"Why if it isn't the bastard child himself.".
Nikolas just stared at him, not flinching an inch. There was no reason to fear the man now since he was behind bars. He almost wished he had a camera so he could savor this for a long time, but that was not what he came here for. "Luke, I know we have our differences, but..."
"Our differences? Wow, didn't know Cassadines were known for the understatements."
"Well, if you don't want to know the reason why you're here, then I'll leave you to yourself," Nikolas said. He turned his back on Luke, ready to walk out when he heard Luke calling his name. It wasn't out of anger or hatred this time. Luke sounded as if he was pleading for Nikolas to stay and tell him the truth. He turned around and looked over to Luke again, this time seeing a different man... a desperate man. Desperate for the truth, whether it would hurt him or not.
"Nikolas, please. If you know something, I'd like to know. If you came here to tell me the truth behind this mess, then share that with me. You wouldn't want the Cassadines to win the feud based on lies, now would you?" Luke continued to plead.
"It's always about the feud, isn't it? You think I'm siding with my father because we are Cassadines, don't you? Luke, this has nothing to do with the stupid Spencer/Cassadine feud. Maybe the truth about who my father really is opened my eyes a little. No matter who my parents are, I'm still a person. My own person. And I choose my battles more carefully now."
"And which battle have you taken on this time?" Luke asked.
"None. This is not my battle to fight. This is between you, my mother and my father," Nikolas said.
"If this isn't your battle, then why are you here? Why come to me in prison?"
"Because it's your battle. So far all I've seen is deception being played out. I was deceived, Lucky was deceived, you were deceived, and my father is using my mother as a chess piece. He is cleverly thinking out his next move to put you in checkmate."
"I thought you would be cheering your old man on."
"Not when it hurts my mother. At least she never lied to me about being my mother. She didn't claim to be my aunt. She didn't pass me off as someone else's child, even though that would have caused her less pain to her other family. Despite the many mistakes she has done in our relationship, I do believe she has always done what she felt was best for everyone. Anyone who intentionally hurts her for his own purposes hurts me in the process," Nikolas said exhaustedly. He underestimated how much energy it would take to try to get Luke to listen to him.
Luke looked at Nikolas and saw that he was being sincere in what he was saying. But he still didn't trust him. "So, one secret and your loyalties completely change? Just before this came out, you would have been rushing to your father's side, your mother be damned."
"Hasn't yours? When I first came to Port Charles, you did anything you could to try to keep your family safe from what you perceived as a threat... the Cassadines. Nothing would have swayed your loyalties to your family, yet this secret has. Laura didn't tell you that Stefan was my father, and because of that, you cut your ties with her."
"You know nothing about what has happened between us," Luke said furiously.
"What I see is that you're in jail and your wife is at home. And all of this is because you were too stupid to see what was lying ahead."
Sean walked in during the conversation. He was curious about how much this young man knew. He had been listening to the whole conversation in case any trouble broke out. From what he understood, Nikolas had information that would probably convince Luke to fight to get out of jail, but Luke was being too stubborn to listen to him. "Five minutes is up, Mr. Cassadine."
Nikolas started walking away when Luke called out once again. "Wait. Sean, gives us a couple of more minutes, please." But Nikolas continued to walk away despite Luke's begging. He wanted to get even with Stefan for keeping the secret, but he couldn't get himself to confide in Luke completely. No matter what Stefan has done, he trusted Luke even less.
Liz and Lucky sat in silence for a long time. Lucky wanted to confide in someone, but he wasn't sure if he trusted Liz enough to open up so completely. He was taught not to trust anyone but his family, yet it was his family that had lied to him. His father always told him never to turn on your own family when you were blindsided, but that was exactly what Luke did. And his mother... how many more secrets did she carry with her? He was too afraid to even ask because he might find out more than he would ever want to know.
Liz knew that Lucky was in a lot of pain, but she didn't understand why. She would have thought that Lucky would be happier than ever now, having his whole family back with him. She remembered overhearing Lucky telling Sarah numerous times about how much he missed his mother, grandmother, and especially his baby sister. His whole face would light up every time he talked about Lulu, like she was the greatest thing that God ever created. Why, now that they were back, did it seem like Lucky's life was heading downhill? What had happened to change him from a once cheerful and social guy to someone who just wanted to go to the park and be in silence all the time?
Liz wanted answers to her questions, but she also knew that she couldn't ask until Lucky wanted to answer them. She had to just be satisfied that he had asked her to stay with him for the moment. If just being here in silence with him was what he felt he needed at the moment, then that was what she would do. And maybe her presence would help him understand that if he ever needed to talk to him, she would be willing to listen.
Sean had worked for a long time in his office after Nikolas had left. He looked over every case that was filed regarding the Spencer/Cassadine feud. He couldn't find one thing to try to convince Stefan not to press charges on Luke. There wasn't one piece of evidence, except for a small suspicion that Stefan might have been the one to shoot Katherine Bell in December 96. Luke was the one who was arrested for the shooting since the evidence pointed to him, but Mac made note that Luke's accusations about Stefan made sense. Mac had recorded that Stefan visited Katherine many times in the hospital afterwards and thought that maybe Luke was right. Stefan was trying to convince her not to name him. But the DA thought that it was too flimsy a case to proceed with, so it was dropped abruptly with the one condition that Luke never set foot on Spoon Island again. "Why did you go there, Luke? Why did you risk everything by falling into his trap?"
Tiffany had agreed to stay with Laura for the time being. Laura seemed completely withdrawn about everything that has happened recently. She had never seen Laura like this in her life, not even during the time when everyone believed Luke died in Puerto Rico. She remembered thinking Laura had incredible strength back then to be able to handle a situation like that, but all that strength seemed to be gone now.
Tiffany knew that Sean was looking through his police files trying to find some evidence linking the Cassadines to a recent crime, and she agreed to look through press files to see if they had come up with something. "Well, the press in Port Charles sure went down hill since I left," Tiffany said to herself. She had been looking through them for hours now and hadn't found a thing. Stefan seemed to be an honest Cassadine, if there ever was one. But Tiffany didn't believe in that. With her experience with the Cassadine clan, she knew that there had to be something to that genetics thing. Stefan could not have stayed here for two years and not have gotten a little power hungry just once.
Tiffany was about to give up when she found an article on the hospital shut down during Audrey Hardy's surgery. It was reported that a man named Greg Cooper was responsible for taking part of the hospital hostage just before then, and he was suspected of releasing a virus into the computer systems at GH. Stefan Cassadine was one of the men honored for helping find a solution to the virus and getting GH back to normal again. "I wonder if there is more to that story than meets the eye," Tiff thought. She remembered that Victor let it slip once that the Cassadines had been working on a computer virus for a long time, but couldn't get it to run completely. She wondered if Stefan had found a way to perfect it.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Tiff said.
"What? What is there to find out?" Laura asked.
"Nothing, Laura. Nothing yet, anyway, but I might have stumbled across something that could help free Luke. Let me run this over to Sean. I'll be back shortly."
Tiffany was out the door before Laura could ask any other questions. As she was about to go upstairs for night, she heard a knock on the door. When she answered it, she was shocked by who was standing there. "Nikolas?"
