Building a Mystery - 4

Stefan peered down at the still form before him. He strained for a clear
view of the face. Sighing, he straightened up.

"Pity, he was one of my better men."

Taking note of his surroundings, he considered what to do with the body.

"Well, it didn't work with Katherine Bell, I highly doubt it would work
this time........."

He tried to come up with another idea. Frustrated he sighed.

"He did serve me well for several years, I suppose he deserves a proper
burial."

Stefan replaced his pistol in his coat pocket and began heading to the
launch to get help.

************************************************************************

Tony smiled to himself as he removed his surgical mask. He had just
performed his best work yet. He had been so nervous going in.... after
all, at one time, this boy had been his nephew. But now he had to view
him as a patient. That's a doctor's job....... suspend all emotion and
get to work. And that's what he did. He worked furiously and it had paid
off........ Lucky should have been dead, but now he was expected to make
a full recovery. He couldn't wait to tell Bobbie and Amy...... they'd be
so relieved.

************************************************************************

Amy stared at the corridor impatiently waiting for Tony to show himself.
She glanced at Bobbie who sat across from her. Her head was bowed like
she was praying.

"Bobbie?"

Her head slowly lifted to face Amy.

"What's taking them so long?"

Bobbie answered hoarsely.

"I don't know....."

"You don't think they're keeping something from us........"

Amy straightened up when she saw Tony round the corner. Bobbie, noticing
Amy's reaction spun around to face Tony.

"Tony?"

She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched a smile spread across his
face.

"The surgery went beautifully........ Lucky's expected to make a full
recovery. In fact, he's doing so well, we're moving him to his own room
as we speak."

He watched as Amy and Bobbie hugged and cried tears of joy. His smile
slowly faded.

"Now that we've got the good news out of the way, we need to have the
more difficult part of the discussion........ we've placed Lucky under
suicide watch....... All objects he could potentially use to hurt
himself have been removed. He's going to need counseling, we'll send
someone down. But in the meantime, Lucky should be coming to soon."

Bobbie nodded her head absently.

"Can we see him?"

"Yes, but first, you know it's customary for friends and family to
donate blood........ I promise it'll only take a couple of minutes. You
don't have to but Bobbie, it'd be especially helpful if you'd
donate....... we're running short on type O and I'd like to have some
standing by in case there's an emergency and Lucky needs it."

Bobbie's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?! You mean B-, B- not O........"

Tony matched her confused stare.

"I'm sorry, I could've sworn your blood type was O......."

"It is........."

She trailed off as she realized the truth and all it's implications. She
raised a shaky hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god....... He's O?......... He's O? You're sure?!"

"Well, I just operated on him, of course I'm sure....... Bobbie what's
going on?"

"Luke's blood type is O!......... It's O........"

Amy gasped and sank into a chair.

"What are you saying?" Tony asked more out of shock than inquiry.

"Luke is Lucky's father......."

************************************************************************

Turning the page, Nikolas closed his eyes. He marked his page and set
the book down on the table next to him. Leaning back, he tightly shut
his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had a pounding headache,
and all this reading wasn't helping, but he just didn't know what to do
with himself. He didn't want to admit it, but that run-in with Luke had
really disturbed him........ He had seen Luke angry before, that's
almost all he ever saw him as........but this was different........ it
was almost as if he was scared. Nikolas leaned forward, running his
hands through his hair. He froze when he saw smoke wafting up from under
the door. His eyes widened in horror as he ran to open it. He jerked his
hand away as soon as he touched the doorknob, swearing in Greek as he
frantically shook his hand.

"Oh god...... oh....... god! What do I do?!"

Running to the window, he looked down, realizing it would be an
immediate fall t his death. He only had one choice. Running back to the
door, Nikolas used the corner of his shirt to turn the doorknob, and ran
into the hallway, screaming for his uncle.

************************************************************************

Luke stumbled blindly through the woods. If that little brat Nikky
hadn't called the cops he could have....... well, he didn't know what he
was going to do with Stefan, but he would have done something. His
determination not to kill Stefan changed when he saw those custody
papers. His emotional side had finally overcome the last few shreds of
rationality he had left, and now he had a taste for blood. His anger
rose as he considered how long Steffie knew. He had had time to draw up
petitions for custody......... oh yeah, Count Vlad was probably having a
pretty good chuckle at his expense for a while now. Luke was going to
see to it that that was put to an end.

Luke slumped up against a tree attempting to catch his breath. His eyes
frantically combed the woods for cops. Momentarily reassured, he slid
down and knelt on the ground with his head in his hands. This was all
just one big, nightma......

An explosion erupted, rocking the peaceful woods. Flickering fire
illuminated the forest, casting ominous shadows on the wild vines and
brush below. Luke threw his arms over his head in a protective position
to shelter himself from the shrapnels of glass that rained down around
him. Feeling the last of the glass fall, Luke slowly stood.

"What the hell?!"

He could see the fire burning in the distance. Luke turned back to the
direction in which he had been running, than back towards the source of
the explosion. His curiosity getting the better of him, he turned and
ran toward Wyndemere.

************************************************************************

Slipping through the cloak of darkness, the sleek plane would have gone
undetected in not for the small lights on it's sturdy underbelly, and
soft purr of the engine. Inside, elaborate furniture lay atop a plush
red carpet. It sank under the shiny black shoes crossing it. A man in a
suit walked over and sat on the large couch across from the desk. His
eyes involuntarily narrowed as they tried to adjust to the dim lighting.
Adjusting his suit in a proper manner he attempted to get the attention
of the occupant of the chair behind the desk. The chair, ever-unmoving,
spoke to the wall.

"Status?"

"The men have been informed of their duties......."

The chair didn't move.

"We should be arriving in Port Charles within the hour."

The chair still didn't move.

"Our man on the inside has a close eye on your grandson madam........
he's watching his room right now."

The chair slowly spun around, casting a soft light on Helena's wicked
smile.

"Yes........ we'd hate for anything to happen to ''my grandson'', now
wouldn't we?"
 
 

Stepping out of the brush, Stefan paused to straighten his suit and
brush himself off. His eyes narrowed as they fell upon a small group of
security guards huddled together at the end of the dock. One guard
looked behind him, finally noticing Stefan's presence.

"Mr. Cassadine!"

He immediately stood at attention, as did the others. That was when
Stefan noticed the two security guards on the ground.

"May I assume this is the work of Luke Spencer?"

"Yes sir, security footage confirms it."

Stefan nodded his head grimly. He opened his mouth to say something but
was cut short by shouting and frantic footsteps on the stairs.

"We need help........ Mr. Cassadine!"

The man went rigid.

"M....Mr. Cassadine... I'm sorry.... I ........ I didn't
realize...... I just assumed......."

Stefan, annoyed by the guard's nervous banter, rolled his eyes.

"What seems to be the problem?"

The guard gulped down his fear.

"We got a distress call from the main house a while ago, some guards
went up to check it out....... sir...... W..... Wyndemere is on
fire....."

Stefan's eyes widened in horror.

"If this is some kind of joke I assure you there is no humor in it."

"N.... no sir, I would never....."

"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU DOING SOMETHING?!?!"

Stefan's voice thundered over the sound of distant sirens. The guard,
snapping out of his fear-induced paralysis quickly nodded and ran
towards Wyndermere with the other guards close behind. Stefan put his
hand to his mouth, sudden tears of terror stinging his eyes. His voiced
rasped forth in a whisper.

"Nikolas......"

************************************************************************

Luke watched in awe as the warm yellow and orange flames engulfed
Wyndemere. A small smile spread played across his lips. He couldn't
help but be mildly amused at the destruction of his enemy's home......
Afterall, hadn't it only been months ago that he had intentionally
started a fire on these grounds? Compared to the stables this was much
more entertaining..... and he wasn't responsible for once..... Who
was? There was a question...... this couldn't possibly be an
accident...... so who torched the place? Maybe Steffie pissed off some
business associates..... Maybe Helena thought it best to discipline her
kid by burning down his house...... Maybe Sonny decided to "take care
of" Stefan without killing him..... he had asked him not to kill
him..... he had also asked him to check on his son.

Luke sighed and closed his eyes. Lucky....... How could he love somebody
who was the flesh and blood of the very man he despised? But how could
he not love the boy he raised? As much as he wanted to hated him he
couldn't ...... he knew that the minute he thought he might loose
him...... And if he died............

Luke shuddered at the thought. The only son he knew...... his only son,
could be dead. He shook his head. He couldn't think about that right
now. He had to focus on.....on..... what the hell was he doing anyway?
He should be with Lucky, not prancing through the Cassadine
woods........ He could kill Stefan later. His son needed him now......
if it wasn't too late already.

Luke turned and started to walk away when something caught his
attention....... he paused, concentrating on the noises around him. The
popping and crackling of the fire, sirens in the distance.... there it
was again. Luke whipped around and stepped forward, studying the fire
intensely. His body stiffened when he heard the cry again...... a cry
for help...... Nikolas' cry for help. Luke stood frozen to the spot.
This was his chance..... this could be his greatest revenge against
Stefan...... to sit and watch his precious Nikolas die. Every other time
he went in to save that kid he did it for Laura....... Laura's
feelings weren't an issue anymore. She took his son...... now he could
let her son be taken....... an eye for an eye.......

Luke began walking away. This was his chance to get rid of that kid.....
this was too easy. Get rid of him, and don't even haffta worry about
hiding evidence or keeping secrets............. Secrets. Luke smiled
bitterly. In all his years on this earth Luke learned that learning
life's little lessons never turned out so little...... it always
seemed that there had to be an explosive event to initiate any type of
learning response in him, and this was definitely one of them. In the
course of one day he had learned more about trust, love, and secrets
than he had in his whole life. And with those lessons came
resolutions......... be more careful who you trust, the only real thing
that makes a son yours is love so love him with all you got-- before
it's too late, and secrets are the most dangerous weapon and he would
never turn a weapon on the people loved again. He saw how it hurt
people, not just hurt them, but destroyed them. Lucky...... that poor
kid suffered so much because of secrets. He had watched him fall apart
the minute the existence of Nikolas came to light.... and it was never
quite the same after that. He became like a threatened animal......
lashing out trying to defend himself. It hurt not being able to help
him...... he knew Lucky wished he didn't exist and so did Luke. It
reminded them both of the hell that Laura went through...... but then he
saved Lulu. And Luke couldn't deny his existence after that...... the
kid confused him...... he was destroying his son, but saving his
daughter and threatening the trust between him and his wife. Well, now
the trust was gone, his son annihilated...... but Lulu, the one child he
might still lay claim to, was still here.

Luke stopped in his tracks as another cry for help echoed in the
distance. He inhaled deeply, pushing down the uncertainty that rose as
he turned began running back to Wyndemere.
 

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