Risk

Chapter XXXVI

 



Liz looks up at the mountains and tilts her head back breathing deeply. Okay this is heaven. Fashion City Italy on the foothills of the Alps. It's beautiful, it's cool and crisp. Everything is perfect. Liz takes a sip of her coffee and then chokes and starts sputtering. "Ohmygod!" She walks as if in a trance over to the newstand on the far side of the coffee shop. "Oh gawd oh gawd oh gawd." From one tabloid to the next there are pictures of a too familiar face with one that had been burned into brain even though she'd only met him briefly. "Carly... and Stavros." She searches thru the tabloids until she finds one that is in English and reads the caption aloud. "Prince Stavros Cassadine and his charming companion, Caroline Corinthos, check out the nightlife in Gstaad. HA! Right-- charming. Obviously they've never actually met Carly." Liz turns to the shopkeeper who'd been watching her like she is a crazy lady. "Quanto costa?" At his answer she starts digging thru her pockets for the required Euros. She hands them over juggling her coffee, the tabloid and her change. "Grazie!" Liz starts back to the hotel in a hurry. Lucky had to see this.

 



"Mama, come on, mama! You have to wake up. We're suppose to go skiing this morning. Stavros, I told ya you should have gotten an appointment after lunch." Michael complains to Stavros even as he is rocking with both hands on Carly's shoulder.

"Yes, but Skiing is better in the morning." Stavros answers Michael then says in a loud voice. "Caroline."

"I'm up. Okay I'm up." Carly drags herself toward the shower crawling across the bed and brushing Michael aside, her eyes mostly closed. "If you two want to stop torturing me and actually help... coffee. please. Coffee."

Stavros nods to Michael. "Go tell the staff to have your mother's breakfast and coffee brought to her room."

"Kay!" Michael goes racing off.

Stavros goes over and leans against the wall next to the bathroom. Carly calls out from within over the sound of running water. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because it's fun." Stavros puts a little emphasis on the last word. "The three of us off to the slopes." He listens carefully for Carly's answer and grins when he hears her groan and swear.

"Fun? We got in at four... I think I actually saw a hint of the sun starting to come up... and then after how many hours?"

"Three."

"Yes, three hours you and Michael drag me out of bed."

"You drug yourself out of bed. It would have been more..." Stavros uses one of michael's vocab words. "...efficient if Michael and I had our way with you." Stavros grins at Carly's laughter. She's finally starting to wake up. Michael comes racing back into the room followed by the maid who is carrying a tray. He gets out of her way so she can set it up on the table next to the window.

Carly comes out of the bathroom. She is starting to look much more alert. Her hair is wet from the shower and she isn't wearing any makeup but she is dressed to go. "Give me coffee." She says in a mock caveman voice. Stavros pours her a cup which she doctors the way she likes and then takes it back into the bathroom shutting the door with her foot. The guys hear the sound of a blowdryer kicking on.

Michael sighs. "I think I like the beach better. It didn't take Mama as long to get ready."

"I heard that!" Carly says from inside the bathroom.

 



It was rare when Ned actually hooked up the computer at the gatehouse. He preferred to work at the office or actually doing it the old fashioned way... with paper and pencil. But with email apparently being the only means of communication between them and Alexis.... "Anything?"

"Nope." Kristina sighs. "You think this means she could be like in the same time zone and asleep or something?"

"Could be. Or it could be a slow server. Or someone trying to make mess with you head about the timezones."

Kristina sighs again, bored waiting for the little you've got mail chime, and opens the online sight for one of her favorite reads back in Europe. A guilty pleasure but kinda harmless. "Um... Ned... I think you need to see this."

"What is it?" Ned looks up from the noodling he'd been doing on the guitar.

"I think you need to see it." Kristina waves him over. "Cause I need you to tell me... I am seeing who I think I'm seeing."

Ned comes over holding onto the guitar by the neck. He leans over Kristina's shoulder and then whistles. "What are you looking at?"

"It's the Globe-- a tabloid from the UK. That is Carly with Stavros right?"

"Oh yeah. How likely is it that Grandfather would see this?"

"On his own probably not much. But you can't believe somebody isn't going to show it to him. Why?"

"Cause I think the Michael wars just kicked back into high gear." Ned jumps at the sound of a pounding on the door. He goes over to the door and looks out the small panes of glass. "Gees!" Ned throws open the door. "Get in here! Where the hell have you been?"

"Puerto Rico and then Venezuela." Jax tosses his bag off to the side just in time to catch Kristina in his arms. She plants kisses all over his face and gives him a monster hug.

"I have been so worried about you! And Alexis was too! You could tell from the email! And Oh Gawd! When Bobbie said that your meeting with Stavros hadn't gone well and you were bashed over the head and dropped into a the bottom of a boat and never seen again. We were so worried." Kristina realizes what she just said and pushes off of Jax to land on her feet. Then she takes a swing at him. "We were worried, you big Lug! Why the hell didn't you call?!"

Jax pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and drops it on top of his duffle. "Useless without a transponder. And the Cassadine Island down off of South America might as well be in the middle of a communication black hole." Jax says wryly.

"You didn't find her?"

Jax shakes his head grimly. "She did get an email thru. But I don't like it. It sounds like it was forced. Definitely like she is being held captive." Jax looks over at Ned. "You take a look at my holdings today?"

"Like I care what you grab as long as you keep your sticky paws off ELQ." Ned snorts.

"Oh I think you'll like this one." Jax goes over to the computer and accesses the European markets that are just about to open. "Look for the following markers." Jax names off four different sets of initials.

"They aren't here." Ned looks and looks again.

"Yeah, cause that's the market for publically traded companies."

"I recognize one of those companies... we lease tankers from them. It is a publically held company."

"It was."

"Cassadine?" Ned says slackjawed.

"Cassadine." Jax agrees grimly. "He timed it perfectly. Like I said... that island is a communication black hole. I had no idea how bad it was until I got back to Caracas. And if he thinks I'm going to continue chasing my tail..." Jax shakes his head. "Nope, I'm going to get in front of him this time. I'm going to take the next commercial flight out to Switzerland. I'd fly myself but I've already logged too many hours. I'll be waiting there when the son of a bitch finally shows his face." Jax catches Kristina and Ned looking at each other. "What? What?!"

"Show him." Ned tells her.

Kristina hits the back button on the computer screen until it hits the Globe online front page. Then she steps back. "You won't be in front of him."

"Prince Stavros Cassadine and his charming companion... HA. chameleon companion perhaps. One moment she's a battered damsel in distress on the run and the next she is leading me to the slaughter and taunting me for being played for the fool. And now this-- playing the consort role to the hilt." Ned hands Jax a towel. "What's this for?"

"That froth at the mouth." Ned quips as he pats the corner of his own mouth. Jax throws the towel back at him. Ned catches it handily and shakes his head. "You should have known better. I know one of the things we agree on is that jr is an idiot..."

"Ned!"

"He is, Kristina. But even I didn't see all the machinations Carly put him thru until long after they split. I'm getting to seeing froth at the mouth from any guy who spends any amount of time around Carly. Wait... You said battered. What did you mean by Battered damsel?"

"Carly's hand was bandaged-- injured."

"She was faking?"

Jax shakes his head. "I don't think so or she would have taken it off once we got to the yacht and I'd already walked into Stavros trap. She was running the computer in whatever game Stavros is playing. If she could have done it two handed she would have."

"That's like what Stefan said." Kristina nods to Ned. "Carly was there when he had his accounting too. Running the computer."

"Did you see Michael?"

Jax shakes his head. "No sign of him."

 



Carly can see Stavros growing boredom on the easy beginners slope. Awkwardly angling herself toward him she grabs him by the tab on his ski jacket and pulls her toward him. She gives him a quick kiss on the mouth. "Go play with the big boys. I'll forgive ya."

"Are you sure?"

"Just do me a favor and stay off the expert slopes until you've had a few days practice. It has been twenty years after all."

Stavros glances down at his watch. "Two pm at the lodge?"

Carly nods. "Sounds good." Carly waves as Stavros makes his way over to the lift to the top of the glacier.

"I don't think that was such a great idea." The tutor says grimly his focus is back toward the lodge. "This is going to play one of two ways."

"Why?" Carly looks over at him curiously.

"Paparazzi. They are either going to follow Stavros up the slope... and I don't see any skis on any of them or they are going to..."

"Oh shit." Carly swears realizing where this is heading. She glances over at the kiddy class Michael is in with about five other kids his age. Stavros had wanted individual lessons but she's put her foot down. Having Michael in the class would let him get to know kids here. Someone to invite back to the chalet for a snow palace building session. "Stick with the group-- the whole group and don't say Michael's name. Those vultures come near ANY of those kids sic' the cops on them. Or whatever passes for a cop around here. Invite all of the kids back to the chalet for hotchocolate after class is over."

"Where are you going?"

"Skiing." Carly says grimly. She grabs hold of a tow rope that goes up the beginners slope and focuses on keeping her skis parallel. She'd done the crossing skis thing down below and ended up tipping over like that stupid character on the old Laugh in reruns. Carly glances up over her shoulder to the lift and silently swears. The photohounds are on the lift flying above the tow rope flashing pictures with lens that would probably crush skulls if dropped. The midpoint is coming up above it are the more expert slopes.I'm going to come off this rope fall on my ass and have more pictures than I'd like to prove it. Last night had been different: Nice dinner, drinks, and then a little club hopping. So what if someone took pictures? It wasn't like she had spinich in her teeth. But today with Michael around... "Damn."

"Lady? Those guys after you?"

"Define after." Carly mutters. She lets go of the rope and trails off to the side away from the people holding on behind her. "Don't suppose you'd want to follow me down?"

"You ever do this before?" The teenager asks with dawning realization.

"First time for everything." Carly replies grimly as she adjusts her gloves, knit cap and sunglasses.

"Whoa." the kid adjusts his ballcap so it's riding backwards. "Will you cover for me if we get caught?"

"Get Caught?"

"They don't like these on this run." The kid refers to his snow board.

"You got it." Carly agrees. "Lets just get going before they do the turnaround up there."

As the kid is weaving his way down the slope slowing his pace to keep even with Carly he calls out encouragement. "You're doing fine! Just bend your knees a little more!"

"They still following?"

"Nah they're back a ways. Oh Man!" The kid groans.

"What? What is it?!"

"Ski patrol. I'm so busted!"

Two buff guys on skis wearing bright red jackets sweep down on Carly and her teenage rescuer. Carly mutters under her breath just loud enough for him to hear. "I'll handle this-- I'm used to cops." Then louder she goes on the offensive. "Where the hell were you?! There were a bunch of photographers down by the kids!! I thought that was against the law. I never been on skis before in my life until today and I'm trying to lure them away from the children. I could have been killed if this guy hadn't been looking out for me! Making sure I got back to the lodge without running into a damn tree! Where the hell were you?!" Carly demands again.

"Miss..."

"Mrs. Mrs Carly Corinthos. If I wanted my family to be hounded by a bunch of press I would have come here over the Christmas holidays when all the movie and rock stars showed up." Thank goodness for net research "This is suppose to be a safe time of year! HA!" Carly uses one of her poles to point in the direction of the ski patrol. "So tell me what you are going to do about it?!" She starts sliding backwards when she starts motioning.

"Whoa." the kid reaches out and grabs her so she doesn't keep sliding backwards.

"Thank you." Carly says sweetly and then glares at the ski patrol. "Well?"

"Mrs Corinthos," The ski patrol are used to dealing with people with more money than sense. "Rather than trying a run that is beyond your capability if you had just mentioned it to the instructor he would have gotten us on the radio. Would you like us to accompany you down?"

"No. He's been doing just fine. No thanks to you." Carly indicates her rescuer. "You just take care of the damn reporters. I didn't see a ski on one of them. Hopefully they're still up there!" Carly points back up the mountain in the direction of the midpoint lodge.

"We'll look into it." The lead patrol guy nods.

"Do that." Carly indicates with the tilt of her head to her companion and they start back down the mountain.

The lead patrol guy who is from Switzerland turns to his companion. "Who the hell is that and why would she say her name like it was something special?"

His partner, who is lucky enough to get hired every winter so he can get ski time in, is from the States... New York to be precise. He shakes his head. "You ever see that Michelle Phieffer movie Married to the Mob?"

"She's an actress?"

"No, she's married to the mob. Come on lets try and get a handle on this before she does."

 



"What do you think, Lucky?" Liz asks as she shows him the tabloid.

"Great picture." Lucky nods. "Nice composition. Lively."

"No, this is just what I was afraid of. I should go back to Port Charles! Carly hates me. And if Nik told his father..."

"Told his father what, Elizabeth?" Lucky finally says-- each word sharp. "What are you afraid Nik told his father? You've been acting weird since after Bobbie fired you. And yeah, I know that hurt but I'm really getting the feeling that there is something else going on. Something you aren't telling me! You aren't afraid of Stavros coming after me and he has before. You're worried about him coming after you!"

"Of course I'm worried about him coming after you!" Liz protests. "Lucky, you almost died! First in the river and then down in the lab. You know that Stavros can't stand your father and he hates you by extention."

Lucky makes a buzzer noise. "Wrong answer. Try again. Europe is a big place, Elizabeth. Gia's not here to draw the press. It's just you and me taking some photos of Milan. We could be anybody-- a couple of tourists. There is no reason for Stavros to even be looking."

"Unless Nikolas told him where we are."

Lucky shakes his head. "Nikolas has been working his guilt for the last year about keeping me safe. You think he did a 180 now?"

"No, of course not. I didn't mean that. Nikolas would never do anything to hurt you-- not intentionally."

"Okay but you think he would hurt you? Do something to sic his father on you?"

"Carly is with his father! She doesn't need a reason; she's never needed a reason to hate me!"

Lucky rubs his forehead impatiently. There is such a headache coming on. "Look, lets get as many shots in as we can. I hear anything about Stavros or Carly heading to Milan then we'll leave!"

"And how do you think you'll know!" Elizabeth screams.

Lucky picks up the tabloid and throws it down on the table in their hotel suite for emphasis. "The same way you found out they were in Europe! The paparrazi has their scent now... you really think they are going to give it up?"

 



While Ned is up at the mansion raiding the kitchen and checking with Reggie to see if anyone in the house had checked out the European tabloids... without letting on about the content, Kristina sits next to Jax on the couch down at the gatehouse. "What are you going to do?"

"Tell Stavros what he wants to hear. Get Alexis out of there. And then take steps to make sure this never happens again." Jax says grimly.

"Jax, Stavros was half a world away from Alexis when she disappeared! How can you make sure it never happens again? It's not like we saw it coming!"

"But we should have!" Jax gets up and starts pacing. "First Stefan. No, First Helena then Stefan... of course Alexis was next. And then it's going to be you, Kristina. If Stefan had been upfront about what was going on we could have taken precautions before Alexis was taken. But no, he flew off to handle it on his own after he got word of where Stavros was."

Kristina shakes her head. "I did my share of hiding when Helena was around. I'm not doing that again. Staying here is bad enough."

"Dang and I thought we were getting on so well." Ned quips from the door. He has his hands filled of sandwich making supplies and other munchies. He dumps them on the coffee table in front of Kristina.

"Ned, you know I love crashing over here and working on L&B stuff with you. But this is ridiculous! Living your life looking over your shoulder is hell on your karma. I have to face this. Deal with it and move on."

Ned nods. "That sounds incredibley healthy of you...."

"If you weren't dealing with Stavros!" Jax and Ned say together.

 



About 2 pm at the lodge at the base of the mountain, Stavros returns his skis and makes his way into the lodge. He is invigorated by the hours of skiing. Looking around he doesn't see either Carly or Michael by the fire so he goes over to the desk to see if perhaps they got a room while they were waiting for him or maybe left a message about heading back to the chalet. "I'm looking for Caroline Corinthos? Or perhaps she left a message for me-- Stavros Cassadine."

The clerk gets a slightly glazed look. One that Stavros had seen before when someone had run into Caroline's more hurricane like moods. "Your party is in there." The clerk points to the club.

"They are in the bar?" Stavros repeats for clarity.

"Yes sir."

Stavros goes over to the closed doors of the bar. The doors marked closed for a private party. The club didn't actually open until after the night skiing. As soon as he opens the door he is hit with a wave of loud rock music and the sight of a couple dozen kids all Michael's age and up tearing up the dance floor in their sock clad feet and in the middle of them Carly is dancing with a teenager. Carly spots him and waves. She says something to the teenager and moves across the dance floor to the door. "Hey!"

"What are you doing?"

Carly raises her voice to be heard over the music. "It's the only place in the lodge that doesn't have windows."

"Why is that important?"

"I'll tell you later. Come on. Dance with me. Don't worry I told the desk to send the parents this way when they come to pick the kids up from their lessons." Carly can't stop moving to the beat of the music. "Come on!" She pulls Stavros out into the middle. Then she steps back and does a little shimmy from shoulders to hip. Nothing too sexy since the kids are there. The club hopping the night before had prepped Stavros for this. So he just shakes his head and keeping a hand on Carly starts moving. The DJ, who had been the lodge staff member in charge of cleaning up the bar until Carly had cornered him, starts up the multi colored lights. The only condition Carly had put on him was no smoke. Stavros glances over to the side of the room. There is a buffet of kid sized treats being set up.

"Everyone Switch!" The DJ calls out.

Stavros finds himself dancing with a little girl about Michael's age. He makes a small bow to her. She sorta tries to courtsey. Stavros holds out both hands and they start swinging them back and forth. He notes that she is in her stocking feet so he takes one of her hands and starts twirling her around on her stocking feet setting her to giggling. Soon another girl is holding her hand out to him and he is twirling them both wondering how the heck he got into this situation.

Carly is dancing with Michael. He is frowning in concentration as he pumps his arms in a running motion sliding his shoulders this way and that not quite sure what to do with his feet. Carly starts doing the same and then she starts bringing her hands in front of her like she is shadow boxing and Michael matches. She makes a move toward him that he counters retreating a little and then moving forward. They circle around each other. He'd figured out how to use his feet.

"Maman! Papa!" One of the little girls that Stavros is dancing with goes racing to the door where the tutor is blocking the path of a couple into the club. As soon as the tutor, now bouncer, hears the little girl's voice he backs out of the way letting them in.

Carly comes over too. "Hi! I'm Carly. Michael's mother. He is in your daughter's beginner's class." They look at her blankly. Luckily Stavros has come up behind Carly and does a quick translation into French. Which gets Ahs and nods. "There was a little problem today. The paparrazi showed up on the slopes and I was worried that they'd be bothering the kids so we moved the party indoors." The couple recognizes the word paparrazi before Stavros can finish his translation. They both explode into a vitrolic spat of French about the press that has Stavros wincing and not translating. Carly puts a hand on Stavros. "Tell them it's all cool. I already talked to the staff here and we have the club until five. The kids are having fun. If they want to stay-- I've lined up food and all the hot chocolate they can drink."

The girl's mother takes Carly's hand and pats it and the draws her into a hug. Then stands aside to talk to her daughter. Stavros pulls Carly aside and says grimly. "I want to know what is going on now. Explain this to me."

Carly exhales and then grabbing Stavros by the arm tugs him over to a semi quiet corner of the room. "It goes like this. Paparrazi are freelance photographers, been around forever but the rules seem to have changed in the last decade or so. They make their money by selling pictures to the tabloids. If they don't take pictures, they don't eat. I get that part. Everyone has to make a living. But the thing is zero privacy. They will do anything to get the picture. There have been problems in the past. The biggest one I know about was Princess Diana, ex wife of Prince Charles," Carly sees that Stavros recognizes Prince Charles' name even if he doesn't recognize Diana's. "About five years ago, She was trying to get away from the paparrazi who were chasing the car she was in. Her driver lost control of the car and they slammed into a barrier. She was killed along with the guy she was with and the driver. They were speaking french weren't they?" Carly refers to the little girl's parents.

"Yes."

"And they sounded kinda hot." Carly nods. "It happened in Paris, no wonder, they were ticked. It was so sad, so horrible and unnecessary. I thought there were suppose to be rules against taking pictures of the kids-- you know letting them be kids. But I guess not. Maybe it's just that the more reputable papers won't publish the kids... so there isn't as much of a market."

"And these vermin were on the mountain?!"

Carly nods. "Arrived just after you left to go up the mountain. I don't know who they were after but I didn't want them anywhere near the kids. So I set this up." Carly lies smoothly.

But it doesn't quite work cause Carly's rescuer comes up by Carly and Stavros. "Dude, you should have seen her. She took the tow rope half way up the mountain, suckered those guys into getting on the lift and then skied back down. By the time we got back down... the press was up the mountain and she got the kids in here."

Stavros lifts a brow. "So they were after us."

"They were after a story. I didn't want it to be Michael."

"I will deal with this." Stavros says grimly. While he'd intended to announce his return-- this was not a consequence he'd realized.

"Un-uh. Not now. This is a party and we're going to dance and eat and have a good time and not freak the kids out. This is the first time Michael has gotten to play with kids his own age since..." Carly can't even remember and is horrified at the realization. "You're not going to spoil it."

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