Chapter 17 During the half hour that passes with the drive to the launch and the ride to the island, Alexis downs enough vodka to prove her ancestry. She walks into the parlor feeling somewhat calmer than she did when she left the gatehouse. Stefan: Well, how did it go? Alexis says nothing, she just glares at him, and crosses the room toward the bar. As she fixes another vodka, he stands. Stefan: I know that this is difficult for you. Alexis: (with her back still to him) Well, your compassion is touching. Would you like a vodka? Stefan: (relieved that she's acting normal) Yes, that would be soothing, thank you. Take the edge off after a long day. She casually fixes another glass, and then spins around and hurls the glass and its contents into the nearby wall. The shards rain down onto the floor and Stefan freezes in shock. Alexis: (with an uncanny steadiness in light of her outburst) You were born with that edge, Stefan. He smiles slightly, in that condescending way he fancies in the face of a woman's rage. Stefan: So then can I assume that all did not go well at the Quartermaine lovenest? Alexis swallows a shot and then casually tosses the shot glass into the fireplace, sending more glass flying. Alexis: What makes you say that? God knows I don't act on my emotions. I pick up the pieces when you do, and stuff my own. It's not like what I want matters. I've only given up EVERYTHING FOR YOU. (this time it's a priceless vase which goes airborne as Stefan stands dumbstruck). But that's alright. I don't need you to give me one moment of happiness. You don't have to do any tiny favors for me when it comes to ELQ. It doesn't matter how important it is to me I'm just the insignificant chump who has covered your blunders more times than I can count. I don't matter. I'm not in the royal line, I'm just a cousin (she gets up in his face, her rage combined with the alcohol twisting her face out of its usual lovely proportions) Or am I? Just a distant, sometimes-useful relative who would do anything to get some glory from the mighty Cassadine. Like a puppy scrounging around the table legs for some crumbs even though he keeps getting kicked. And sometimes I get uncomfortable and you have to spout a few canned lines about priorities and loyalty and I'll shut up and go do your bidding again. (she pushes her finger into his chest) My Saint Bernard days are over, your highness. Stefan: Alexis, this is quite enough. Alexis: Shut up, Stefan. I just nailed up the coffin of the only relationship I've ever had where I felt appreciated. Where I didn't feel like a whore. You make me feel like the harlot of Babylon, slinking about and selling off my heart, piece by piece, all for some cheap scraps of approval from your loftiness. Well, da svedanya, Cousin dearest. Unlike you, when I plunge daggers into people I care about, I don't stick around to gloat as they hemorrhage. I've got a practice in the city that never sleeps. Appropriate really, since I don't remember the last time I did either. Stefan: (unsure whether to rage or to beg) And whom do you have to thank for that lucrative practice of yours? Alexis: Don't you dare try to take the credit for my hard work and discipline. Stefan: You would have NOTHING if not for my charity. Alexis: Charity? Try self-preservation. You were getting chewed up and spit out by the family. You wanted an ally with a laptop and cellular phone. Stefan: Memory has a convenient way of lapsing when it serves you, doesn't it? Alexis: Don't treat me like Nikolas, I was THERE. I saw your heart break when you couldn't have Blond Obsession #1. When your mother belittled you, when your brother laughed at you and your father smacked you across the room. Do you think I don't know you, Stefan? Do you think you can keep all your dirty little neuroses wrapped up and carefully tucked away inside your heart of stone? That might work with Bobbie Spencer and Blond Obsession #2, but I actually know you. I could tell the world. I could be your worst enemy, so you'd better control me. You'd better make nice and make me your ally. You'd better pay for my education and set me up with a pretentious condo in Manhattan. God knows you better make me owe you because I couldn't possibly know the real you and still be loyal without a debt. I couldn't possibly just love you. Stefan is seething in silence, unable to respond to so many accusations at once. Alexis is tiring, drained from her tirade and slowed by the 100% proof. She sinks down onto the leather couch dejectedly. Alexis: Did it ever occur to you that I'm not loyal out of gratitude, Stefan? Did it cross your mind that I might love you? Did the notion enter your head that it might rip my heart out when you speak about me as a charity case and you belittle me and sabotage what's important to me? Because you don't do that to people you love. And I was operating in this little fantasy world where you loved me. I was giving up my career and my home and my reputation to come to a little truckstop in backwoods Americana because I thought you loved me. And that was worth anything. That was a rare commodity for me. You had the entire franchise on love in my life. But you're not interested in my happiness or emotional integrity or even what I do with my time, as long as you get what you want out of me and I keep my mouth shut as my conscience gets sacrificed at the Cassadine altar. And you know what, Stefan? You were worth it. But money? Power? They aren't. So now that I know what I was really working for, I can make a much more informed choice. There are better uses of my time and considerable talent. She gets up off the couch and pulls her laptop out of her briefcase. She pops out a diskette out of the PC and hands it to Stefan (who is silent, enraged, hurt, and almost remorseful). Alexis: (stone-cold) On the way over, I typed up a memo describing the South American opportunity with recommendations for how to capitalize on it. Thank God for technology. I would have smeared the ink with tears and vodka if I'd had to handwrite it. Stefan: (practically snarling) I want you out of this house now and out of this town within 24 hours. Alexis: Or what, you'll make me give my degree back to Harvard? Spare me the melodramatic expulsion Stefan, you haven't even heard the worst of it yet. I was expelled from this family from the time I was conceived. But that's a topic we'll save for another day. I believe I have a hotel to check into. She gathers up her briefcase. Nikolas walks in the parlor at that moment and jumps when he hears the glass crunching under his feet. Nik: What happened here? (looking down at the glass) Uncle, did you do this? Alexis: (cavalierly) No, no, that would be me. Priceless artifacts only fly from your uncle's hands when he doesn't get his blond. Nikolas looks at her, bewildered. Alexis grabs her coat and briefcase and walks over to him. She takes his face in her hand and looks into his eyes. Alexis: (smiling sadly) Nikolai, you are so perfect. I love you. You be good to yourself. She kisses him on each cheek, as he stands confused, and leaves the house.   Chapter 18 The next day, at the airport. Alexis is slumped down in a leather chair in the lounge reserved for the passengers of private aircraft. She wears jeans and a wool sweater, her hair in a clip, reading Tolstoy in Russian, with her glasses perched on the end of her nose. She hears a familiar voice and looks up. Ned: (into a cell phone, on the other side of the lounge) Grandfather, I'm going. What more do you want me to do? I couldn't have possibly moved faster. I'm at the airport right now . This is the end of this discussion. I'll call you tomorrow. Alexis opens her book wider and tries to hide her face behind it, but she is too late. Ned: Doth my eyes deceive me? Since when does Cassadine Industries have casual Fridays? (He glances at her book) Are you leisure-reading?!? He grabs the book right out of her hands, and leans over her, his hands on the armrest, his face right up in hers. Ned: Where is Alexis and what have you done with her? Alexis smiles slightly and rolls her eyes. Alexis: I know it's hard to believe, but I can actually relax. Ned: Not without medication. What's going on? Alexis: Nothing, I have business on Monday and I thought I'd spend the weekend enjoying the scenery. Ned: Where are you going? Alexis: (not wanting him to be able to find her later) Greece. Ned: Yikes. Alexis: It's a very beautiful place, all things considered. Ned: Even with the shadow cast by the dreaded matriarch? Alexis: She's half-dead anyway, she won't even know I'm home. Not that she ever did when she was healthy, for that matter. Ned: Well, judging from what I've heard, it's probably better that way. Alexis: (not comfortable with the subject of familial affection or lack thereof) So where are you jetting off to? Ned: (after kissing her tenderly and taking a seat next to her) Oh, I have to go save a deal in Buenos Aires. Looks like Merck somehow got to our research team and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Alexis: (without the energy to muster up feigned innocence) I'm really sorry to hear that. Ned: Not as sorry as the leak is going to be when I find him. Alexis: Or her. Ned: Or her. An airport employee approaches them. Employee: Ms. Davis? You're pilot says he's ready for takeoff. Alexis: Thank you. Employee: Your driver wants to know if he should arrange for a driver to stay with you full-time in New York? Alexis: Um, no that won't be necessary (glancing at Ned), I won't be there very long. Ned: New York? Alexis: We're stopping there for a few hours so that I can run some errands. Ned: (as Alexis gathers her things) How long will you be gone? Alexis: (obtusely) I'm not sure. We'll have to see. I have to go now. Ned: (putting his arms around her and pulling him toward her) Well hurry back. Alexis: (looking him in the eye, with a bittersweet smile) I'm going to miss you, Ned. Ned kisses her, and she allows herself the pleasure of reveling in the feeling of his arms around her, his hands on her back, pulling her close to him, the twinkle in his eye that always makes her feel like they share a secret. She closes her eyes and tries to memorex the sensation, the safety and sweetness of this moment, to be extracted and cherished on lonely nights working late at the firm in New York. She pulls away quickly, like ripping a band-aid off to minimize the pain. 24 hours later At her new office at Mercy Medical Center, Lise reclines with her feet propped up on her desk, twisting the phone cord absently in her fingers. Lise: Crap, Ned. I'm really sorry. I know you were expecting good things out of that research team. Ned: We've never operated in the same market share as Merck before, so I don't know very much about them what do you know? Lise: Well, all I know is that they make killer hepatitis vaccines and have been really generous with donating drugs for river blindness in sub-Saharan Africa. But they're huge, I mean, they really make ELQ look like small potatoes. They have the capital to totally buy you out of the loop with this new wonder-drug you were after. Ned: That's all you know? Lise: Why? Ned: Well, I haven't gotten any leads on who down here might have spilled the beans. I was at least hoping for a satisfying public crucifixion when I found the mole, but so far it's nada. Lise: I'm really sorry. Will you be coming back soon? Ned: Yeah, I'll be back in Port Charles tonight. How's Emma? Lise: Asking why her Elmo dolls don't laugh. Ned: Aww, you took all the fun out of it. Lise: Yeah, fun for YOU. Ned: Darn, I don't even have the energy to torture you right now. Lise: Chin up, li'l buckaroo. There'll be other fish to fry. Companies to destroy, profits to squander. Ned: Ha ha. They hang up and Lise sits, still twirling the phone cord, pensive. At that moment, a sickening thought enters her mind, she sits straight up, her feet hitting the floor. As her head swims, she grabs her diet coke and races down to the hospital library. Meanwhile, Alexis looks out at the New York skyline from her grand picture window on the top floor of her condo complex. She holds a cup of coffee unsteadily and wonders how it will feel being back at the law firm. Maybe she can get used to the rush of winning millions for her corporate clients again. Maybe she'll be glad to get back to those elegant and oh-so-political NY Bar Association galas. Maybe that cute but desperate anti-trust litigator will resume begging her for dates. Maybe it won't be that hard to return to a life of not being needed, not being known, having no history, no name. Anonymity always suited her best. Family and romance, the classic downfalls of every weak-willed wannabe go-getter. She won't fall prey to those distractions again. She can't wait to see the other side tremble when Alexis C. Davis walks in a courtroom. When she is the one inspiring fear and awe, rather than the one being intimidated. She is no lackey. And she's better off without the both of them. Ned will get over her just like Katherine got over Stefan. And Stefan, well, it won't take long for him to self-destruct, and then he'll regret what he's done. But she won't go back. She won't cave. The only one she'll really miss is Nikolas. He's growing up and nobody is even noticing. She continues feeding herself lies as she goes to the bar and replaces her coffee with a vodka straight. Placing the glass on her coffee table, she opens up the cabinet doors to the stereo. Staring listlessly as the untouched glass of vodka goes flat, Alexis slowly sinks into her cream-colored leather sofa. She sleeps fitfully, as Eddie Main and the Idle Rich croon gently through the speakers. At Mercy's library, Lise dials Ned's cell phone frantically. Ned: (lounging comfortably on the ELQ jet) Ned Ashton. Lise: You won't believe who's on the board of Merck, Incorporated. Ned: Do I want to know this? Lise: Helena Cassadine. Ned: What? But, but she's indigent. Lise: And I wonder who's keeping her seat on the board warm? Ned's heart free-falls into his stomach.   Chapter 19 The CD has long since finished on the stereo, the candles on the coffee table burnt down to waxen puddles, when a loud buzzing on her intercom awakens Alexis from her fitful slumber. She looks at her watch groggily. 2am. She wipes the sleep out of her eyes and stumbles up toward the door. She presses down the intercom. Alexis: Yes? Ned: It's me. The fog instantly clears from her mind and body at the sound of his voice. She feels the familiar knot in her stomach immediately return. She has no idea how or what he knows, but it wouldn't be that difficult to find a list of Merck board members. Going on the assumption that he knows everything, she finds herself at a loss for how to greet him on the intercom. Does she act cheerful and welcoming, pretending it's fine? Does she tell him to go away? Unable to come to a decision, she just presses the button which unlocks the door downstairs and stares at the door waiting for him to arrive, willing herself to be strong. She tries to focus on how Stefan threw out Katherine; he was amazing. Time seems to stop in its tracks as she stands there, unsteadily, a few feet from the door, just waiting for the inevitable knock. When he arrives, the light knocking sounds like a jackhammer. Alexis: (standing back from the door, leaning on the back of the sofa) It's open. Ned opens the door and makes eye contact with her. He looks haggard, his tie loose, his shirtsleeves rolled up. He needs a shave. His stare is intense, but not quite a glare. He stands in the doorway, seemingly too distracted by her and whatever he is feeling to think of moving. Alexis: Come in. (she says absently, standing up and turning away from him, walking to the window and staring out) Ned collapses in a chair at the glass-topped dining room table. He rests both arms on the table, his elbows bent He stares at the wall, not looking at her back, the two of them lost in their own worlds, but totally obsessed with the other at the same time. Ned is silent, unmoving. For once, Alexis is not made anxious by his silence, but prefers that he remain so if the alternative is rage toward her. Eventually she turns and decides to face the bull head on. She puts on a happy face that will appear as artificial as it is, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Alexis: So, how was South America? Ned: (still facing the wall) How was Greece? Oh wait, no, that was a lie. Alexis: Clearly. Ned: (he finally turns to her) Kinda like "Ned, I would never do that to you". Alexis: (matter of factly) Kinda like that. Ned: Hauntingly similar to "I'd like to bond with your sister" Alexis: Haunting indeed. Ned: Mildly resembling "Gee I'm sorry about the sour deal in Buenos Aires" Alexis: (She pointedly says, studying his reaction)Yeah, or "Gee, too bad about that Jakarta thing" Ned stops short at the confession, not having realized before that the troubles in Jakarta had to do with the Cassadines. Of course. The sabotage, the empty trail, the smoking gun, but no fingerprints. He also realizes that she is offering up information now that she didn't have to offer. As if she were trying to repent. But that would be impossible, because she doesn't have a soul. He looks at her with eyes he tries to deaden, but still they reveal the abandoned little boy he once was and always feels like. Ned: Just one question. Did you feel anything that you ever said you did? Or was it all for the sake of the cause? Alexis: (with a pained expression) There's no denying that I'm a whore, Ned. But not in the way you're implying. (she crosses the room and sits down at the table across from him. As hard as it is for her, she makes eye contact and maintains it) I gave my body to you and my heart to you, with what was left of my autonomy. You kept mine much better than I kept yours. Ned: (eyes narrowing) Your penitence is truly moving. Alexis: (looking away, with a bitter chuckle) Why are you here? What is it you were hoping to hear? Unless you have something to say? Ned: Why did you run? Alexis: Because I didn't want to watch us end. Much easier than the gut-wrenching play-by-play version if I'd been in Port Charles. Ned: Gut-wrenching? Spare me the melodrama. Alexis: I don't deny the inconsistency, Ned. My words bear no relation to my actions. But my feelings are a different matter. My actions had nothing to do with them. However, sitting here trying to convince you of that is an exercise in futility, and not really worth the effort. If you had done this to me, I would shut down too. So why are you here at all? Why bother? What could you possibly accomplish by hunting me down and acting all victimized? Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Doesn't that seem a little trivial at this point? Ned: Oh I'm sure you feel guilty. I feel guilty whenever I'm cold-bloodedly ruthless as well. For about 2 minutes. And then I take a look at the profit margins in the quarterly report and get all warm and fuzzy inside and that silly little conscience flits away to some dark corner where it belongs until the next time I steal cookies from the cookie jar or something. Alexis: (pushing back from the table, she stands and walks toward the door) As inspiring as this little sermon is, you're simply prolonging the inevitable, which is to walk away. Why don't you just leave with your head held high, knowing you had the moral upper hand? It's certainly true, and it will make you feel better. Because if you're waiting for some long, meaningless apology, throwing myself on the mercy of the court, promises hurling out of my lips about never doing it again, you're going to be waiting a long, long time. Mostly because I don't believe in apologies when one doesn't envision having done the offensive deed any other way. And also, because of what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ned: Well, don't keep me in suspense. Alexis: That you would have done the exact same thing in my place. Ned gives her a caustic chuckle and stands to leave. Both of them bristle as he walks past her toward the door. The hold their heads high, gritting their teeth as if cutting off a gangrenous limb, for the sake of the rest of the body. Each hardening a little more to isolate and dispose of the tender parts of their souls that hurt. The closing of the door resonates like the lock of a steel prison cell, reverberating in their ears with finality.   Chapter 20 The door shuts behind him, and Ned immediately leans against the wall, weak from the artificial display of macho pride. He slowly slides down the wall, until he's sitting on the floor, his back against the door to Alexis' condo. On the other side, she is in the same position, a puddle against the door, slumped over, weak from her artificial display of apathy. Neither of them cry, but Ned gazes forward, completely dazed by her attack and utter lack of remorse. Her final accusation, that he would have done the same thing in her place, plays over and over in his ears he tries to analyze his own nature, would he have done it? No way, he decides. He cared about her he saw a real future for them. Then he remembers Lois and the realization strikes that he would have done it, but he would have just lied about it better. He wouldn't have run, he would have covered his tracks, all in the name of "protecting" her from seeing his ruthless side, when really he was just protecting his own backside. Well, he thinks to himself, at least she's honest after the fact. Alexis leans her head back against the door, her eyes closed tightly, as if when she opens them again, she might be somewhere else, someone else, and none of this would be happening. She pulls her knees up and rests her arms on them, her head leaning down on her arms. Her hair falls forward and she sits motionless for a long while, nothing but the door between her body and Ned's on the other side. The phone rings, and Alexis ignores it, her voice on the answering machine echoing loudly through the spacious condo, reaching even the hall and Ned's ears outside. Alexis: (on the machine) This is Alexis Davis, I'm unavailable right now. Please leave a message. If this is urgent, please page me at 212-446-8922 or try my cell phone at 212-997-9331. Stefan: Alexis, I've been trying to reach you all day. You're obviously ignoring your pager and have turned off your cell phone. I didn't appreciate the way you handled Nikolas when you left, he was very confused. (he pauses trying to get to the real point) You still have some things left in your office at General Hospital. I suggest you send for them. (heavy sigh) (blustering) I won't be put off by you much longer. I expect you to return my calls. (a pregnant pause) I understand, Alexis, that you are angry. Sometimes it is difficult to live according to an unchangeable set of priorities. And perhaps I didn't realize how much Ashton meant to you. I thought it was a careless fling, since that is what you kept telling me. Maybe if you'd been more forthright .( he realizes he's not saying what he means) What I'm calling about is that Nikolas needs you. He is not close with Katherine or Barbara anymore and I don't allow him to spend time with Laura, so I would appreciate if you would return my call. Good evening. As his voice is recording, Alexis stands and walks to the machine. His conciliatory tone almost makes her have hope of his approval again, and she finds herself wondering if she should call him back. Then she catches her train of thought and promptly derails it in disgust at her own weakness and pathetic craving for her cousin's favor. When he finishes, she picks up the phone and machine and rips them out of the wall, throwing them onto the floor. She screams, smashing the equipment into plastic pieces with her shoes. Alexis: I HATE YOU STEFAN CASSADINE! How could you do this to me, you self-serving, self-absorbed, narcissistic, tyrannical, heartless, pathetic excuse for a human being?!!??!! (she stomps on the machine and the phone, scratching the hard wood floor.) After everything I've done for you? I hate you! (she rips the tape out of the machine, and pulls the tape film out of the bottom, twisting it and ripping it to pieces.) Ned, listening to Stefan's voice on the phone, begins to understand some of the dynamic between Alexis and her cousin. Then, he hears her response to him, her shouting, her frenzy, and he stands up, concerned, pressing his body against the door, his palms flat against the door frame, and his forehead touching the wood, closing his eyes and taking in her melt-down. His hands itch to hold her, his fingers digging in against the frame helplessly, in spite of his rage at the whole situation. He's never heard her so out of control. And he has no idea what kind of destruction is going on on the other side of the door; all he hears are things breaking and being smashed. Inside, Alexis throws the tape across the room and sees a small bronze reproduction of the family crest on a display shelf. She walks to the shelf and takes the heavy object, and hurls it at the large picture window which serves as the fourth wall of the room. The glass shatters and the crest careens down onto the front garden of the condo complex, leaving a gaping hole in the window, through which the cold air is sucked into the condo. Ned hears the glass shattering, and remembers the huge window. His first thought is that she could be hurt or that she fell, or (oh God!) threw herself out the window. He kicks at the door in a panic, pounding and screaming at the door, until it gives in to a forceful, final kick. The forced entry and broken lock trips the security alarm, the siren begins screeching throughout the building. Alexis stands a foot away from the broken window, staring listlessly out at the city as the icy air rushes in to the room. She doesn't even hear the door being broken down, only the siren from the security alarm rouses her from her post-melt-down reverie. She turns around to see Ned running into the room, in a panic. He almost faints from relief when he finds her standing there, looking at him, not quite aware of what's happening, but distracted by the loud alarm, the cold wind from the window and the heightened volume of the city street many floors below them. Alexis: I I thought you left. He stands 2 feet from her, panting from his efforts, wanting to grab her, relieved that she's not hurt, and wages a minor battle about what to do. In a fraction of a second, the war is won, and he reaches out and pulls her roughly into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly, his heart pounding into her ears. She presses her face into him, tears filling her eyes, her voice tiny with the alarm screeching incessantly. Alexis: (muffled in his chest) I'm sorry. I'm sorry. (she tries to catch her breath) I'm Ned: Shut up. Not another word. You were right. I would have done the same thing. (he reaches his hand around to lift her tear-streaked face toward him, her eyes blinking back the onslaught and looking away, embarrassed) (with a slight mischief in his eyes) I just would have done it better. Alexis manages what might be interpreted as a muted chuckle and buries her face in his shoulder as Ned cradles her tightly. They cling to each other, the cold, northeastern, almost-winter air swirling into the room around them. A swat team of cheesy, trying-too-hard, glorified security guards fill the hall with their guns drawn (they live for this) and knock on the splintered, open door, visibly disappointed not to find any carnage. Guard: What's going on here? Alexis: (looking up, and starting to shiver from the cold, wiping her eyes) Um Ned: (interrupting) What is wrong with this city? The taxi drivers were trained in the Mario Andretti school of safety, and even the pigeons are kamakazi. This possessed pigeon, clearly on crack, just careened into my friend's window here. Fortunately, he broke his neck and flopped about lifelessly, totally destroying the answering machine and phone. Can you believe that? What kind of bird farms do you crazy New Yorkers raise those damn things on? You got some kind of genetic experiments going on? Huh? Alexis laughs into his shoulder, which looks like sobbing to the guards. They step away from the scene, one guard twirling his finger near his head, letting the others know that these people are loony. Ned yells after them as they leave. Ned: Yeah, it's all fun and games till somebody gets hurt! I suggest you boys get someone up here tonight to fix this window! Alexis is struggling to keep from cracking up, and Ned looks back at her when all the guards are gone, his hand running through her hair, pulling her head close to him. They stand holding each other for a long time. He begins to kiss the top of her head, and then her temple, her cheek, until she's looking at him, and a tear escapes down his cheek. Ned: We almost lost big time. Alexis: Ned Ned: (interrupting) Don't. Don't say anymore. Alexis: I have to. Ned: No, no more words Alexis: (pulling away so she can look him in the eye) No, I need to. (she sniffs and wipes some tears away. Her watery eyes then lock on his) I love you. Ned inhales sharply, and his eyes spontaneously fill again. Alexis: No matter what ever happens or what it looks like, I love you. With my soul. Ned leans over and kisses her, a full, deep, resonating kiss that she feels in her knees. When they open their eyes, his are tortured Ned: Alexis I want to trust you . I do. But- Alexis: (pushing away from him sadly) I know (she turns her back to him so he can't see her despair) Ned catches her hand as she's turning and pulls her back around. Ned: No don't walk away. I'm not. I just need time. Come back home with me tonight. Alexis: Ned, I can't - Ned: You can't stay here anyway or you'll freeze. Alexis: No, really, I can't. Stefan he, well I'm sort of persona non grata at Wyndemere. Ned: Why? Alexis: I was a wee bit annoyed about the whole ELQ thing. I said some things that were unforgivable to him. Oh, and I broke some pottery. Ned: (smirking) Pottery? Alexis: Really expensive pottery. Ned: (smiling sadly) Well at least it was over a good cause - me! Come to the gatehouse. Who cares about your cousin? And after all, he was sounding somewhat penitent on that phone message that I think is lying on the floor over there and there and (he points to the various scraps of tape strewn about on the floor) Alexis: It's sweet of you to be so gracious. But Ned, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, and I don't want to push you into something that you don't feel safe with I think it's better if I stayed here. Ned: Get a bag. Alexis: Ned Ned: Now. He walks toward the door. She hesitates for a moment, but then goes into the bedroom and grabs her bag, still packed from her trip from Port Charles. She comes out of the room and faces him. He beckons her toward the door. Ned: Come on. I only have one rule about the ELQ jet. Alexis: Dare I ask? Ned: Stay away from the windows. She smiles, and reaches out for his hand. He takes it, slings her bag over his shoulder, and leads her out of the condo.