"Q.E.D." PART 25
They were moving again, but at a slower rate than before. The painin
Stefan's leg was no longer sharp and confined to the area of thebullet
wound. He felt it now as a dull ache, spreading slowly, reaching outwith
cloying hands at his weakened muscles, rendering his right leguseless. He
gripped the cave wall with his hand, leaning away from his injuredside.
After a while, a strange euphoria came over him, bathing his mind ina
sticky, hot glaze and distorting his perceptions. His footstepsechoed like
a tympanist's blows. His cane scraping along the cave floor soundedlike
thousands of scrabbling insects. The rock wall grew colder at histouch
until it felt like some dark, textured ice. The air seemed heavier,and he
struggled to breathe; until Luke's voice tunneled through thedense
atmosphere surrounding him, his words becoming a lifeline, pullingStefan
back to reality.
"So... what was your plan anyway, Cassadine? Were you hoping that I'dwhip
out my secret decoder ring, solve your little puzzle, hop a plane toGreece
and off your old lady for you? 'Cause I'll have you know, that Idon't give
a rat's ass who's the king of what hill. And if you expected me toget
involved in some idiotic Cassadine power struggle, you made agross
miscalculation, pal."
"Even if it affects global politics?"
"Look. Unless Helena's army comes pounding on my front door, I don'tcare
what the hell she does. My family takes precedence over all yourroyal
posturing, and if it doesn't affect them, it doesn't concern me."
Stefan smiled. "Your point is moot, since Helena has alreadyencroached upon
your home. However, that is precisely the character trait I'd hopedto
capitalize upon."
"What?"
"Despite recent unfortunate events, you and Laura have provenyourselves
adept at protecting your children. My 'gross miscalculation' was inassuming
that you would extend that protection to ALL of Laura's children. Ihad no
intention of coercing you into a showdown with my mother. I amperfectly
capable of handling her myself. I needed to know that Nikolas wouldbe
provided for during my absence."
Luke laughed. "You expect me to believe that all you needed fromLaura and
me was a reputable babysitting service for your nephew? Face it man,you
were looking for something more permanent in case you lost the warwith
'mommy dearest.' You could barely bring yourself to pull the triggeron one
of Helena's guards, let alone her."
"You assume that the only formidable weapons are tangible objects. Iam
armed with something more dangerous than a bullet ... I have thetruth."
"You mean blackmail, don't you? Frankly, I don't think that you haveenough
ammo. The crimes committed against Alexie Romanov happened beforeHelena
ever became a Cassadine. She can't be implicated in any of that. Allthe
perpetrators are dead..."
"That is not the truth that I had in mind. Do you think that I wouldever
want that story publicized? I have no desire to subject Nikolas ormyself to
the media circus that would result."
"Yeah, you and Nikky could be sharing the front page with Madonna andMichael
Jackson. 'Enquiring minds' would get quite a kick out of youtwo."
"You forget: Laura would be featured, as well."
"You're probably right about that," Luke conceded. "So, what's thedeep dark
secret that'll bring Helena to her knees?"
"It's ... none of your concern."
Luke reached over and grabbed Stefan's shirt. "Look man, I'll tellyou
what's my concern. My concern is getting my daughter back alive andwell.
After that, you and Helena can talk yourselves to death, for all Icare.
But so far, your little game has backfired on you, and I think it'stime for
you to lay down your cards and let a real poker player look at them.From
here on in, I wanna know every step you plan to take..."
Luke paused. At this proximity, he noticed a sickening warmth risingfrom
Stefan's body, like that which rises from stagnant water. He let goof his
shirt and placed his hand on Stefan's forehead. "Geezus, man, you'reburning
up! Why didn't you tell me you had a fever?"
Stefan sighed. "It seemed pointless to update you on my condition.There's
very little that you can do..."
Luke rifled through his backpack. He pulled out a bottle of Tylenoland
tossed it at Stefan, along with his canteen. "Here, take a few ofthese. I
gotta get that bullet out of your leg. You've got one hell on aninfection."
"Luke, we've lost enough time as it is..."
"Don't you think I know that?! But if you die on me now, I may neverfind my
way outta this cave. God! I was an idiot for following you inhere."
"Your concern for my health is quite touching..."
Stefan watched as Luke laid open the first aid kit from hisbackpack,
organizing the contents with a medic's precision. Then, Luke unhookedhis
pocketknife from his belt, unfolding the blade and allowing it toglisten in
the dim light. "If I were you," Luke said, "I'd can the sarcasm fora
while."
Stefan held up his hand. "Wait. There's something that we need todiscuss
before you do this."
"What's that?"
"I mean no disrespect for your surgical skills, and I'm sure you'vehad far
more experience than most with bullet wounds, but I realize thatthere is a
chance that I might not survive this journey."
"Ah.. don't start getting all maudlin on me.."
"Luke, I have no medical background, but even I know that mycondition is
grave. I will lead you as far through the caves as I can, and I willtry to
give you enough information so that you are able to complete thejourney
alone, if necessary; but first, I need to know that Nikolas will beall
right." He reached over and grabbed Luke's shirt. "I want you to giveme
your word that you will do everything in your power to save himtoo."
"Yeah, yeah. I already promised Laura."
"There is one other thing." Stefan closed his eyes, and took a deepbreath,
"Perhaps you were right when you said that you should knoweverything... the
secret... it could help you against Helena. "
"What is it?"
"There are five rules of succession for the Russian throne." Stefanspread
his hand, counting them on his fingers. "First, the monarch mustbe
Orthodox. Second, the monarch must be male. Third, the mother andwife of
the monarch must be Orthodox at the time of marriage; Laura was madeto sign
a document stating she had converted to Orthodoxy before thewedding.
Fourth, the mother and wife of the monarch must be of royal blood.And
fifth, the monarch can marry only with the permission of the reigningtsar;
my father had signed a document several years before he diedallowing
Stavros to choose his future wife. Now we both know that Laura is notof
royal lineage, but since there are no other surviving maledescendants of
Nicholas II besides myself, one infraction might be overlooked.However,
given the fact that marriage and the tenets of Orthodoxy figureprominently
into the laws which govern the tsar's selection, there is one otherfact that
would disqualify Nikolas from the throne..."
Luke twirled the knife in his fingers, impatient with the longpreamble.
"For God's sake man! Will you just spit it out?"
"I want you to know that Laura is blameless in this matter. Ionly
discovered the truth recently, when Nikolas had his blood testsin
Switzerland." Stefan paused, looking down at his hands. "Nikolas isthe
product of an illegitimate union.... I am his father, not Stavros."
Luke launched himself at Stefan, grabbing him by the shirt with onehand and
pressing the knife against his throat with the other.
"What the HELL is the matter with you, Cassadine? Wasn't it enoughthat one
of you had her? Tell me: Did it make you feel like a 'big man'? Didit
make up for all those years of playing second fiddle to your olderbrother?
Did it make up for the mother who ignored you or the no-good fatherwho
didn't give a damn? Did it reverse all those years of abuse andneglect?
Did it mend your tattered self-esteem?...... NO!"
"Luke, it wasn't like that..." But Stefan was quite sure that Lukecouldn't
hear him. He met Luke's gaze, trying to draw his attention, but whathe saw
were the horrified eyes of a man staring into a dark mirror, and whathe
heard were the howls of unexorcised demons.
"She cried, but you ignored her tears. She struggled, but you werestronger.
All you could think about was YOUR need, YOUR ego, YOUR ...desperation!
God DAMN you! Didn't you hear her when she said 'NO'? Oh God! ...Poor
Laura! ... My poor, sweet Laura!" Luke was crying now, but hemaintained his
grip on Stefan's shirt, and he pressed the blade into the side ofStefan's
neck, drawing a thin bead of blood. Stefan grabbed the knife andtried to
wrest it from Luke's hand, but he had little strength left.
"LUKE! For God's sake LISTEN TO ME! It wasn't like that! If you killme
now, you may never find your daughter! Think of Lesley Lu! Yourdaughter
needs you, Luke!"
At the mention of his daughter's name, Luke slowly released Stefanand
dropped the knife. He sat back on his haunches and wiped his face drywith
his sleeve. He took a deep breath and said in a quiet voice: "If itwasn't
like that, then I wanna know what you DID do to her." He reached overand
retrieved the knife. "You have one minute to explain to me why Ishouldn't
kill you after I find my daughter. One minute is not a long time,Cassadine,
so I'd advise you to ditch your Webster's Unabridged vocabulary, andstick to
monosyllables whenever possible."
"I was only... with Laura... once. And I believe she thought that Iwas
Stavros." Luke remained silent, checking his watch. Stefansighed,
launching himself into the tale. "Stavros, Laura, and I were havingdinner.
Stavros was drunk. He ... was hurting her... pulling her hair. Whenshe
cried out, he slapped her. I could take no more of it, so I pulledhim away
from her. He sent Laura to her room. He and I argued, and I punchedhim. I
went to Laura's room, to tell her that Stavros wouldn't be in her bedthat
night. The room was dark. She was already in bed, so I closed thedoor and
went to her side. I had only meant to talk to her, but when I touchedher,
she ... responded." He held up his hand, warding off Luke's gaze asit
shifted from rage to agony. "She thought I was Stavros," he repeated,"I'm
quite sure of it. She was performing her duty as the wife of 'The
Cassadine', nothing more. I am the one to blame."
Luke studied Stefan's face. All masks had been removed, and what wasleft
was painful and raw, twisted in a familiar pattern of self-loathing."Why
didn't you tell her?"
"Because... I loved her. I couldn't bring myself to say thewords."
"Does Laura know what you did? Does she know that you're Nikolas'father?"
Stefan nodded. "I believe that she does now. I wrote her a letterbefore I
left for Greece."
"It's up to her then, what happens to you," Luke said, and he tookout his
lighter and ignited it, holding the blade of the knife over theflame.
"What are you doing?" asked Stefan.
"Sterilizing this thing the best I can. I'm about to take that bulletoutta
your leg. It's gonna really hurt," he said, the corners of hismouth
turning upward. "And I'm gonna love it..."
FYI: A few months before Judy wrote this, she wrote a scene whichdescribed
in more detail what happened the night of Nikolas' conception. goHEREif
you'd like to read it.