CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT Nikolas took a deep breath as he rang the doorbell to the Spencer home. He was a little surprised when Lesley opened the door. “Hello Nikolas,” she stood aside to let him come in. “Laura said you might be stopping by.” Nikolas came in slowly, “Well, yes, I mentioned something to her about coming by to see Lesley Lu.” “Have a seat, Laura and Lu will be home soon.” Nikolas sat down and looked at his grandmother. She sat in the chair opposite him. “Is something wrong, Nikolas? Can I get you something?” Nikolas shook his head, “No thank you.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I want to apologize for my behavior and attitude towards you at the hospital when Leezia was there. It was totally inappropriate. I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, Nikolas, I understand. You were thrown a curve.” Lesley smiled at her oldest grandson and changed the subject, “Laura said you two had a nice discussion earlier. She was so happy that you called her ‘Mother’ for the first time.” Nikolas smiled too. “If felt right. We had been hurting each other so much for too long. Maybe this is the start of a real relationship between my mother and I.” “She’s grateful for the opportunity, I know that.” Lesley smiled slightly, “And for purely selfish reasons, so am I. I wish your uncle would’ve let you come by and see me while I was in Greece, but for the most part, I wasn’t worth seeing. I wasn’t myself at all. I would like the chance to get to know you as well.” “I would like that.” Nikolas knelt by the chair that Lesley was sitting in and held her hand. Lesley leaned over and kissed him. As she stroked his hair gently, he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “Your uncle did a wonderful job of raising you. He and Lisa used to tell me about you and what you were doing. You could see the pride in his eyes. He was always very proud of you, Nikolas.” Lesley was crying gently now. “Thank you, Grandmother. When my mother thought you were still dead, she told me things about what you were like as a doctor and how much you loved to care for others. But there’s so much I don’t know. The front door opened quietly. Laura entered with Lulu walking behind her. Laura stopped and watched as she saw Nikolas with Lesley. Neither of them noticed Laura or Lulu. Nikolas continued to talk, “I want to know all about you, Grandmother, and what my mother was like when she was young.” Lesley smiled and stood up, “Well, Sweetie, I will tell you everything you want to know. We have plenty of time now.” Nikolas stood up and hugged Lesley, “Thank you.” He then saw his mother watching them, smiling, with tears in her eyes. He crossed over to her, “Hello, Mother,” he said, kissing both of her cheeks. Lulu peeked around from behind Laura and looked up at them as Laura embraced her son. “Hello Nikolas,” Laura said. Nikolas reached down and picked up Lulu and kissed her, “And how is my little sister today?” “Fine,” Lulu said softly. As Nikolas took Lulu over and sat down with her on the sofa, Laura and Lesley sat at the nearby table. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” Laura said. Lesley shook her head, “No, my grandson and I were just starting to relate. We have plenty of time for that now. So do you.” Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, the front door flew open and Lisa and Luke came in, having an animated discussion. They were oblivious to the others in the room. “Maybe you just need to lay off her for a little while, darlin’,” Luke said. “Yeah right. I don’t think so, Daddy. After what she did to me and my family, I won’t forgive her so easily,” Lisa said strongly. Luke glared at her, “Look Sunshine, you are acting more and more like a damn Cassadine. The longer you stay with those vampires, they’re gonna suck the life right out of you. You’re better than that.” “Your point, Daddy?” Before either of them could say anything else, Laura cleared her throat loudly. Lisa and Luke finally looked up from their discussion and saw four pairs of eyes staring at them. Luke looked around quickly before focusing on Laura, “Hey Angel,” he said as he walked up and kissed her as if nothing had happened. Nikolas stood up and sat Lulu on the sofa and kissed her, “Goodbye, little sister, I’ll see you later,” he said softly. He walked up to Laura and kissed each of her cheeks gently, while Luke looked on and frowned. Laura embraced her son again, “You don’t have to leave so soon, you know?” “Let him leave Laura, if he wants,” Luke said condescendingly. Nikolas ignored Luke, “I think it’s time.” “Can we get together tomorrow?” she asked him. Luke looked incredulously at her. Nikolas nodded, “Sure. Goodbye Mother,” he also nodded towards Lesley, “Grandmother. I will call you.” Nikolas glared at Lisa as he walked out the door. “What the hell was that ‘Mother, Grandmother’ crap about?” Luke asked harshly. “Excuse me, I’d better follow him,” Lisa said quickly. “Daddy, get over it! He’s part of the family too!” As she walked towards the door, she said, “See you all later.” She rushed out the door after Nikolas. Luke looked from Laura to Lesley and over to Lulu, “What just happened here?” he asked, confused. ***** Lisa saw Nikolas at the end of the Spencer driveway. “Hey Nikolas, wait up,” she called out after him. Nikolas stopped to allow her to catch up. “What? Are you tired of hanging out with your good family? Ready to rejoin the Cassadine ranks now Leezia?” “Nikolas, who died and made you king, deciding who was the good family and who was the bad?” she asked. “You’re influenced by them, making all Cassadines bad and Spencers good.” Lisa stood back and eyed Nikolas carefully, “You’re jealous. And have been for a long time from the looks of it. You want in so bad, you don’t know what to do. And you can’t stand the fact that I have a place in both families.” “You’re more of a Cassadine than you are willing to admit.” Lisa got right up in Nikolas’ face, “Okay, little prince, you want to know what being a Cassadine meant to me for years? I grew up in the same house as you, but under a different set of rules. I remember Mikkos and Stavros and their tirades against anyone at anytime. I remember Helena and her mind games. And I remember Billy Cassadine Evans beating me to a bloody pulp over nothing. All that was part of my being a member of the Cassadine family. You want to see what I got out of it?” She turned her back to him and lifted her shirt up in the back, revealing long deep scars and discolored scar tissue. Nikolas gasped, he had no idea what all had happened to her, both recently and when she was younger. “Yeah, didn’t you know? Cassadines did this to me for years. Until your uncle stopped it.” She turned back around to face Nikolas. He just looked blankly at her, “No wonder you hate us,” he said. Lisa sighed as she shook her head. “I don’t hate anyone, Nikolas. Almost everyone that had a part in this is dead now. You just have to understand where I’m coming from. I’ve seen what all the players here can do. I don’t prefer one “family” to the other. So if going through all this crap and staying around makes me a Cassadine, than that’s what I am. If not, then like an ex-friend of mine said, ‘I’m just a servant that got lucky’.” “No preference?” Nikolas asked. “None. You, Stefan and Anreya are as much family as the Spencers, if not more so. You, Stefan and Alexis showed me that not all Cassadines are evil incarnate. And Alexander and Jessica showed me just how bad Spencers could be. It’s a toss up, really.” Lisa smiled, trying to alleviate the situation. “Okay? We clear now?” Nikolas smiled too. “Yes.” Lisa looped her arm in his, “C’mon, Nik,” she said, “My car is over there, let’s go home. I need to see my husband and daughter.” ***** Carly ran her hands through her hair as she forced herself to go downstairs. She was dressed comfortably in an old pair of jeans with an oversized sweat shirt. Ruby watched as she came down and sat on one of the barstools. Ruby poured her a cup of coffee, “Here you go, honey. Coffee, black and strong. Looks like you need it.” Carly took the coffee and sipped it slowly, “Thanks. I guess Lisa told you then.” Ruby gave her a sidelong glance, “Purple spiders?” Carly laughed slightly, “Excuse me,” she joked, “My brain cannot be held accountable for what it does when it’s pickled.” Ruby walked around the bar to face Carly. She reached up and held Carly’s chin in her hand and turned Carly’s head from side to side slowly. Carly was confused by Ruby’s odd behavior, “Is something wrong?” Ruby stood back and looked at her again. She shook her head, “No, I’m just trying to figure out why we didn’t notice it before.” “Notice what?” “You have Bobbie’s eyes, not to mention a couple of other features.” “Luke noticed it. He said he would have killed me if I didn’t have my mother’s eyes.” Carly shuddered slightly at the memory. “Luke’s all bluff, I hope you know that. Family is family and nothing will change that.” Carly frowned, “Well he certainly had me convinced.” She thought about the word family for a moment and all it’s connotations. “I guess that’s why he accepted Lisa like he did.” Carly paused again, “She’s my cousin and I love her, but in the same sense I really hate her too.” By this time, Ruby had gone back behind the bar. She glanced up at Carly, “What do you mean?” Carly smiled, “She used to be the one person that I could count of whose life was worse than mine. Now look at her.” Ruby laughed slightly as Carly continued, “When she and I met, she was alone, her kid had just died and she had no one. Now, she’s got all the family anyone needs in Luke and Laura, her husband and one and a half kids. Not to mention she’s rich. Everybody loves her.” Jessica and Bobbie came in giggling like a couple of schoolgirls. Ruby whispered to Carly, “Well there are two people that don’t.” Carly looked over her shoulder then quickly turned back to Ruby, “Yeah, but one of them absolutely hates me.” Jessica sat down at one of the tables while Bobbie walked over to Ruby at the bar. “Hi Ruby,” she said, “I was wondering if I could get a couple of pieces of whatever pie you have handy for me and Jess.” “Sure honey,” Ruby said as she walked back to the kitchen. Bobbie turned to Carly, “Hello, Caroline.” Carly smiled slightly at her mother’s use of her real name, “Hi.” Carly expected that to be the end of the conversation. She drank more of her coffee. Bobbie wasn’t finished yet. She glanced back at Jessica, who gave her the thumbs up sign. “Caroline, now that you admit to being my daughter,” she paused, both watching Carly’s response and summoning up enough courage to get past her problems with Carly. “Well, I was wondering if you’d like to get together for lunch or something.” Carly looked at Bobbie as if she had six heads, “Are you serious?” Bobbie nodded. Carly smiled, genuinely smiled, “Yeah, I think I’d like that.” “Good.” Ruby brought out two pieces of pie and put them on the counter. “Here you go.” Bobbie smiled, “Thanks Ruby.” She briefly put her hand on Carly’s shoulder, “I’ll call you.” And with that, she took the pie off the bar and went back to her sister. Carly watched her, then turned back to Ruby. Ruby smiled at her, “You see, no one can ignore family forever. A family can never be completely divided over anything. There will always be obstacles, every family has them. But blood wins out in the end.” *****
