She walked down the hall of the courthouse having just wrapped up her final case and filing one last document before starting her maternity leave. She took her cell phone out of her pocket and called Ned, hoping to catch him before his big meeting with the European holdings. She must have just missed him, because she got his voicemail. Hi, honey, it's me. I was hoping to catch you, see if you wanted to get lunch, or do some Christmas shopping with me, but I guess I'll see you at home later. Love you. She walked down the steps of the courthouse and towards her car. She had to stop to meet with Sonny and then she would try and get some shopping in before picking her daughter up at school. She moved her briefcase to her other hand as she went to take her keys out of her purse, dropping them as she shifted her belongings. She bent down to pick them up as they landed on the sidewalk covered in a dusting of snow. Suddenly, A gloved hand. A white cloth. Her face covered as she tried to scream, but before she could let out a sound, she had passed out and was loaded into the black SUV parked right behind her.
Later that afternoon, he sat at his desk at ELQ, trying to wrap up a few final notes from his meeting. It had been a long day and ELQ had finally recovered trust with the market after the instability the rumors about insider trading caused. He was hoping to be able to leave early for the day. Alexis had left him a message, even though they had made plans for that evening, just the two of them, a tradition they had started to try and wipe away the hurt and pain the memory of this day caused. An attempt to reclaim what should have been their wedding anniversary. He was adjusting the numbers in the budget when his mother unexpectedly walked into his office. "I don't have time for this." He said already annoyed by her presence.
"Ned, honey, I merely want to try and smooth things over before we head into the holidays. For mother's sake."
"Smooth things over? That's going to be difficult considering you tried to ruin my marriage by manipulating my involvement with ELQ. And it wasn't even the first time. I'm tolerating you because of grandmother and that's the best I can do for now."
"I told you why, she's a Cassadine. I had every right to be concerned about you. But, I know better now. She's proven herself."
"I'm oh so glad she's won your approval, mother, but I–" He stopped mid thought as his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller id, Port Charles Elementary, "I have to take this." He said as he answered, "Ned Ashton."
"Mr Ashton," the school secretary said, "We have your daughter, Kristen here in the main office, your wife wasn't on time for pick up and we can't seem to get ahold of her."
"What?" It took a minute to process. She was wrapping up her final case today, handing everything over. There was no way she would have been stuck at court and even so, she wouldn't have just forgotten to pick up their daughter.
"We can't get ahold of your wife. Can you come to the school?"
"Yes, yes, I'm on my way now." He said as he reached for his coat and hung up the phone.
"What's going on?" Tracy asked concerned.
"Alexis didn't pick Kristen up at school and they can't reach her." He said as he put on his coat and took out his keys.
Tracy followed him out of his office, "What can I do?" She stood there and watched her panic stricken son rush out of the office, concerned that his world was about to come crashing down. That the hell she unleashed with Trainor was about to escalate as she was out on bail and hell bent on revenge.
"Nothing. You can't do anything." He said as he told his secretary he would be gone for the day and left to get his daughter. As he rode the elevator down to the main floor he looked at his phone, he would try and call her himself. He hit play on the voicemail again and first replayed her message thinking maybe he misheard, but there was no mention of needing to change plans, which only caused him to panic more. He called her cell, and left a message "Lex- it's me, please call me back as soon as you get this." He called the house, still nothing, no answer. "Damn it, Alexis, where are you?" He cursed out loud as he hurried to his car.
He drove to the school and walked into the main office. Kristen was sitting in a chair off to the side waiting patiently, her pink backpack by her feet. She jumped up at the sight of him and ran into his arms. "Daddy!"
He picked her up and held her tight, kissing the top of her head before setting her back down and picking up her bag. "Hi, princess, I'm so sorry you had to wait. Are you ready to go home?"
"Yes. Where's mommy?" She asked worriedly.
"Mr. Ashton, I hope everything is ok."
"Thanks for watching her. Everything is fine, just got our wires crossed." He lied out of hope that she was indeed fine. It was unlike her to disappear without a word. "Let's go home," he said as he took his daughter's hand and walked out of the school.
He drove them home and tried to stay calm for their daughter. His fear only increased when her car wasn't in the driveway. He unlocked the door and took Kristen's coat and backpack and hung them up as he called her name. "Alexis? Honey?" No answer.
"Why isn't mommy home? She promised we'd get hot chocolate after school today and mommy never breaks her promises."
"I'm not sure and I know you were looking forward to that." He said as he tried to calm her fears and his. "I'm sure she got stuck at work, princess. Can you do me a favor and go play while I try to call her? Emily, should be here soon." He was relieved Emily was free and could watch Kristen for him for a few hours while he tried to track down Alexis.
"Ok, daddy." she replied, sensing her father's fear. She went upstairs and shortly after Ned let Emily in and she went upstairs to distract Kristen, so that he could focus on tracking down his wife. The more time that passed, the more worried he became. He called everyone he could think of, Jax, Chloe, Stefan. No one had heard from her. Finally, he told Emily he was going out and would be back in an hour or so and he drove to Harborview Towers.
He rode the elevator to the top floor and turned left, "Is Sonny home?" He asked Johnny, who was standing guard by the door.
"One second." He said and opened the door to the Penthouse, "Sir, Mr. Ashton is here to see you."
He was shocked to hear that Ned was there, but let him in and looked at Jason, asking him to stay.. "Ned, what can I do for you?"
He was surprised to see his cousin there, he had no idea he was back in Port Charles. "Jason. You're back."
"Ned." He replied, waiting to hear why he was there.
"Have you heard from her?" He asked, not giving details. He knew she was going to meet with him earlier that day to talk about his offer to temporarily help protect their family. He loathed it, but it made Alexis feel safe and that was what was most important, so he had reluctantly agreed.
"Who?" He played dumb, goading Ned into a fight.
"Alexis. My wife." He said annoyed that Sonny was clearly going to be difficult.
"She had a meeting scheduled, but she didn't show up."
"And you didn't think that was strange? Did you try to contact her?"
"For her yes, but she's had a lot going on. No thanks to you."
"Are you saying I put my wife in danger? That her disappearance is my fault?" His guilt ate away at him. He knew he brought Jillian into their lives, but he also knew she was afraid of what Helena might do and he convinced her that living their lives was the best way to keep that threat at bay. He couldn't have been more wrong.
"You said it, I didn't."
Jason stepped in as the tension started to escalate. "Listen, Ned. If he hears from her, he'll call. Won't you Sonny?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll call." He said, appeasing Jason, knowing he would do what he needed to do to help find his friend if it came to that.
"Thank you. That's all I'm asking." Ned replied as he left. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but at least now he could narrow down the timing of her disappearance. He called Mac on the drive home and told him what happened. That she was missing. Knowing it hadn't been 24 hours, but hoping they could do something, anything to find her. Mac assured Ned they'd start a search and in the meantime he should continue trying to reach her. If he had any luck or thought of anything that could help he was to call the PCPD immediately.
He arrived back home and Emily was sitting on the floor with Kristen playing a board game, trying to keep her mind off her parents. He smiled at them as he walked into the room. "Did you find mommy?"
He walked towards her and placed his hand on her head as Emily looked concerned. "No, sweetheart, I didn't. I need to go through some of mommy's work papers in our office. Can you keep playing the game with Emily for a little bit?" She nodded understandingly. "Em, I think there is some leftover Chinese in the fridge or you could order a pizza?"
"I've got her, Ned, do what you need to." Emily tried to reassure her cousin.
"Thanks." He said as he walked out into the hall, sighing as he headed towards their shared home office and turned on the light. He looked for her planner, a post-it, anything that would give him a clue as to where she went when his phone rang.
"Ned, it's Mac."
"Please tell me you have a lead." He was desperate to find her.
"We found her car, still parked outside the courthouse. She either went somewhere on foot or–"
"She was abducted. Is that it? Is that what you think?"
"I'm sorry I don't have better news. The entire department is looking for her."
"What about Helena? She mentioned running into her on the docks the other day. Did you find her?"
"We have an officer stationed outside the launch to Wyndemere and her yacht. If she's involved, she'll be caught."
"And Jillian? Did you try her? There's a history." He looked for the file, the one that contained the details of what landed her in a mental ward in London.
"There are men stationed at the hotel. Her car is there and if she makes a move, we'll follow. Without evidence of her involvement, we can't do much more."
"I appreciate everything you're doing. I do, I just can't shake this feeling that something is seriously wrong and we need to find her Mac, please just find her."
On the outskirts of town, in a cabin surrounded by woods, Alexis lay passed out on the sofa as Jillian answered the door. "What took you so long?" She interrogated as AJ entered the cabin.
"It was quite a long list, it took a minute to gather everything you needed." He said as he fully entered the cabin and as he did laid eyes on Alexis. "Why do you need all this?" He asked, concerned. He had known there was a plan to bring his cousin to his knees, but this, this was not what he expected.
"We're going to be here for a bit." She said as she went through the bags. "What about the box from the alley behind the hospital? Did you get that? Were there any problems?" She asked knowing that there was more at play and not quite sure what was in the package she was asked to procure from Helena.
"I did. But don't you think this is going a bit far?" He asked concerned as he looked at Alexis. "I know you want revenge, but to kidnap his wife when she's about to give birth? I don't know if I can be a party to this."
"Oh you don't get to back out now. You and I have a lot in common including wanting to see Ned pay, we bonded, we schemed and now you're in this. You don't get to choose now to have a conscience, sorry." She said as she laughed in his face. "Now go get the rest of the supplies."
Her head was pounding and she tried to open her eyes, but the light was harsh and she was dizzy. She wasn't sure she was seeing things clearly because she thought she saw AJ enter the room before she closed her eyes again, the effect of whatever drug she had been given overpowering her.
AJ carried in the last of what Jillian requested and took one more look at Alexis and then said, "I should put in an appearance at the house." He could see she was stirring and didn't want to be seen.
"Ok, but keep your cell phone on." He nodded and left. Jillian opened the package from Helena. Inside she found vials, a syringe, instructions with a phone number from the deranged woman who claimed to be her mother and was pulling all the strings. She filled the syringe as instructed and injected Alexis. She groaned but didn't wake, the effects of the initial drugs used to get her there still in effect. Jillian sat in the overstuffed chair next to the sofa and watched her, waiting for her to wake. She would set the stage for her own plans for his wife, while she did what Helena wanted to stay in control of her own fate.