Secrets Revealed
Ch 15: Fighting The odds


Wyndemere

Laura Spencer shook her head sadly as she looked at
her oldest son.
“Do you know what you are doing?”
“I’m getting my son back,” Nikolas said calmly. “I’m
finally going to have what I should have had thirteen years ago.”
“Nikolas,” Laura took a deep breath. “I know that
discovering that you have a son you didn’t know anything
about was a shock, but are you sure that you’ve thought this
over carefully enough. It’s only been a few weeks since you
discovered the truth. You need to give yourself and Jonathan
time.”
“Time is what I don’t have,” Nikolas says fiercely. “If
I don’t act, Jonathan is just going to get closer and closer to
Lucky. God knows if Lucky and Emily will even be in Port
Charles in a few months. I will not lose another son. Not to
Lucky. Not to anybody.”
“You cannot replace one son with another Nikolas.
Kim died. Your son died. Taking Jonathan away from the
only home he has ever known won’t fix that or make it right
or bring them back.”
“Don’t. Don’t speak to me about my wife or my son.”
Nikolas’s voice is fierce and low. “Kim was all I had.”
“You have a daughter. A daughter who needs you in
her life, not guards or tutors or even grandmothers. Have you
given one thought to what Stephanie is going to say when she
finds out about Jonathan and your plans?”
“Stephanie knows,” Nikolas shot back. “Apparently
she overheard Lucky and Jonathan talking and asked Jonathan
about it. Stephanie will be thrilled to have Jonathan here. She
loves her brother.”
“He loves her too. They went through a lot together in
El Paso.”
“If this is where you tell me about how brave Emily
was to keep Jonathan safe and about how much she and
Lucky have sacrificed to keep their family safe from my
grandmother could you please spare me. I’ve heard the story
before.” Nikolas looked at his mother. “I would have thought
you of all people would understand what it is like to be kept
from your son.”
“I do. And I’m not saying that you don’t have the
right to be a part of your son’s life. What I am saying is that
you do not have the right to turn your child’s life upside down
and take him away from the only people who have ever been
there for him.”
“He’s young. He’ll adjust. There’s a lot I can offer
him. Including this island for a home.”
“What? Wealth? Power? Do you think those things
matter to a twelve year old? He will never see Wyndemere as
his home because he will never see you as his father.”
“I don’t expect it to be easy. Or too happen overnight. But it will happen. He will see me as
his father. And that won’t happen as long as he’s living with Emily and Lucky.”
“You are acting from pride or maybe some kind of
revenge against Emily and Lucky for keeping your son away
from you. You aren’t thinking. Lucky is your brother. Before
he left town the two of you were close.”
“Before he left town.? You mean before he took my
son and disappeared. He stood here in this very room and I
asked him what was wrong and he said nothing. He knew that
Emily had given birth to my son. My god he had the child at
Jason Morgan’s place hiding out. My six year old son was in
this town and my so called brother didn’t think I needed to
know about it. And you’re okay with this? Oh, I forgot- it’s
okay to lie to the people you love as long as your last name is
Spencer..”
There is a loud crack as Laura slaps her son across the
cheek.
“You haven’t a clue what you are talking about. You
are my son and I will always love you but if you continue like
this I will be ashamed of you. You hate the fact that Emily
went into hiding rather than tell you she was pregnant. You
hate the fact that Lucky hid the fact that you had a son from
you. What you are forgetting Nikolas is the reason they did
this. To save your child. Emily was shot and tortured trying to
keep your son away from your grandmother. Did you ever
stop to think about how the Quartermaine’s felt when Emily
disappeared? Alan and Monica were sure she was back on
drugs. For ten years they didn’t know if she was dead or
alive. Do you think that Lucky or Emily wanted to live their
lives like this? That they conspired to keep your son from you? When did you get to be so
judgmental? What happened to your compassion?”
“What do you want me to do? Ignore the fact that I
have a son?” Nikolas said coldly.
“No. Of course not. I want you to do for Jonathan
what I did when my son entered my life unexpectedly. Give
him time. Give him space. Let him get to know you. Get to
know him. Learn to be his friend.”
“I do not want to be his friend. I want to be his
father.”
Laura’s sigh was soft and sad. She could hear the
crackling of flames in her head and knew that the
Spencer/Cassadine feud had just roared back to life. Damn
Helena Cassadine.
“You cannot be his father. However much you wish it
to be otherwise, that position in his life is already filled.”
Laura couldn’t keep the note of pleading from her voice.
“You and Jonathan can build your own relationship if you
would just accept that fact.”
“I will not be my father. I will not play ''uncle'' to my
son.” Nikolas says flatly.
“Then I guess that’s all there is to say,” Laura says
quietly. “I cannot support you on this. You are my son and I
will always love you, but right now I do not like you very
much.” Laura turned to go and then turned back. “Do not
belittle what your father sacrificed when he made the decision to be
your uncle and not your father. What Stefan did he did for
love- can you say the same?”
Laura Spencer left Wyndemere the way she had come,
overwhelmed with the sadness of it all.


The Quartermaine Estate

Jonathan Spencer grinned as his fingers flew over the
computer his great-grandfather had let him borrow. The ultra high
speed modem, a prototype being developed at ELQ, allowed
him to get in and out of countless systems before they even
had a clue that he was there.
He shook his head as he began systematically going
through the layers of security surrounding Cassadine’s
computer system. The passwords were so obvious that he was
in to the company's system in almost no time. It had been
harder to break into the computer system at the public library
in El Paso. Chalk up another characteristic to describe
Nikolas Cassadine- arrogant, obnoxious, and now stupid.
Twenty minutes of going through computer records
later, Jonathan was ready to add another word to that list:
incredibly boring. No secret accounts. No hidden mistresses.
Nothing even remotely hinting of scandal.
This is not right, Jonathan says to himself, the guy is
HER grandson. There has to be something somewhere that
he’s ashamed of. So if it’s not in the company’s system, I
wonder what’s lurking around in his private computer. He
hooked into an email sent from the company to Cassadine's private
computer and was about to trail it into the personal computer
when his cell phone rang. Absent mindedly, he picked it up.
“Yeah.” He said curtly.
“Jonathan?” Lucky’s voice is amused. “You are lucky
that I was the one calling and not your mother. “
“Oh, sorry dad. I’m just in the middle of a project on
the computer.”
Lucky’s radar comes awake. “A project?”
“Yeah,” Jonathan thought quickly. “It’s just a little
computer project for grandfather. I’m helping him with some
old files.”
“Uh-huh...... Whose system are you breaking into
now?”
“Dad!” Jonathan protested. “I’m not doing anything. I
told you...”
“Jonathan.”
“All right. I’m not hurting anything or changing
anything. I swear. I’m just doing some research.”
“About what and where?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s just a company. I’m just getting
in and out.”
“No chance of getting caught?”
“Please! Security on this one so loose even mom could
get in with no difficulty.”
“Now you should feel really lucky that she’s not on
the line.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah I do. But she might not. Besides its dangerous
to underestimate your mom. You should know that.”
Jonathan pauses. “How is she?”
“Still taking tests. I knew you’d be worried so I
decided to call. We’ll call as soon as we know anything.
Everything will be fine.”
“I know.”
“Okay,” Lucky said. “And by the way, try not to
destroy any of Nikolas’s files or cause any damage. I would
not want to be the one to explain that to your mother.”
“What? How did you know?” Jonathan sputters.
“That you were breaking into the Cassadine computer
system?” Lucky’s voice drops an octave. “Because that’s
exactly what I would be doing. Ask your grandfather if he has a greek dictionary in the
mansion. Cassadine code words are always predicatable.”
Silence. “I love you Dad.”
“I love you too.”


New York
Lucky hung up the phone and smiled. There was no
way he was ever going to tell Jonathan that he had helped
design that security system. The system hadn’t been the
tightest he had ever designed, but he was kind of surprised
that Jonathan could break into it so fast. The kid was
dangerous. Too smart. Too much like Lucky himself at that age. Cagey.
Wiley. When he and Emily returned to Port Charles they
would have to do some serious talking about Jonathan’s
schooling. Maybe encourage Jonathan to skip a couple of
grades and go to PCH. Or even private school. With the
salary he and Jax had hammered out last night, Lucky could
afford to send Jonathan anywhere. Not that there was a hope
or a prayer that either Jonathan or Emily would agree to
sending Jonathan to boarding school, even the most
academically challenging. The bond between mother and son
was too deep. Helena Cassadine had done that. Each was too
afraid the other would get hurt if they weren’t around to
offer protection. Unfortunately they had good reason to fear
that.
“Lucky.” Lucky looked up and smiled when he saw
Emily walking down the hospital corridor. She looked pale
and tired.
“No hospital gown, no wheelchair, and no
nurse...Does this mean the tests are done?” He quizzes her
gently as he pulls her into his arms.
“Thank God.” Emily leans into her husband’s strength.
“Six hours of pure torture mingled with an occasional flash of
sheer boredom are finished.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “I
just hope it helps.”
“It will. It has too.”
“Mrs. Spencer. Mr. Spencer.” The nurse calls to
them. “The doctor is ready to see you with your test results
back.”
Emily grabs Lucky’s hand and squeezes. Lucky can
feel the circulation in his hand cutting off, but he doesn’t say
anything. intent on offering her his support in every way
possible. Even if it costs him every bone in his hand.
Together they head down the hall and into the
doctor’s office.

Port Charles
The Spencer home

Ruby Spencer is the first to open the door when the
taxi drops Luke off in front of his home. Grinning, he reaches
for his youngest daughter and pulls her into a tight bear hug.
“By God you must have grown at least a half a foot
while I was gone,” Luke took a step back to look at his
teenage daughter. His eyes narrowed. “How many times were
you suspended when I was gone?”
“Dad,” Ruby exageratingly protested. “I’ll have you
know that I was perfect the whole time you were gone.”
“Perfect huh?” Luke grinned and then yelled. “Laura
somebody kidnapped our Ruby and replaced her with this
clone.”
“What makes you say so?” Laura smiles at her
husband.
“She says she’s been perfect this last week. I’ve
known Ruby to be funny, charming, smart, sarcastic, witty,
puzzling, dramatic, confusing, and all that- but never perfect.”
“Dad!”
“Yes.”
“It’s great to have you home.”
“It’s good to be home angel of mine.”
Luke turns to greet his wife with a long passionate
kiss. “Weren’t we at this point when we were interrupted.”
“And they say the memory is the first thing to go when
you hit old age.”
“Some things I am never going to forget and I’ll be
glad to show you just how old I really am,” Luke murmured
seductively as Laura blushed and Ruby groaned.
“You just got back. You can’t get mushy now.
There’s too much too do. You promised to help me with that
project for school and then you were going to give me my
first driving lesson and then you were going to take me to
camping store and help me pick out a backpack for our
camping trip next weekend and.....”
“Whoa little cowgirl.” Luke smiled. “That’s a long list.
Why don’t we settle for a quiet afternoon at home and take
care of those things tomorrow.”
“But Dad...”
“Ruby, your father is right. He’s had a long flight and
he’s tired. Those things can wait until tomorrow.”
“All right,” Ruby said grudgingly.
“Where are Lucky and Emily and Jonathan? I wanted
to spend some time with my grandson today. Maybe take him
fishing later today. He’s been waiting six years for me to take
him. Kind of thought we could make it a male bonding thing
and take Lucky with us.”
From her perch on the stairs, Ruby scowled. Too tired
to do anything with her but he’ll take HIM fishing. Luke was
her father, not HIS.
Laura’s smile disappeared. “Come sit down. There’s a
lot I have to tell you.”
Filled with a sense of foreboding, Luke sat down next
to his wife as Laura explained about Emily’s illness, Nikolas’s
lawsuit, and everything else that had been going on in Port
Charles.
“Damn.” Luke stood up abruptly. “When do those
two kids get a break? After everything they’ve been through
you would think they would have earned a little happily every
after?” He turns to Laura. “He can’t lose her. He won’t
survive it. And neither one of them will be able to handle
losing Jonathan. Nikolas is a fool if he thinks he can control
Jonathan like that. That kid is not going to just sit back and
let this happen.” Luke swore softly. “God I was really hoping
Nikolas would come around on this one. I knew he was angry
in Texas but I really thought that once he had calmed
down....”
“I know. I saw him earlier today. He isn’t thinking
about anything else than getting his son back. What he has to
do to have Jonathan doesn’t seem to matter.”
“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t helped Emily leave
town, maybe she would have told Nikolas, and then....”
“Maybe Emily and Jonathan would both be dead. Or
holed up in some cell somewhere. My grandson is safe and I
owe you for that. And Emily. And Lucky.We should all be grateful that Jonathan is this
amazing kid not a pawn in some kind of Cassadine game.
That counts for something, no matter what happens.”
“God I hope so.”

Upstairs in her room, Ruby is torn between the desire
to kill a few million aliens in a video game or write Jonathan a
hate letter that she knows she will never mail. She shrugs. The
kid’s a novelty. She’ll get her father back when the novelty
wears off. Or at least she hopes so.
The phone rings and Ruby grabs it.
“This is Jonathan.”
My favorite person, Ruby thinks. “You have
something for me.”
“Yeah. It took a while but I broke the code on this
disk. There’s layers of information here, like somebody erased
the disk over and over again. Too cheap to buy a new one I
suppose. What they don’t know is that a disk never
completely erases. I was able to retrieve many different
layers.”
“So stop bragging and tell me if there was anything
that I could use to get Helena.”
“You mean that we could use to get Helena.”
“Whatever.”
“Yeah actually I think there’s some stuff on here that
you’ll find really interesting. Nothing I want to discuss on the
phone. Can you come over to the Quartermaine mansion
tomorrow morning. I can send Reggie for you.”
“No thanks,” Ruby’s pride rises to the forefront. “I’ll
get there on my own.”
“Suit yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Whatever.”
Ruby grinned as she put down the phone. Annoying as
he was the kid came through. Wait until I track down Helena
for my father than he’ll see who he really wants to spend time
with.


El Paso Texas

Maxie was beginning to sit up and move around a
little. The doctor had said that she would be ready to go back
to Port Charles tomorrow as long as a certified nurse went
with her and she traveled by ambulance and hospital bed.
Her mother and Mac were closing down her
apartment and arranging to have some of her belongings
packed onto Nikolas Cassadine’s jet.
Maxie was enjoying what she realized would be one of
her last opportunities to be alone for the next month or so.
She closed her eyes and leaned back .
“He’s dead.”
She opened her eyes. Jason. “Did you kill him?” She
doesn’t even pretend to not know what he is talking about.
“No I wanted to. But we wanted to use him to lead us
to Katherine Bell. His name was Thomas Sponberg. Did you know him?.”
“No. Did he lead you to Katherine?”
“She killed him before he could.”
“God.” Maxie closed her eyes. “I still can’t believe
that she shot me.”
“Believe it,” Jason says flatly. “I don’t think I’ll ever
forget it. Besides she’s always been a little off center.”
“No she hasn’t,” Maxie protested. “She was always
nice to Robin.”
“Maybe,” Jason concedes a little. “But any woman
who has an affair with the son of her former fiancée either
belongs on one of those tabloids show or is slightly insane, In
Katherine’s case she just grew more insane over the years.”
Maxie smiles. “A tabloid show? I didn’t even know
you knew they existed.”
“There’s a lot about me that you don’t know.”
Their eyes meet and a spark of electricity flows
through them.
“Maxie I.....”
“Jason I....”
The both speak at the same time and then stop,
laughing nervously.
“I wanted to apologize again for what happened in
New York. I should never have accused you of spying for
Mac.”
Maxie smiled and Jason feels his chest grow tight. “I
wanted to apologize for not telling you who I was.” Maxie
looks away nervously from the intense look in Jason’s eyes. “I
guess we can both put what happened behind us and move on
with the rest of our lives.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I think its for the best. I’m really glad your nephew is
safe and now we can both go back to our normal lives.”
“Can you?”
“Will you stop that?” Maxie says in exasperation. “I
feel like I’m getting the third degree here. What do you want
from me Jason? What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know,” Jason says impatient with himself. He
should be agreeing with her. He should be saying goodbye.
Instead he’s hesitating. “I guess....I just want to make sure
that you are going to be okay....it’s what Robin would have
wanted” Jason’s voice trails off. You idiot. What you feel for
Maxie has nothing to do with what you felt for Robin.
Maxie’s heart soars and then crashes again . “I
appreciate your concern but I’m going to be fine. The doctor
says it will be a while but I should be okay.” Maxie says stiffly
focusing her attention on the weaved pattern of the blanket
she s staring at. “I’m going to be staying with Mac and Felicia
for a while.”
“That’s good. They’ll take care of you. How are you
getting back to Port Charles? I could call for my jet and...”
Maxie almost smiled. This conversation was sounding
more and more like goodbye. “Can you see Mac accepting a
ride back to Port Charles in your jet?”
“Yeah,” Jason looked down. “I just wanted to you to
know that if there’s anything you ever need...”
“I won’t. I can take care of myself.”
“But if you do?”
“If I do I’ll call you.”
He nods. “I guess this is goodbye then.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
“Maxie I.....I wish things could have been different.”
“Yeah me too.”
I will not cry Maxie thinks to herself. I won’t do it. I
won’t she vows valiantly even as a solitary tear finds its way
down her cheeks.
Jason reaches up to wipe the tear away “I’ve made
you cry again.”
“No,” Maxie lies desperately. It’s just the pain. It’s
time for another shot of painkiller.”
Jason nods, letting the lie stand.
“Should I get the nurse on my way out?”
Maxie nods.
“All right,” Jason stands near her, ready to leave and
yet somehow unable to go. At least not yet. He looks into her
green eyes and its like they are back in New York, back in the
corner of heaven they had created in that hotel room. And just
like back then, he doesn’t want to let go. But he knows he has
too. For her sake.
He means to leave. He really does. He has told his feet
to go, one step in front of the other. But for some reason he is
still by her side. He closes his eyes and then, like he always
does around her, gives in to temptation.
He bends over and lowers his head until his lips touch
hers. Even as he begins to deepen the kiss, he tells himself
that its just a way of saying goodbye. But when she
unexpectedly returns the kiss, he knows that it isn’t goodbye
they are saying at all. When he pulls back a moment later, they are both out of breath.
“I better go,” he says softly.
Maxie leans back and closes her eyes, nodding in
agreement.
When she opens her eyes a moment later, he is gone.
This time she doesn’t even bother to pretend that the
tears are physical.


New York
Dr. Charles Montgomery was one of the most highly
respected cardiac specialist in the nation. The best according
to Monica, a recommendation her daughter had taken to
heart. Now, sitting across from the doctor behind his desk,
Emily wonders if this man is going to be her miracle worker.
“Mrs. Spencer.” Dr. Montgomery begins. “I’ve had
the opportunity to look at the results of the various tests we
ran on you as well those run on you in Port Charles. And I
must say that I concur with Dr. Jones.”
“The infection in your heart does run a significant risk
of doing severe damage to your heart and the heart muscle. My
recommendation to you is that you seriously consider
aborting your fetus so that we give you the necessary
antibiotics to ensure a complete recovery. If you don’t, the
consequences for your own health could be severe and
fatal.” The doctor leaned forward. To put it bluntly, I cannot
guarantee the survival of both you and your unborn child.”
Emily bursts into quiet tears as Lucky moves
helplessly to comfort his grief stricken wife.