Helena was sitting on her yacht, thinking about the next assignment she was going to hand to Alexis. She had given Alexis plenty of time to think over the consequences of any betrayal, while she was away taking care of other business in Greece. Helena was sorry to miss out on Laura's return home and Luke's arrest, but she had to make sure that she had support in Greece before she took down Stefan and reclaimed the Cassadine empire for herself. Now it was the time to put Laura back in Stefan's life while Luke was in jail, and then when he got out, he would be out for blood. "This is going to be too simple," Helena said to herself, as she grabbed her fur coat and headed for Alexis' hotel room.
Stefan was working on the phone with the DA, working on the approach that would guarantee Luke's prison sentence to be a long one. "I feel I have given you sufficient evidence against Mr. Spencer."
"Yes, you have, Mr. Cassadine. I'll make sure to handle this court case myself so that there are no mistakes."
"I trust your competence and your silence. No one is to know the source behind the information you have acquired."
"And no one will find out about the wealth I have so remarkably earned either. I'll call you when the trial date has been set, but don't expect to hear from me until then."
Stefan hung up the phone as soon as Mrs. Lansburry informed him that the commissioner had arrived. "Show him in," Stefan told her as he quickly put his files on Luke back inside his desk.
"Mr. Cassadine," Sean said as he walked in. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."
"Anything I can do to help you, Commissioner Donnelly. Would you like some coffee while you are here?" Stefan asked, trying to be as pleasant as possible.
"I'm not here for a friendly chat. Mr. Cassadine, some evidence has been brought to my attention that places you under suspicion of a serious crime about a year ago. I have some questions that I'd like to ask you."
"Please, sit down. I'll answer any questions that you have. This evidence, was it Luke Spencer that provided you with it?"
"No. Luke is still in jail and I have no need to discuss any cases with him. As you might have discovered, I was commissioner of Port Charles once, and since I have returned, I have looked through some of the files on cases that went unsolved or had any doubts. One particular one caught my eye."
"Which one in particular?"
"The computer virus that shut down the hospital during Audrey Hardy's surgery. I have knowledge that the Cassadines had manufactured a virus of those capabilities a long time ago, but was never perfected. But I figured a man of your intelligence could probably have perfected it given over 15 years of work."
"If I had planted this virus, why would I have helped discover a solution to the problem? What would be the purpose of perfecting a virus, unleashing it on a computer system, only to help put an end to the virus itself?"
"If General Hospital was just a test run, you would probably not want to waste it on something so small like a hospital. Plus, you won points with the public by becoming the hero of that day."
"I have no interest in the public's opinions of me or of becoming a hero to anyone, Commissioner. If this is what you have come to harrass me about, I will have to ask you to leave."
"I have more," Sean said, taking out his file with the evidence he had gathered and handing it to Stefan. "Everything in there may be somewhat circumstantial since no one actually saw you place the virus in the hospital computer systems, but it does point to you as the culprit either way. We have 4 people who were present when a chip containing a virus was discovered in a fabrege egg that belonged to you. We also have a copy of the chip itself that the World Security Bureau had worked on and I can get a statement of proof on that any time I need it. There is also a disk that the WSB had given to someone here in Port Charles which helped monitor your computer system, disovering a timer set for a final activation code so that the virus would be put into effect. That timer was set in an old Russian calendar that is not used anymore, but we do have the date and time saved. At the time the password was supposed to be put in, your stables were on fire and your son was knocked unconscious, leaving you incapable of keying it in and the virus was destroyed. There is more evidence against you as you will see if you look through that file."
Stefan looked through the file and was amazed at the amount of so-called evidence that Sean had gathered. As he quickly read the circumstances that led to the downfall of his plan, he recognized that it had Luke Spencer written all over it. Despite Sean denying the fact that he hadn't consulted Spencer, Stefan knew that it was Luke who had provided this evidence.
"If you have all this proof against me, why are you here and not filing a warrant for my arrest?" Stefan asked as he handed Sean the file back.
"Because, Mr. Cassadine, this just happens to be your lucky day. You have a choice to make, and that choice will determine which route I take with this case. One... you drop the charges against Luke Spencer and I forget about that this file even exists. I'll even burn it if you would like. Or two... you refuse to drop the charges and I go ahead with gathering more evidence which will land you in a cell right next to Luke Spencer. Or, if I'm in a very generous mood, I'll give Luke his wish and have you placed in the same cell as him." Sean looked at Stefan with a smile, as Stefan just stood there with no response. "I'll give you 24 hours to consider your options. And in the meantime, you can keep the file. I have a more extensive one at my office. Good day, Mr. Cassadine."
Sean quickly walked out the door as Stefan slammed the file down on his desk. He didn't really believe that there was enough evidence against him, but he wasn't sure if he was willing to take the chance. Now he had to come up with another plan to get rid of Luke. This time, a plan that was incapable of failing.
Tiffany and Laura put Anna and Lulu quickly to bed and went downstairs to relax. Laura knew that Tiffany was keeping something from her, but she didn't want to get into it until they were alone. As soon as they got downstairs, Laura asked her what the secret was.
"Well, I have some hope that Luke will be out of jail soon," Tiffany asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"How? What do you know, Tiffany?" Laura asked impatiently.
"Sean is with Stefan at the moment, using his skills in persuasion to convince Stefan to drop all the charges against Luke."
"That's impossible, Tiff," Laura said, losing the hope she just had. "Stefan had set Luke up from the start. There is no way that he is going to let his plan fail."
"Let's just say that Stefan might feel that his own freedom is more important than Luke's imprisonment and leave it at that."
"No, no, no. We're not just going to drop it like that. What do you mean, Stefan's freedom? What do you have against him that I don't know about."
"Well, I guess you should know since you'll be needed for a statement if Stefan doesn't drop the charges. I came across the computer virus fiasco last year and remembered Victor talking about it once a long time ago. I put two and two together, asked Luke what he knew, and now Sean is over at Wyndemere right now with the evidence that was found."
"The computer chip. Of course. I had forgotten all about that," Laura said, regaining her hope again. "And Luke was actually willing to help this time?"
"He misses you, Laura. Don't give up on that, otherwise you'll lose everything."
"Did he say that?"
"He didn't say it in words, but you can tell he misses you." Laura hung her head down about to cry when Tiffany placed her hand over Laura's. "Oh, honey, don't give up on him. He really does love you. He wouldn't be hurting this much if he didn't love you. You have to believe that, Laura. This isn't the first time the two of you split up, and you got back together before."
"Yeah, well before was a different story. Luke didn't walk out, I kicked him out. He continued to fight to get back home, and he finally won. This is different now. I'm not keeping him from this house. He's the one choosing to stay away."
"Well, if you just continue to fight for him, he'll come to his senses. He isn't as angry right now. He can say your name without anger in his voice. That's an improvement," Tiffany said, trying to lighten up the mood a little.
"Oh, yeah," Laura said, trying to laugh. "Just what a wife wants to here about her husband. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a breakthrough. Luke Spencer can actually say his wife's name without disgust. What will be next? He will get out of jail and actually be able to visit his children without breaking every picture frame in the house?"
"I didn't mean to..."
"Tiff, I know what you meant. I know Luke still loves me, and that he's hurt. But I can't sit around every minute fighting for him to come back. He has to do that on his own. Maybe I'll try to encourage him every so often, but it has to be his choice to come back, otherwise it's not going to mean a thing. Plus, I have three children to think about, and it's about time I put their needs over mine or Luke's," Laura said, as she saw Tiffany stare at her. "I'm not giving up on him, Tiff, but I can't stop living my life either. It's time that I started focussing on my life, my responsibilites as a mother. It's time I stop feeling sorry for myself every second of the day and start feeling greatful for what I do still have. I'm not dependent on Luke, and it's about time I started showing it."
