Luke walked into his house quietly, not wanting to alert anyone of his presense. He checked in on his daughter and son, who were both sleeping soundly. He missed his children a lot. Even though he told Lucky that he would still see a lot of him, he missed saying simple words like "good night" and "good morning" to him or tucking his daughter into bed and reading her a story. He never thought of himself as a man who could get great pleasures from such little things, but those little things meant more to him than a lot of things.
After checking in on his children, he walked over to his room. He quietly opened the door and peaked inside, making sure Laura was asleep. He walked in and noticed that she only slept on her side of the bed. Even with the dim light from the moon, he could see that his picture was on his side of the bed. He yearned to be there instead of his picture, but he still wasn't ready to forgive Laura for her lies.
Luke slightly brought his hand to Laura's hair. It was a crime for a woman to have such soft, smooth, golden hair. It was the hair of an angel, his angel. Without realizing it, he carefully brought his hand to her cheek. As he gently touched it, Laura startled a little, and Luke quickly took his hand away. He quickly left the room and the house before he did something to wake up Laura. He headed back to the club where he was going to try to get even an hour of sleep.
Stefan was contemplating what had to be done for his plan to be successful. He was alerted to Luke going to check on his family already tonight. He hadn't expected it to be so early and knew he had a short time to put his plan into action. He trusted that his men could get Luke to return to the house, but he was going to make sure that it was tonight. And he was going to make sure that it would be the last time that Luke ever walked near that house again.
Alexis walked in and noticed Stefan preparing to go somewhere. She took notice that Stefan was bringing equipment to bug a place, and she quickly thought that it had to be the Spencer house. It was the first time she noticed how cold Stefan could actually be. Instead of trying to forge a relationship with his son, he was out trying to get revenge on the family he thought did him wrong.
Stefan: What is it, Alexis?
Alexis: I came to talk to you about Nikolas. You do know that he is staying with me?
Stefan: I am well aware of where Nikolas has chosen to temporarily stay.
Alexis: Why haven't you tried to talk to him yet?
Stefan: I have been occupied with other matters.
Alexis: You're convincing him that he was right when he said the reason you didn't claim him as your son was because he shamed you by being born.
Stefan: Nikolas knows that I love him.
Alexis: Right now he's a confused kid, Stefan. He doesn't know what to believe anymore.
Stefan: I will talk to him tomorrow.
Alexis: What's so important that you can't talk to him now?
Stefan: Business. He will know that I am doing this for his best welfare.
Alexis: Revenge on his mother is for his best welfare?
Stefan: He knows that the Spencers must pay for the pain that he has suffered. He knows who is to blame for this and he must have faith that I will accomplish what is needed to be done.
Alexis: I don't think you realize that the person he believes has wronged him is you.
Stefan: As you said earlier, he is confused at the moment. Once he thinks this situation out clearly and objectively, he will see who it was that has wronged him, as you so well put it. Is there anything you would like to inform me about that I do not already know?
Alexis: Of course not. Stefan Cassadine knows all.
Alexis stares at Stefan, waiting to see a response, but as usual, she got none. Stefan just stood there with no emotion at all. She was scared to think that he really did believe the Spencers were the only ones at fault here. That would be his downfall in getting Nikolas to ever trust him again. She wanted to try to convince him otherwise, but she could see that at the moment, he was preoccupied with his plans for revenge. If Stefan wanted to go head to head with Luke Spencer, that was his choice. She just hoped Nikolas wouldn't be caught in the middle again.
Stefan headed out of Wyndemere and walked over to the car that Jason's men were in. As Stefan's men promised, they clearly knocked the two men out. Stefan ordered his men to take them out of the car and tie them up for the time being. He then took the keys to the car and headed for the Spencer house.
Luke was sitting in his office, knowing that the sandman wasn't going
to pay a visit to him tonight. He took out a cigar and stared at
a picture of his family that he had on his desk. Maybe it was time
to listen to everything Laura had to say. Even though he was still
very angry, he knew that he just wouldn't be able to live life without
her. He had to make an attempt to save his marriage. He promised
that tomorrow he would go home and try to work things out. He definitely
didn't want to spend another sleepless night at his club.
Just as he was about to lay down on the couch, the phone rang.
‘Who'd be calling at this time of night,' Luke thought. He quickly
picked up the phone. "Spencer."
A man with a disguised voice answered. "I wonder who's been sleeping in your bed."
Before Luke could ask what kind of joke they were playing, the man hung up. Luke quickly grabbed his keys and headed for his house.
Stefan easily disposed of the men who were watching the Spencer house. He gave them a drug that would keep them out for only 15 minutes. He wanted to make sure they would wake up when he needed them to. He carefully picked the lock at the Spencer house and entered. He headed for Laura's room and once inside, he looked at her with disgust. ‘I was willing to give you the life I thought you deserved. Now you will see what happens when you betray a Cassadine,' Stefan thought to himself. He picked up Luke's picture, taking it out of the frame with ease, and placed another picture in it. He admired the picture thinking of how opportuntic it was for him to have men watching this house at all times, even when Luke and Lasha thought they were alone. He looked at his watch and noticed that Jason's men must be waking up now. The perfect time to make my presense known.
Stefan opened up the window to Laura's bedroom and carefully slipped out of it. One of Jason's men noticed Stefan leaving through the bedroom and quickly dialed Jason's number.
Jason: Morgan.
Johnny: Jason, it's Johnny. You might not believe this, but I just saw Stefan Cassadine leaving the Spencer house through Laura's bedroom.
Jason: How did he get in?
Johnny: I don't know, sir. I was knocked out from behind and didn't see him enter the house. I just saw him leaving.
Jason: Thanks. I'll let Luke know. Next time, make sure that there isn't a Cassadine within a mile of the house.
Johnny: I won't let it happen again.
Jason quickly hung up and dialed Luke's cell phone number. Luke picked up on the first ring.
Luke: Yeah.
Jason: Luke, it's Jason. Johnny just saw Stefan Cassadine leaving your house.
Luke: How did he get in there?!?
Jason: It seems that he was able to knock out my men long enough to get in. They saw him leaving through the bedroom window.
Luke: THEY WHAT?!?
Jason: Do you want my men to check in on her?
Luke: No. I'm on my way there at the moment and I'll check out things for myself. If that bastard did anything to my wife, I'll kill him with my bare hands.
Luke hung up his cell phone and threw it on the passenger side's seat. He pressed down on the gas pedal as far as it could go. He swore that if even a hair on his wife's head was touched, Stefan wouldn't live to see tomorrow.
Stefan drove the car to the end of the street and switched cars with one of his men. If Morgan's men were going to follow the car, his men would lead them away from the Spencer house. From down the street, he took out his binoculars and watched the Spencer house. A slight grin formed on his lips when he noticed Luke's car come to a speeding hault outside the house. "You are a foolish man, Spencer, to ever think you can stop me."
He placed an earphone into his ear. After Luke saw his surprise, he knew that he would be too angry to even think about a bug being placed in his bedroom. He directed his binoculars at the Spencer bedroom. Soon he would have what he wanted for a long time. Luke Spencer out of Lasha's life for good.
Luke rushed inside his house and headed straight for his bedroom. He wasn't concerned about waking anyone up now. After a mysterious phone call and Stefan being in his house, the only thing that crossed his mind was fear that Laura might have been harmed. He stormed into the bedroom, waking up Laura in the process. Seeing that she was okay, he quickly grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.
Luke: Thank God you're alright.
Laura: Why?
Luke: I got a phone call with someone leaving the message, "Who's been sleeping in your bed" and then Jason called to tell me that Stefan was seen leaving here.
Luke went to move the picture Laura had of him to the table so he wouldn't break it by accident. He took a quick glimpse of it, expecting to see his face, but saw something that he never expected. He pushed Laura away and stood up, relief that he just felt being replaced by fury. He started shaking as the anger was taking complete control of him.
Laura: Luke, what's wrong? What is it? (She reached out for him, but he backed away, not taking his eyes off the picture.)
Luke (whispering in a way to send chills down one's spine): I guess there was no need to rush home since you knew very well who was sleeping in your bed.
