CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

	Stefan banged loudly on Alexis’ door, not caring that it was very
early in the morning.

	“Who is it?” Alexis called through the door.  Stefan refused to
answer.  Finally the door opened.  “Well you could have said something,”
she said slightly angry.

	He glared at her, “I refuse to speak to a closed door.  We have
more important things to discuss.”  He walked in quickly, then turned back
to face her, “Helena is alive.  Spencer is furious, he came into Wyndemere
tonight and spirited away Leezia and Anreya.”

	Alexis still sleepy mind tried to wrap itself around what Stefan had
just told her, “Helena?  Alive?  That’s not possible.”

	“It is possible.  She has her yacht set up in the harbor for all the
world to see.”

	Alexis finally registered Stefan’s last part of his opening statement. 
“What do you mean Luke ‘spirited’ away Lisa and Anreya?”

	Stefan sat tiredly on the sofa, “He followed Helena into Wyndemere
and convinced Leezia that his home would be more secure for both her and
Anreya.”  He sighed slightly, “Unfortunately, the fact that both he AND
Helena could get in there without so much as a report from the guards
makes me think that he may be correct.”  After a second he added, “At
least in this instance.”

	Alexis sat next to him, “Then we have to do something about
Helena.  It’s not safe for any of us as long as she’s alive.”

	Stefan looked around the room, thinking he heard something.  “Is
there someone else here, Sister?”

	Alexis looked down at the floor quickly, then looked back up at
him, “Yes.  My daughter is staying with me.  I thought it would be safe
now that Helena was dead, but she’s not dead and I have to wonder if
Sheila is in danger now as well.  I’m sorry I never told you sooner, I was
doing what I felt I had to do for her safety.”

	Stefan took Alexis’ hands in his own, “It doesn’t matter to me that
you didn’t tell me about your daughter before.  That is of little
consequence now.  What’s important is that she is living with you now, and
there’s no reason why that shouldn’t continue.  We will just have to make
sure that you two are well protected, should Helena come after you.”

	Alexis had tears in her eyes, “Thank you, Stefan.  You can’t know
how much that means to me.”

	Stefan lifted her hands up to his face and kissed them, “I think I do
understand.  Do you and your daughter wish to come and stay at
Wyndemere or do you feel that you would be better protected here?”  He
added, “I have increased the security three-fold.  The beaches are secure
and no one gets on or off the island without my approval.”

	Alexis smiled, “You’ve turned Wyndemere into a fortress.”

	“If that is what it takes to protect my family, I’m willing to live in a
fortress.”

	Alexis looked in her brother’s eyes, “You want Lisa and Anreya
back under your roof again.”

	He closed his eyes and nodded, “Yes.  More than anything else. 
The whole house feels empty without them there.”

	“Are you going to see them?” Alexis asked.	

	“Right after I leave here.  I promised Anreya that I would be there
when she woke up this morning.”

	“Didn’t Luke have a problem with that?”

	Stefan shook his head, “None that he would air in front of Leezia. 
He started to say something, but she silenced him with one look.”

	Alexis laughed, “Ah yes, the ‘Cassadine’ look.  She mastered it
well.  Learned it from the best, in fact.”  Stefan gave her a stern look. 
“Yes!  That’s the one!” Alexis declared.

	Stefan stood up, “I should be going.  Anreya will be up soon.”  As
he walked towards the door, he added, “Let me know what you decide
about moving yourself and your daughter into Wyndemere.”

	Alexis nodded, “When Sheila wakes up, we’ll discuss it and see
what she feels comfortable doing.  I think we’d be safe either place.”

	“I’ll see to it that you both are safe, whatever you decide.”  With
that, he turned and left.

	Alexis closed the door behind him and sighed loudly, sinking back
against the door slightly.  Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the next
important order of business, deciding where would be the safest place for
her and her daughter.

*****
	
	Laura stood in the doorway and watched Lisa as she slept.  It was
something she used to do while they were both on the Cassadine island. 
She remembered back to that time...

	Lisa was eight years old.  She slept soundly on the bed in a small
room adjacent to Laura’s.  Laura walked over and lovingly tucked the
covers around Lisa.  Lisa stirred slightly, but didn’t appear to awaken. 
Laura couldn’t help but notice the striped blanket that Lisa said Luke had
given her.

	Laura walked back to the doorway and continued to watch her.  
Before long, she could tell there was someone standing behind her. 
Glancing back, Laura saw Stefan watching from over her shoulder.  “The
child sleeps peacefully now,” Stefan stated emptily.

	“All she ever needed was to be shown a little love and kindness,”
Laura defended.

	Stefan nodded, “You’ve shown her that in abundance, Lasha.”

	Laura turned to face him, “And will continue to.  She’s Luke’s
daughter and I’m going to treat her as if she were my own.  If I ever leave
this island, I’m taking her with me.”

	Stefan smiled, “And if it doesn’t work out that you can take her, I
will place her in my care.”

	Tears came to Laura’s eyes, “Thank you, Stefan.  I feel that it’s my
responsibility to Luke to watch out for her.”

	Stefan took Laura’s hands in his own, “I will always provide for her
and she will have the best of care.  I make that my promise to you.”

~*~*~

	Laura wiped away fresh tears and smiled to herself, “Yeah, you
took care of her, Stefan, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

	Luke stepped out of his and Laura’s room, running a hand through
his short hair.  He walked up to her and kissed her quickly, “Lisa still
asleep?”

	Laura nodded, “She had trouble getting to sleep last night.  I know
that she was up with Anreya until after 5am.”

	Luke looked at his wife, “I can imagine.  I actually slept pretty
soundly knowing that my daughter and granddaughter were just down the
hall and out of Helena’s clutches.”  Laura gave him a stern look, “Look,
honey, I have to meet with Jason to discuss some security arrangements for
the family.  Steffin is coming over to see Lisa and Annie, and I don’t want
to be here when he gets here, so I’m going to finish some paperwork at the
club before coming home.  Are you okay with that?”

	Laura gave him a shocked look, “Stefan is coming here?  And
you’re okay with that?”

	He sighed and nodded, “It’s the only way I could agree to get Lisa
to come.  He promised Annie that he’d be here when she woke up.  It got
her to stop crying, so I agreed.”

	Laura leaned over and kissed Luke on the cheek, “I love you.”

	“I love you too, Angel.”

*****	
	Laura walked downstairs as Luke went out the front door.  She
looked over and smiled at Lesley and Lulu sitting on the sofa watching
cartoons.  “What are you two watching?” she asked.

	Lulu smiled, “Bugs Bunny, Mommy.”

	Laura nodded, “I’m going to go fix your breakfast.  Do you want
something, Mother?”

	Lesley stood up, “I’ll help you fix something.”  Lesley followed
Laura into the kitchen, “Full house this morning.”

	“Yeah.  I have no idea what time Lisa and Anreya will get up, and
Luke just told me that Stefan is coming over.  Stefan promised Anreya that
he’d be here when she wakes up this morning.”

	Just then, the doorbell rang.  Lesley looked at Laura, “I’ll get it and
take Stefan up to Lisa.”

	Laura shook her head, “No, that’s okay.  I have something I want
to ask him.”  Laura went out to answer the door.  Stefan was standing
there as expected.  “Good morning, Stefan.  Luke said you were coming to
see Lisa and Anreya.”

	Stefan nodded slightly, “Yes, I am, although I would imagine they
are still asleep.”

	Laura smiled, “They are.  Lisa had trouble getting Anreya to sleep
last night.  But come on up, I’ll show you their room.”  As they walked
upstairs, Laura asked, “How much trouble do you think Helena’s going to
cause?”

	“I don’t know,” Stefan admitted.  “It depends on her agenda.  I
must admit, I was more comfortable when we all thought she was dead. 
Considering what she did with Anreya, it makes both Leezia and I very
nervous that Helena is in town so close to the baby being born.”

	Laura nodded, “I can understand that.”  They were standing outside
a closed door.  “They’re both asleep inside.  I’ll be downstairs if you need
anything.”

	“Thank you, Lasha.”  Stefan watched as Laura went back
downstairs before entering Lisa’s room.

	He entered silently and closed the door behind him.  He smiled as
he saw Anreya sleeping peacefully on a small bed on one side of the room,
and Lisa also sleeping on another bed against the far wall.  Not the high
point of comfort, Stefan noted, but not without it’s sense of down-home
charm.

	He walked over and gently touched the side of Lisa’s face. She
opened her eyes, saw Stefan and smiled, “Hi,” she whispered.

	Stefan pulled up the nearby chair, “Good morning,” he whispered
back.

	“Did you just get here?” she asked.

	Stefan nodded and reached out and took Lisa’s hand, “Why don’t
you just rest now.  I know you had trouble getting Anreya to sleep last
night.  I’ll stay as long as you need me.”

	Lisa nodded sleepily, “Thanks.”  Resting her head back against the
pillow, she added, “I love you.”

	He brought her hand slowly up to his face and kissed it gently,
“And I love you.”

	Contentedly, she closed her eyes, and was soon fast asleep.  Stefan
closed his eyes and managed to sleep sitting straight up.

	A couple of hours later, Anreya woke up and smiled as she saw her
father sitting in the chair next to her mother’s bed.  She got up quickly and
walked up to Stefan.  “Morning Papa,” she said quietly to him as she
crawled up in his lap.

	“Good morning, Princess.  Did you sleep well?” he smiled gently as
he asked his daughter.

	She nodded, “Yeah.”  She wrapped her arms around his neck and
snuggled up close to him, closing her eyes.

	He watched as she fell back to sleep, cradled in his arms.  He
looked over at Lisa as she slept.  With the exception of Helena’s return
from the dead and the fact that they were in Luke Spencer’s home instead
of their own, things were finally as they should be.

*****





CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

	Luke sat behind the desk in his office and looked over some paperwork. 
Laura came in, looking rather apprehensive.  Luke looked up and smiled, “How’s
Lisa doing?”

	“Fine,” Laura answered.  “She and Stefan went to lunch at the PC Grille. 
Lucky volunteered to watch Anreya and Lulu is with Nikolas.”

	“I need to ask you something,” Luke said softly, “about Lisa and her years
with he Cassadines.  I need to know what I might expect from Helena.”

	Laura frowned, “I don’t know how she got to the island.  She was already
there when I got there.”

	Luke nodded, “Ruby and I had a long talk about that earlier this morning. 
I guess the first thing I should tell you about is Lisa’s mother.  Her name was
Candy and she worked for Frank Smith as a hooker.  She got mad when I
wouldn’t marry her and take her away from Frank.  She took it out on Lisa.”

	“You mean she abused Lisa?” Laura asked, shocked.

	“Neglected her is more like it.  She didn’t like kids.  In fact, she didn’t
deserve to have anyone call her a mother.  I’ll never forget the day I went to see
Lisa and found that Candy had left her alone for over three days.  I came in and
found Lisa watching TV holding on to that blanket of hers for dear life.  She was
only about three years old at the time.  I looked for Candy and walked in the
kitchen and found how Lisa had managed to survive on her own.”

	Laura had tears in her eyes, “I’m afraid to ask.”

	Luke wiped away his own tears as the memory haunted him.  “Sitting on
the floor in the kitchen were open pop top cans of cat food with ants crawling
through them, and...” he choked up before forcing himself to finish, “And half a
container of spoiled milk.”

	Laura gasped and looked as if she was going to be sick.

	Luke continued, “I swore that day that I’d never let Candy near Lisa again,
but there was no way that I could get legal custody of her.  So Candy and I made
an arrangement.  Lisa would stay with me, in exchange for my paying off Candy’s
debt to Frank.  In order to pay that debt, I had to go to work for Frank.”

	“So that’s how you started working in the organization.”

	Luke nodded, “Yeah.  About a year later, I was on assignment when I got
word that Candy and Lisa had been killed in an accident.  Candy’s death was no
accident, but Lisa’s supposedly was.  What I didn’t know was that Ruby had made
a deal with Frank.  She wanted me free and thought that if Lisa wasn’t a factor,
Frank would have no reason to keep me on staff.  Plus, she knew that I wasn’t
capable of giving Lisa the life that she deserved.  Frank was.  The deal was that
Frank would release me and he would take care of Lisa and raise her as his own.”

	“But that’s not what happened.”

	Luke laughed slightly at the irony, “No, it’s sure not.  Once I thought Lisa
was dead, I didn’t have any reason to leave.  But Frank wouldn’t have let me, even
if I’d wanted to.  He didn’t keep up his end of the bargain.  Instead of raising Lisa
as his own, he sold her to the Cassadines and rubbed her ‘death’ in my face,
blaming me for it.  According to Ruby, the last she heard for several years was that
Lisa was alive and living comfortably.  Then she was notified when Lisa left the
island three years ago, but that was it.”

	Laura sighed, knowing that Lisa’s life wasn’t as cushy as the Cassadines
had let Ruby believe.  But she also realized that Ruby, by now, knew the truth
about how things had been for Lisa.  “I didn’t see Lisa until a couple of weeks
after I got to the island.  I guess she was about seven at the time.  I heard Helena
and Stavros yelling at one of the servants.  I peeked in and saw Stavros just as he
slapped her.  I watched and followed from a distance when they had one of the
other servants lock her in her room.  Stefan caught me trying to get into her room,
and let me in.  He had been going to check in on her as well.  I watched as she had
her blanket wrapped around her head like a turban.  That was the day I found out
she was your daughter.”

	Laura smiled as Luke asked, “How?”

	“I kept a picture of you with me.  It fell out of my pocket and she asked me
what I was doing with a picture of her daddy.  She reminded me so much of you,
she was so brave.”

	Luke nodded and smiled, “Then what happened?”

	“When they told me you were dead and I married Stavros, they gave me a
choice of one of the servants.  Naturally, I picked Lisa.  Having her near me made
me feel closer to you.  Stavros always rubbed the fact that she was your daughter
in my face.  But I thought of her like my own daughter and promised her that when
I got off the island I would take her with me.”

	“But you didn’t,” Luke said quietly and sadly, “You left your own son and
my daughter on that island of the damned.”

	Laura sighed but refused to buckle, “I made the decisions as best as I could
at the time.  I’m not proud of it, but what’s done is done and I can’t go back and
change it.”

	Luke dropped it, knowing how potentially explosive the situation could
become.  “What else do you know about the years after that?”

	Laura shrugged, “Only what we’ve already talked about.  I’m sure that if
you asked Lisa about it, she’d fill you in.”

	Luke shook his head, “I don’t want to involve her in such an emotional
conversation so close to the baby being born.”

	Laura decided to offer the following suggestion, “You could always ask
Stefan what her life was like and how Helena treated her.”

	Luke frowned, “I think you know me better than that, Laura.  I refuse to
acknowledge the Count’s role in Lisa’s life any more than I have to.”

*****

	A little while later, Nikolas and Lulu were sitting on a park bench when
Nikolas’ cell phone rang.  “Nikolas Cassadine.”

	Stefan’s excited voice greeted him, “Nikolas, Leezia is in labor.  We’re
heading over to the hospital now.”

	Nikolas smiled, “I’m on my way.  Should I call Laura?”

	“That would be good, thank you Nikolas.”

	As Nikolas hung up and picked up Lulu, he noticed Lucky and Anreya
walking by.  They managed a civil greeting to one another before Nikolas said,
“Lisa’s gone to the hospital.”

	“The baby?” Lucky asked.

	Nikolas nodded, “She and Stefan are on their way there now.”

	“Should we go over to GH?” Lucky asked.

	“Lisa would want you there.”

	Lucky agreed, “Well, as soon as I call my folks, I’ll head over.  Tell her I’ll
be there.”

	Nikolas shook his head and tossed his cell phone to Lucky, “Here.  Call
them on the way, I’m driving.”

	Briefly, Lucky looked at Nikolas to see if he was serious.  Swallowing the
urge to turn him down out of spite, Lucky finally nodded and picked up Anreya. 
“Let’s go.”

	The two brothers, with Anreya and Lulu in tow, walked quickly towards
Nikolas’ waiting car.

*****