissing him goodbye, she got up from the table and strode out of the kitchen.

Adam took a moment to regain his bearings. Then it hit him. If Liza was going to attend the board of directors meeting, he needed to get the Transglobal Jet item off the agenda quickly. Somehow, no one had discovered that Transglobal Jet was a Chandler Subsidiary after the August crash which killed eighty-five individuals. He had attempted to unload it then before the notoriety caught up with him but couldn't find a buyer. So, he had added it to his charitable stock donation and had been about to unload the faulty airline on some unsuspecting community foundation. Or he had until his wife had decided to attend the board meeting that would have made the transaction official.

XXXXXXXX

"I can't believe that we're still working this case," PCPD Detective Curtis Vanburen grumbled to his partner as they stepped into the North elevators at Port Charles General Hospital.

Detective Frank Scanlon pushed the button for four but refrained from comment. It was much easier to work with Vanburen if he ignored at least ninety five percent of what came out of his mouth. Otherwise Frank would be tempted to suggest that perhaps if Vanburen would focus more and grumble less, they might close the case.

"I just hope our non-victim is finally ready to give her statement and own up to her own clumsiness," Detective Vanburen said as they exited the elevator.

"I suppose we don't know for sure she couldn't have been a victim. We still haven't gotten the security footage from that private company the harbor subcontracts with," Frank said.

Detective Vanburen just laughed.

Frank shook his head. Even their lieutenant had reminded them that at least twice in the past Katherine Bell had fallen down and injured herself due to her own self-induced intoxication. Frank himself had been the responding Detective for an alleged assault at the Outback in February 1994. Katherine had insisted in a slurred tone that she had been assaulted by Lois Ashton. Multiple witnesses, including proprietor Mac Scorpio, had told a different story, one that involved physical contact between only Katherine and the floor. Commissioner Donely had reminded her of the penalties associated with filing a false report and called her a cab. Crisis averted, or perhaps crisis delayed since it was about eight months later when Katherine who had been recently evicted from the Quartermaine Mansion returned on the pretense of retrieving a forgotten item and collapsed and tumbled down their staircase. In that case larger quantities of the culprit drugs, some cardiac cocktail, were later found in Katherine's suite at the Port Charles Hotel. All of that aside, Frank was quite sure that their lieutenant would want them to consider all the facts before they decided if a crime had actually been committed.

When they entered the 4 North Stepdown Unit, Frank immediately spotted one of his baby sister's old friends from St. Michael's Academy. She had once had a huge crush on him. Hopefully she had grown out of that.

"Frank, so good to see you again," Gwen Sanborn said.

"Hello, Gwen," Frank said uncomfortably.

"How is your sister?" Gwen asked.

"Melissa is good. She and Ben are still out in California. She finished up her Psy D last summer and has her own practice now. Ben is still flying for American Airlines and the twins are going to be six next month," Frank said.

"That's right she is married that sexy pilot. Guys in uniform definitely do it for me," Gwen said as she patted at Frank's shoulder.

Frank was sure his cheeks were crimson. "Umm, we're here to see Katherine Bell. Could you help us find her nurse so we could see if she up to talking to us?" he asked.

"You're in luck, I'm her nurse! She's been on the call bell all morning so I think she can certainly answer a few questions. Come on she's in 4316 this way," Gwen said.

Frank followed Gwen and motioned for Vanburen to follow him. When Gwen opened the door, he was a bit surprised to see the Cassadine Prince hovering protectively over Katherine's bed.

"Ms. Bell these Detectives have some questions for you about your fall," Gwen said.

"I assure you; I did not fall!" Katherine said.

Here we go again, Frank thought. But he took a deep breath and asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I had dinner with a business associate at Mario's. I was awaiting my car service when this guy came out of the shadows. Next thing I knew I was being hurled down those stairs leading to the pier. It was all so terrifying. It is still so terrifying!" Katherine said before she burst into sobs.

Frank noted that in spite of the sobs he did not see tears. Apparently, the Prince was either less observant or just more trusting because he took Katherine into his arms and patted her back.

"You are safe now Katherine. I assure you, just let it all out, I am right here," Nikolas said as he lowered himself onto the bed.

"This business associate have a name?" Detective Vanburen asked.

Often Vanburen's lack of compassion or tact was frustrating but it might actually be useful in this case. Because the whole story seemed a bit too melodramatic.

Katherine seemed to make a big production of dabbing at her dry eyes and then offered some halting breaths. Finally she spoke,"I am sorry but I can't divulge that. Negotiations are ongoing and discretion is really critical at this point."

"Oh please, we're not going to sell the scoop to the Port Charles Intruder. We just need to speak to the last person who saw you unharmed," Vanburen said.

"My business associate left before I did. I assure you they couldn't have seen anything," Katherine.

Nikolas looked furious. "They just left you to wait alone. A gentleman would have never done that. Katherine I am so sorry for all you have been through," he said.

Katherine batted her eyes at the Prince. "You are truly a gentleman, Nikolas," she said.

"Ok, so do you have any kind of description of your attacker?" Frank asked.

"He was Black and hulk like. His eyes were scary, evil. Sorry it happened so fast," Katherine said before she dissolved into another heap of what appeared to be manufactured sobs.

"I think that is enough," the Prince informed them. "Please, do not make this event even more traumatic than it needs to be," Nikolas said.

Frank pulled out a card. "I am sorry for your ordeal, Ms. Bell. I'm going to leave my card and if you think of anything else then please call," he said. Then he turned and followed Gwen and Vanburen who were already halfway out the door.

"Oh please, don't tell me you actually believe that act?" Vanburen asked once they were all fully outside the room.

There were definitely a few holes in Katherine' story. Of course, Frank understood that didn't mean she couldn't have been assaulted. "I think we're obligated to at least follow up on her report," he said.

Vanburen rolled his eyes and then shook his head.

XXXXXXXX

Beth Quartermaine set up the play yard at one edge of the Ashton nursery, set Kensington inside and then stood the surveyed the room. "I love this shade of light blue. It also completely works with the hardwood furniture," she said

"You think so? That designer from Wyndham's thought I should go with white furniture and then put some of those cloud pillows on the wall," Carly said.

"Yes, since you choose a darker hardwood like mahogany for the furniture there is good contrast. I suppose you could add in some white accents but I don't think you need to. Personally, I haven't been that impressed with Wyndham's designers lately. If you really want to hire a designer, Trisha Alden does nice work. She just doesn't take much since she has a young child and she still commutes to teach two days a week at Alden University. Ned could probably call in a favor and get her to do it but I don't think he needs to; I think you will do just fine yourself!" Beth said.

"You mean because she and Ned go way back?" Carly asked.

Beth heard the insecurity in her friend's voice. "Probably more because Lila Quartermaine and Trisha's late Grandmother, Isabella Alden, went way back. I don't think there was ever anything romantic between Trisha and Ned but I suppose I can understand why Lila and Isabella might have contemplated setting them up after Jenny trampled over Ned's heart and Trisha lost her memory completely and couldn't remember her husband or son," she said.

"She lost her memory? She seemed perfectly capable of strolling down memory lane with Ned the other night at that Deception Cosmetics Reception we went to," Carly said.

"She was carjacked and ended up with some kind of traumatic brain injury and amnesia. This actually happened around the same time Ned and Jenny were divorcing in Fall 1993 so I guess the timing could have been right. Except it wasn't and she did eventually regain her memories and returned to her husband and son."

"Umm, ok," Carly said.

Beth could kind of see it wasn't ok though. She just wasn't sure how to fix it.

XXXXXXXX

"Good grief, Scanlon, stop pouting just because I got some digits!" Detective Vanburen said as he pulled into the lot behind the Port Charles Police Department.

Frank shook his head. "If you must know, I am already seeing someone," he said. He was pretty sure that Vanburen did know that especially since he had insinuated Frank could see his girlfriend when they originally picked up the Katherine Bell case. Of course, his girlfriend, Dr. Julie Devlin, was a pediatrics intern so it wasn't like she spent her time hanging out in the adult ICU.

"Right, perhaps I should get her digits. After all, no woman can ever go back to a Scanlon after having a Curtis Vanburen experience," Vanburen said.

Frank refrained from wiping the smug smarmy smile off Vanburen's face. He didn't need the disciplinary write up in his file! He was used to Vanburen's tactless comments but his last barb really crossed the line when one considered that seven years earlier his brother's girlfriend, Courtney Marshall, had cheated on Joe with Vanburen. Of course, there was some irony as well because after Frank confronted Courtney about the affair anger had led to a single night of passion. Of course, it wasn't like Frank could point that out because there was no way that he wanted Joe to ever find out about any of that.

"Why don't we just go inside and figure out if Lieutenant Kelly has received the security footage. If not, we should have time to head over to Mario's before lunch," Frank said. Then before Vanburen could say anything else, he simply got out of the car.