Risk

Chapter XXXVII

Foreseeable Consequence

Mrs Lansbury comes into the living room carrying the cell phone. Bobbie takes one look at it and gets a knot in her stomach. Whenever she showed up on the island, Mrs Lansbury took custody of her phone and only put Carly thru, or Lucas if he happened to be off the island. "Oh no."

"I'm sorry, Mrs Cassadine. But I think you should take this one." Mrs Lansbury hands the phone over.

"Bobbie Spencer." She stiffens and frowns as she hears the voice on the other end of the line, ready to hang up until she hears why she is being called. But it is Stefan who gets to his feet and starts to take the phone from Bobbie once he hears Bobbie's voice. He'd heard it before when she was trying to calm combatant patients at GH. "Now Stavros..."

Stefan reaches for the phone. "Give it to me."

Bobbie steps away from Stefan and brushes his hand away. "Stavros..." Bobbie says patiently. "...Carly is used to dealing with the press. Yes, I've heard that the press in Europe is vicious. But that doesn't make them angels here. What did Carly do?" Bobbie laughs at Stavros answer. "That sounds like fun. And Michael didn't have any inkling there was a problem? Excuse me?! I think that is exactly the point. There is no problem unless you make it one. You feed a stray dog and it'll keep coming back. You don't... and it'll move on."

"Barbara, give me the phone!" Stefan insists. He snatches the phone out of Bobbie's hand. "I told you to leave Barbara out of your little games!"

Bobbie snatches the phone back. "That's my phone!" Bobbie glares at Stefan. And holds him off with one hand. "Since he brought it up. Yes, I want to know how my daughter and grandson are doing, from them. What concerns them-- concerns me. And if this is another one of your little games I will come over there and personally skin you! And how in the hell did you get this number anyway?... Well...you and Carly need to get separate cell phones!"

"Barbara, please give me the phone; I wish to speak with my brother." Stefan says thru gritted teeth.

"Stefan wants to talk to you." Bobbie offers the phone to Stefan. "There that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Stefan glares at her. "You said press. What is the issue and how may I be of assistance?" Stefan is silent his eyes narrowed as Stavros tells him what transpired. When Stavros is about ranted out Stefan answers calmly. "Barbara's advice would normally be excellent-- however, the gutter press has fed at our mother's trough too often for them to be easily dissuaded. They are a persistent nuisance and eliminating one just brings out more..."

"Like cockroaches?" Bobbie offers helpfully carefully listening to the conversation and making no secret of it.

"Like the hydra. Chop off one and three more grow in it's place." Stefan says instead.

"I like the cockroach analogy better."

"They have their uses of course. Your... recovery is noteworthy. But thankfully they are easily distracted. Like sharks they will move off if they smell blood in the water elsewhere. I will email you a number of strategies that I have used in the past." Stefan hangs up the phone.

"You think it's wise to mention blood to your brother?" Bobbie says wryly. "Carly keeps telling me she is trying to get him over that whole kill, kill, kill thing."

"When it comes to the gutter press a saint would yearn to kill, kill, kill." Stefan retorts. "And my brother stands accused of many things but being a saint isn't one of them."

Bobbie glances down at her watch and groans. "I have to get to the hospital. I'm on the surg. schedule this morning."

"I will accompany you."

Nikolas notes the blinking light on his phone when he comes in from feeding Sheba and taking her for an early morning ride. He presses the play button hoping that it's Gia.

Nikolas, it's your mother. I was hoping to get together with you today... how does Lunch sound? Call me back.

Nik looks at the answering machine with a cynical glare. Less than a day remained in the 72 hours Jason Morgan had given his mother. But even that day is too long. He erases the message. In order for his plan to work, Laura had to have exhausted all other options. Let her stew. Remembering his promise to Alexis, he decides to visit to GH to reassure Stefan of her well being before going over to L&B.

Nurse's station on six at General Hospital. Amy covers a yawn. Somedays morning just came too damn early. And the graveyard nurses were just too damn perky and efficient in the shift change information. Probably in the interest of getting the heck out of GH. The breakfast trays were already out. Everyone that needed a little help was getting it. Amy reaches under the cabinent knowing what she will find there. One of the graveyard workers is as addicted to a good scandal as she is-- although the graveyard nurse was more into the scandals of the british and royalty of Monaco. Amy's jaw drops as she sees the cover of yesterday's Globe. "Oh MY GAWD!" Amy reaches for the phone with one hand tucking it under her ear and dialing with one hand while she thumbs pages with the other. As soon as the other end it picked up, Amy doesn't even wait. "Laura, I thought you said your ex husband was dead!"

"We couldn't get so lucky with Baldwin." Luke growls half asleep. "And contrary to rumors, I am still kicking."

"Luke, you know I don't think of you as my sister's ex. I mean-- you guys are just temporarily divorced." Amy says with a hint of placation in her voice. She looks up at the clock and winces knowing what is coming next.

"What the hell are you doing calling so fucking early! I just got to sleep 30 minutes ago! Have you no decency, woman?"

"Luke, can I speak to my sister-- Please?"

"LAURA!! It's for you."

There is a click on the other side of the line as Laura picks up. "Nikolas?"

"No, it's me." Amy can't hold it back any longer. "There is a picture of Carly, Bobbie's daughter, and STAVROS on the front page of the Globe UK! Can you believe it?! I thought you told me he was dead." There is a long pause. That gets even longer. Then there is the sound of a click. "Laura?"

"Amy, I have to go." Laura hangs up the phone

Amy looks at the dead receiver. "Well... really!" She sees someone else she can share the news with coming off the elevator. OH Juicy hint of scandal! Stefan and Bobbie arriving at the same time! And if she wasn't mistaken they didn't start moving apart until after the elevator doors opened. Could it be? "Bobbie!!!"

Bobbie closes her eyes and sighs heavily. "Curses... foiled again."

"Have a lovely day." Stefan says quietly his amusement evident in his tone.

"You'll get yours later." Bobbie threatens in a low mutter.

"I... look forward to it." Stefan starts walking off but stops in his tracks when he hears what Amy is saying.

"Bobbie! Look at what your daughter has done now!" Amy shoves the tabloid into Bobbie's hand. "Can you believe she is actually going out with STAVROS Cassadine?! After everything that he did to my sister? Although why should I be surprised? I mean after what she did to you and Tony! Man, as soon as the Quartermaines see this... Monica is going to throw a hissy! And then probably start jumping for joy figuring she'll finally get to see Michael."

Bobbie's voice is grim. "Have you already called Laura?"

"Well of course. I called her first thing. I just got off the phone with her and Luke."

"You told LUKE?!"

"Well.. yeah. Look-- if it was some big secret why didn't anyone tell me? How am I suppose to know who knows and who doesn't?!" Amy gets kinda ticked. She can tell by the look on Bobbie's face and the way Stefan had come back to hear the rest of the conversation that this isn't a surprise to them.

"Perhaps because we wished it to remain private?" Stefan says grimly. "Barbara?"

Bobbie shakes her head. "I have to get to surgery. I'm already late."

"It is unlikely that your brother will take this news from me." Stefan turns to Amy. "Why don't you make yourself useful and contact the OR and tell them that Nurse Spencer has been unavoidably detained." Stefan puts a hand on Bobbie's back and steers her toward his office. Stefan says over his shoulder. "If there is a problem, have the staff member concerned referred to me. I will deal with them--personally."

Amy shudders a little at the last. Whenever Stefan said something like that she just got the mental image of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, shouting off with their heads. And then she realizes. "Hey wait! I wasn't done reading that!"

At the Spencer house, Laura goes running up the stairs. Luke is already in their closet packing a duffle. "Luke?"

"Bottomless pit, my ass!" She can hear Luke although his voice is muffled. "The next hole I stick him in is gonna be precisely six feet deep. And I'm shoving in the first fistful of dirt."

"Luke, NO! I don't want you to go." Laura demands.

Luke comes into the bedroom carrying his duffle. He reads Laura's face and realizes that Amy's call hadn't been as big a surprise to her as it had been to him. "You knew."

Laura can't meet his gaze. "Yes. I knew."

"And you didn't tell me?! Who else? Who else knows? Barbara! That's why she is hanging out with Vlad again! And acting so crazy, Firing Elizabeth! Who else? Who, Laura?"

"Nikolas... and Lucky."

"My son knew and didn't tell me?!"

"I asked him not to. Asked them both." Laura stiffens waiting for the verbal blow that isn't long in coming.

"You told my son to lie to me. I'm outta here. I'll be back for my daughter as soon as I put that bastard in the ground." Luke starts toward the door.

"Luke, No. Please. Please listen to me."

"The time for talking was when you realized that psycho was still alive. But you've always been good at keeping secrets where those sonsabitches were concerned." Luke brushes past Laura as if she isn't even there.

"Luke... NOOOOO!!! Please. NOOOO!" Laura screams as she collapses to her knees.

Nikolas knocks on the door to Stefan's office before entering. When he sees Bobbie is there he steps back ready to retreat but it's too late. Stefan has already seen him and waved him in. "Did you come in by the nurse's station?" Stefan asks.

"No, I took the stairs." Nikolas looks from Stefan to Bobbie and their matching grim faces. "What's happened? What's going on? Has something happened to Alexis? She emailed me that she was fine."

"Yes, I'm sure Alexis is fine. It's good to see you, Nikolas."

"Stefan, don't start pulling that crap. Tell him. Someone else will. Better you than some reporter." Bobbie interjects when she starts getting the feeling that Stefan is going to try to snow Nik.

"Tell me what?"

Bobbie hands him the paper with Stavros and Carly on the cover. "It's brought up a couple of different problems. First I guess would be... Your father is out of the habit of dealing with the press. He was very angry about the situation and called me this morning... tonight their time."

"He called you?!"

Bobbie nods. "I think this picture got the ball rolling. Today when they went skiing... the photo hounds were there. And they weren't just there after Stavros... or Carly."

"Michael." Nik realizes.

Bobbie nods. "Carly handled it. She's very careful about keeping Michael out of the press. Even in the midst of all the drama with Sonny. The last picture of Michael in the paper was when Tony kidnapped him. And that baby picture is still the only picture that the press has as far as we know and Carly wants to keep it that way."

Nik realizes that isn't all and there is worse to come. "And the rest?" He looks to Stefan.

"Your father being alive is now... common knowledge."

"Common knowledge?"

"That means I know about it, Nikky." Luke says grimly from the door. "But he won't be alive for long. Just tell me where he is and I'll finish what I started down at the lab. You and you..." Luke points at Bobbie and Nikolas. "...Out. This is between me and Vlad."

"No! I won't go."

"Nikolas please. I will handle this." Stefan doesn't lose eye contact with Luke. Watching his every move waiting for him to strike. "Take Barbara and go." Nikolas reluctantly takes Bobbie's arm and escorts her from the room shutting the door.

Bobbie won't go any further than out in the hall. "Guess this means that the truce is over."

There is the sound of furniture breaking inside the office. "Yeah. I think so." Nikolas winces at the next round of breakage. Then a thought occurs to him. "If my father being alive is common knowledge that means that it's also common knowledge that Carly is with him. The Quartermaines?"

Bobbie nods and sighs. "Just a matter of time." She sighs again. "Why didn't I take that head of nursing job over at Mercy when it was offered? My life is going to be hell here. I bet Alan and Monica are both after me before the day is over."

Just then there is a page on the intercom. "Barbara Spencer, please call six."

Bobbie rolls her eyes but moves to one of the hospital phones on the floor and dials the nurses' station. From there she is connected to an outside call. Nikolas has moved over by the phone too. Leaning against the wall next to the phone. He wants to know who calls first... Alan or Monica. They should have put money on it. Bobbie holds the receiver away from her ear instinctively at the shouting at the other end and then realizing that Nik is too close puts it back to her ear but it is too late. Nik has already recognized the voice. He puts the phone on speaker and takes the receiver from Bobbie and hangs it up. The voice on the other end of the line comes out over the small phone speaker.

"This is all your fault! I wanted to tell Luke and you asked me not too! Now he's left me and blames me for all this and it's all your fault! It's all your fault." Laura sobs.

Nik reaches over and disconnects the call. "Nikolas!" Bobbie protests. She reaches for the receiver and starts calling Laura back.

Nik reaches over and depresses the phone before Bobbie can complete the call. "No. This is not your fault. It was my mother's choice to keep this from her husband. She had every opportunity to tell him."

"She did want to tell Luke. I told her he hadn't recovered yet that it would be dangerous for Luke to cross Stavros before he was fully able. I did tell her not to tell. This is my fault."

"No. My mother is an adult capable of making her own decisions. This was the foreseeable consequence of her lie."

"Nikolas." Bobbie looks at Nikolas somewhat askance at his coldness. "What is going on? What is going on with you? Laura is in pain and that seems to be okay with you!"

"Foreseeable consequences, Bobbie. It took my conversation with you. And another rather unpleasant one with Jason Morgan but I get it now. She sent my fiance to Atlantic City to at minimum humiliate her into quitting. But there were other foreseeable consequences of that action... including Gia almost being raped by two drunks given her room number-- a foreseeable consequence of my mother's lax security."

"What did you just say?!" Marcus Taggart interjects furiously from behind the pair who had been too caught up in their conversation to notice his approach. He'd been sent over here to follow up some bullshit rumor that Stavros Cassadine was alive and kicking up his heels in Europe. But that could just take a backseat. "What happened to my sister?"

Stefan wipes the blood away from the corner of his mouth looking at his hand in distaste. He takes a breath and then decides to make a shallow one. "I think you've broken one of my ribs."

"Good, I hope you puncture a lung..." Luke grunts as he pops his shoulder back into place with a quick wrench and pop. "...And drown in your own blood." He looks around for a chair to sit down in but all of them are broken. He slides down a wall wincing at the jar that goes up his body when butt hits floor. The pain is intense but nagging not like when his arm had actually been dislocated. Damned if he was going to pass out in front of Cassadine.

Stefan leans up against the opposite wall wishing he could sit down as well but more concerned about giving Luke his wish if he moved his torso in the wrong direction. The battle had been swift and hard fought. Stefan more classically trained but Luke is schooled in years of dirty tricks. Only exhaustion had stopped the bout at a draw. "You're old. And you're weak. If you can't take me-- how are you going to take Stavros?" Stefan pants out his statements in short choppy sentences.

"I can take Stavros for about 45 cents." Luke pantomines a gun in Stefan's direction and makes a popping noise.

"Works for me. Stavros dead. You in prison for the rest of your miserable life. I can run our two families without the insanity of you and Stavros. The peace and quiet would be wonderful."

"Yeah, right." Luke snorts. "I'd be doing mankind a service. They'll pin a medal on me.

"He isn't coming at you. He isn't threatening you or your family. You would be the aggressor. No sign of self defense at all-- unless it is on Stavros part. Maybe this time he will push you down a flight of stairs."

"Nah, that's a Cassadine thing. Stavros, Nikky. None of you have any sense of balance." Stefan comes off the wall furious at the mention of Nikolas. "Don't get your BVD's in a twist." Luke waves a hand. "Nik's off the table. His blood might be tainted by his Cassadine ancestors. But my beef isn't with him... it's with Stavros. Where is he?"

"You'll find out if you really want to know. My brother's whereabouts are now common knowledge. But he managed for months to keep it quiet. Months that he used to consolidate his power and take back the reins of the family."

"Bet Mama is thrilled."

"I doubt it. His first course of action was eliminating all access Helena had to power and money. Her call to me... collect... was my first inkling of Stavros resurfacing."

Luke laughs. "Oh that's a good one. Bullshit-- but a good one."

"It's true." Stefan gasps. Normal breathing is going to be a luxury in the coming weeks until his ribs heal. "Her threatening to brainwash Nikolas down in the lab, the way she did Lucky, was enough to open Stavros' eyes to Helena's insanity."

"I'm not buying. But even if what you say is true. All the better. It means he's alone; it'll just be him and me."

Stefan shakes his head. "It's worse. He's found a new ally. A Spencer ally. Your niece. Who I believe doesn't hold you in high regard. The two of them together are a... formidable force. Something I didn't realize when I made my first effort to remove my brother from this earth."

"What was that?"

"I sent Jason Morgan after him. And yet my brother still stands, now with yet another ally. Caroline managed to turn him. I had high hopes of eliminating both Morgan and Stavros. Instead..."

"I talked to Jason. He's running the territory now." Luke grunts.

Stefan nods. "Another consequence unforeseen by me. Stavros has managed to eliminate Caroline's husband and put Morgan in charge of the thugs in this town. Nikolas tracked Stavros down to the Greek compound, they are no longer there, when I followed I realized the true danger of Stavros and Caroline working together."

"What's that?"

"She makes him appear... sane."

Luke snorts. "In comparison with her, yeah, I can see that." He shakes his head. Rolling over onto his knees he uses his good arm to push himself to his feet. Staggering, he throws his arm out against the wall for balance. "If you're right, we're both gonna be wishing Helena was back."

"There is a benefit."

"What's that?"

"Stavros is so entertained by Caroline that he has shown no signs of going after your wife, or you."

"Yeah, that's Caroline, more entertaining than a basket of kittens."