Kevin's Office

Kellie paced around Kevin's office as Lorenzo shut the door.

"I didn't make that up right?" Kellie said, "That's really Charles."

"It really is Charles," Lorenzo said, "Maximus verified the DNA, the dental records, the fingerprints. If we hadn't verified it, we wouldn't have let him back into Port Charles. We were trying to find you to tell before you saw Charles. But it obviously didn't work out that way."

"I'm guessing that's why Jason wanted me to meet him here," Kellie replied.

"We ran into Jason and Max in the parking garage when we first got Charles here," Lorenzo said, "Jason said you were meeting with a patient looking at using your services."

Kellie didn't reply right away and paced the room.

"Liesl said Taggert found him? In Greenland?" Kellie asked, after a few moments, "But that means Victor Cassadine had him the whole time. But I saw him die or we thought he died, even Monica and the paramedics did."

"Whoever Victor hired used a bullet like the one you used to make us think you killed Sam when you were making Helena think her brainwashing worked years ago," Lorenzo said, "A variation of it anyway."

"But the sniper was aiming at me when Charles…." Kellie started to say, "Oh god, oh god, oh god….Victor meant to….Charles was instead of me."

Lorenzo gently touched Kellie's shoulders, causing her to stop, and he turned her towards him.

"Just breathe," Lorenzo said, "You're okay. Charles is going to be okay."

"But Charles didn't deserve any of that," Kellie said, her eyes welling up with tears, "How is it fair that I've been living my life all this time while he's been captive and subject to the devil knows what at Victor Cassadine's hands?"

"No, it's not fair," Lorenzo said, "But it doesn't mean I'm not grateful, you weren't the one the bullet hit, that it wasn't your children grieving the loss of their mother whether it was real or faked. I don't even want to contemplate what Victor Cassadine might have done to you. I think we both know what Charles will tell you when you try to blame yourself or tell him he shouldn't have shielded you from the bullet. Can you imagine trying to argue this one with him?"

"Do you know how badly I wanted to be able to do that," Kellie replied, "even knowing I could almost never win with him? And now it's possible. I don't even know if I can."

"Maybe not right now," Lorenzo said, "But I'm sure once the shock wears off and everything settles down, you won't be able to help yourself."

"You're probably right," Kellie said, unable to help a small laugh.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Lorenzo moved to open the door to find Jason and Max, who was looking at his phone.

"Hold up," Max said, "I need to find Sage and call Milo. She's texting me and Milo. It sounds like she's already heard things from hospital staff."

"It's fine," Jason said, "Go get Milo and Sage up to speed."

"Thanks," Max said, turning around to leave.

Jason entered the office as Kellie ran to him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner to tell you," Jason said, hugging Kellie, "We didn't intend for you to find out by just seeing him."

"To be honest I don't care how I found out at this point," Kellie said, "He's alive which I can't believe I'm saying."

Then Kellie froze and looked back at Lorenzo.

"Is Charles actually okay after Victor's had him?" Kellie asked, "Or did Victor do anything to him?"

"It doesn't appear that Charles was subject to anything worse than being held captive," Lorenzo said, "Kevin will evaluate him here for any signs of brainwashing. But Maximus did have his own therapist evaluate him as well and run DNA tests and fingerprints on him. The therapist is confident he wasn't brainwashed. Anna also didn't think he had been based on his conversation with her. The testing here at General hospital today is just to confirm everything is fine physically with Charles after his ordeal."

"Did Charles indicate what Victor might have planned to do with him?" Jason asked.

"It sounds like Victor intended to test the virus and possible antidotes on him," Lorenzo said, "He just didn't get the chance."

"That's not usually the case when it comes to the Cassadines," Kellie said, visibly relieved.

"Do we know what Victor wanted with Kellie?" Jason asked, holding Kellie a little tighter as if to brace her.

"Some of it was revenge for her killing Peter August and squashing his hopes for learning how to activate Drew's brainwashing," Lorenzo said, "The other part of it was making sure she couldn't interfere with his plans for Spencer or the virus. It sounds like he would have been satisfied with her death or capturing her to brainwash her or try to."

"Did Charles have any idea why Victor never tried going after Kellie again?" Jason asked.

"Victor felt after Charles's death that Kellie's attention was sufficiently focused away from Spencer," Lorenzo said, "Although I don't doubt he would have tried again at some if he felt he needed to."

Several moments of silence passed as Kellie just tried to make sense of the information.

"If Victor Cassadine wasn't already dead, I'd kill him," Kellie said before she could stop herself, anger flashing in her eyes.

"You wouldn't have to," Lorenzo replied, vehemently.

"Oops, I didn't mean to say that out loud," Kellie said.

"So the WSB they just let him come back here right away," Kellie continued after a moment, "That seems odd. Especially since everyone else besides Drew and Liesl are held up by the WSB at the moment."

"Anna Devane wasn't comfortable letting the WSB have him for who knows how long to assess brainwashing and other possible effects of being held captive by the Cassadines," Lorenzo said, "The WSB may have a paperwork error putting him on a different plane, courtesy of Maximus. Anna called to let Dante know he was on the way back and ask him to keep an eye on him related to possible brainwashing just in case. Dante came to me to figure out how we were going to handle his return and telling you. I told Dante not to tell you until we could confirm it was Charles. We brought Charles straight here from the airport."

"Okay so then, now what?" Kellie asked, "Does Charles have a place to stay? Do we need to set something up for him?"

"I've set up a safe house and security for him," Lorenzo said, "He can use the safe house as long he wants. We'll keep the security team with him until we're reasonably sure the WSB will leave him alone."

"That's good," Kellie said, "I keep thinking there's more I should be thinking of do with all this and I just can't."

"I've got all that handled," Lorenzo said, "You don't have to worry about any of that."

"But I just," Kellie started to say.

"Kellie," Jason interrupted, "You've had a really big shock. No one expects you to have everything figured out now. Lorenzo and I will take care of all the logistics that need to happen."

"Jason, your mom and the kids," Kellie said, "We have to tell them."

"I already called Francis and told him to take the kids out of school early and bring them home," Jason said, "I figured we should tell them before they hear it from someone else. As for my mom, Drew's headed to the Quartermaine mansion to tell her now."