-Chapter-3-"Hello, Again"

Helena opened the oven and pulled out a dozen freshly baked, home made cookies.  
Helena sniffed them and put them down on the table.  She started whistling Mary 
Poppins tunes when Lila Quartermaine wheeled in.  Helena looked at her and 
smiled cheerfully.

Helena: Back from the drag races already, Mrs. Quartermaine?

Lila: It was a short race, cook.  Now stop humming those cheery tunes and make 
me a steak. NOW!

Helena: Yes, Mrs. Quartermaine!

Lila went out and Helena started preparing to make a stake.

Helena: That Mrs. Quartermaine really should have been hugged more as a child… I 
feel sorry for that sweet, kind, good hearted husband of hers, having to put up 
with all her mean, mean, meanness.

~"~

Luke was standing in front of what used to be his club.  Instead of a swinging 
jazz club, there was a church.

Luke: What would a church be doing out here?

Luke looked around and saw the two Webber girls riding around on their bikes.  
Both girls looked at him and then at the church.  Lizzie rode over to him and 
Sarah followed.

Lizzie: Hi… uh… didn't this used to be a blues club?

Sarah: Lizzie, he probably doesn't realize this church is all wrong. Everyone 
here has changed.

Luke: No, I know exactly what you are talking about.

Both girls looked at Luke.

Luke: By any chance, have you girls woken up today to find everything is 
different then it was yesterday.

Sarah and Lizzie: YES!

Lizzie: You've noticed a change to!

Luke: Tell me this… am I married to a young, ex-pill popping stripper named 
Karen Wexler, or…

Lizzie: Laura Spencer, who is mother to Nikolas and has spent the past year in 
Switzerland.

Luke: Right.

Sarah: Good, so we know one other person who knows something is wrong.

Lizzie: What do we do about it though?

Luke: I wish I could say, girls, but I'm just as baffled as you are.

They all stood there.

Lizzie: We need to find out who else has changed here.

Luke: That is a good idea, but Port Chuck is a pretty big city.  How do you plan 
to round everyone up?  Take out an add?

Lizzie: Well, do you have any better ideas?

Sarah: How about we split up, go around Port Charles, see what's familiar and 
meet back here at 8:00.

The other two agreed and left.

^*^

V. was astonished when she read the paper.  According to this article, a company 
owned by her, called Ardanowski Enterprises, had just made a multi-million 
dollar deal. How is this possible?  V. looked around the gigantic living room 
and wondered where Nikolas Cassadine had gone off to. Then, the phone rang.  V. 
picked it up.

V: Hello?

Person: Hello, Mrs. Ardanowski.  I would like to remind you of your appointment 
to meet with Mr. Jones and his wife at 6:00 tonight.

V: Okay... who is this?

The voice sounded very familiar.

Person: Excuse me?  Who am I?  Only Mac Scorpio, your assistant of many years!

V: Right, Mac, I'm sorry, I've just been… I'm a little sick today.

Mac: Do you want me to cancel your meeting?

V: No!  No, I'll be fine.

V. hung up.  What was she going to do? This was no practical joke, who would 
spend the money to set up all the expensive things she has seen today?  Who 
would go through all the trouble to set this up? V. continued to read the 
article about her deal and saw something rather odd.  Apparently, the deal had 
something to do with frost mechanics.  She had no idea what that meant, but if 
she went to this meeting with Jones, she might find out.

~"~

Alexis woke up from her nap on the couch.  She looked around a wondered where 
she was.  It was some big apartment.  She looked at her clothes.  Not exactly 
her usual attire, but nothing really unusual about it.  It was just, ordinary.

She was lying on the couch and could smell something cooking.  She looked at 
this kitchen area and walked in and could tell it was coming from the oven.  She 
opened it up and saw a turkey. There was a loud ding that made her jump back.  
She turned the oven off, so the turkey wouldn't start smoking up and closed the 
door.

Alexis started to walk around this apartment and tried figure out what was going 
on.   She saw several pictures of her and another man, whom she recognized.  
They were intimate and she couldn't understand any of them.

She went into a bedroom and started going through the drawers.  Usually, she 
would find this rude but since there were so many pictures of her that could 
never have been taken, she decided to make an exception.  There was nothing that 
brought insight as to what was going on until she found a little book.  She 
looked inside and saw handwriting.  It was a diary… her diary.

~"~

The woman cracked a smile as she watched the monitor.  She could see through 
Alexis' eyes as she read word by word of the diary.  She watched all the other 
monitors and shook her head. They would try to find out what was going on, but 
they would never understand the extreme measures of this plan. She looked at the 
man beside her looking through all these charts.

Woman: How are our lab rats doing?

The man looked at her and gave a half smile.

Man: Perfectly all right so far.

Woman: Good.  Then in another twenty-four hours we can begin.

~"~

A man was walking alone, in an ally, when he was this dark figure jumped in 
front of him.  He could tell it was a woman, because of obvious features.  She 
was all in black, including a mask. She jumped him.  He tried to fight her off, 
but she just kept kicking and kicking. She threw him against the wall.  Before 
he could plead for any mercy, she pulled out a knife and plunged it into his 
heart.  He fell to the ground.

Woman: Sorry, Dr. Burt, but I had no choice.

The woman pulled off her mask and revealed herself as Brenda Barret.  She smiled 
coldly and ran off to report to her boss.