Victoria wakes up. A timorous look appears on her face as shelooks around
the plane. Stefan looks up from his book and become concernedabout
Victoria when he sees how frightened she is. He put his book downand
starts to move to her. Victoria's eyes become even larger showing
paralyzing fear. Stefan stops his movement and speaks.
"Victoria, you are safe here. Do you remember who I am?"
Upon hearing his voice Victoria's fears seem to subside somewhat.Stefan
sits down next to her and draws her into his arms. He continuesto
reassure her that she is safe and that noone will ever hurt heragain. He
starts to feel Victoria relax in his lap. He hugs her and continuesto
talk to her until she is completely relaxed.
Victoria doesn't look at Stefan, but asks, "Why are you being nice tome?"
Stefan takes a deep breath. This is as good of time as any totell
Victoria who he is. He turns Victoria so she is looking at him.He
begins. "I found out a few days ago that I might have a child. Iwent
looking for my child and I found you. Victoria, I am your papa."Victoria
sets up straight and looks intensely at Stefan. Stefan continues,"I
promise you I will take very good care of you and you will haveeverything
you need - a nice home, school and my love. I love you, Victoria andI
will always be here to protect you."
"Papa?"
With tears in his eyes, Stefan hugs Victoria tightly, "Yes, my baby.I am
your papa." Stefan feels Victoria hug him back and he smiles. Heholds
her for a long time.
"Mr. Cassadine," the attendant says, "we will be landing in tenminutes.
The pilot needs you and the young lady to be buckled in."
"Yes, of course." Stefan kisses the top of Victoria's head.
"I need to put you in your seat and buckle the seatbelt so we canland."
Victoria shakes her head and Stefan places her in the seat andsecures the
seatbelt. He picks up Victoria's doll and smiles at Victoria, "Hereis
your doll. You need to hold her so she will not be frightened as weland."
Victoria takes the doll and looks shyly at Stefan and says quietly,"Yes, Papa."
Stefan smiles at Victoria as a tear comes to his eye. He bends overand
kisses her again. As he then fastens his own seatbelt as plane makesits
approach to the airport.
Sonny, Robert and Frisco are finishing their disguises. Sonny puts onhis
shoulder holster and places his semi-automatic in it before puttingon his
jacket. Frisco grabs an overcoat and tosses it to Sonny. "Arieldropped
this off earlier for you."
"Thanks." Looking at the coat, "I always thought Ariel had abetter
fashion sense than this."
"Don't complain, this will be over in a couple of hours," Robertsays. He
glances at the computer screen. The workers have left for the mostpart.
Only the eight who are working late are there."
Frisco looks at his watch. "I have 4:40. I'll call the PCPD in tenminutes."
"What is Mac going to do when he finds out this is just a set up?"Sonny asks.
Frisco replies, "He'll scream and threaten for a while, but we willjust
let Robert take care of him."
"Maybe we should send Robert in first, then by the time Mac hasrecovered
from his shock, we will be finished and gone," Sonny chuckles.
"Okay you two, we have a job to do. Sonny, you get out of here assoon as
Phiasal and his men are taken care of and the situation is undercontrol.
We don't want to blow your cover. Ariel will be popping out of here,too.
Frisco, you and I will mop everything up and take care of Mac and thePCPD.
Okay any questions?" Sonny and Frisco nod their heads no.
Robert pulls out a cell phone and makes a call. "Ariel, iseverything
ready on your end? . . . Good . . . Remember you are out of here assoon
as this is over? We don't want your cover blown. . . Okay. . . Bye. .."
Robert ends his conversation just as Wedeking and Bartlett enter thebase.
"We've cleaned out the homeless. Jensen is keeping them curtailedfor
now," Wedeking says.
"Then we better get out there," Robert says grabbing his overcoatand
starts to leave.
"I'll be there as soon as I make this call," Frisco says. "PCPD. . .There
is a bomb set to go off at 6:15 in the downtown area." Friscodisconnects
the phone and leaves the base to join his colleagues on thedocks.
Mac is in his office as he hears a knock on the door and Garcia opensit
and enters. "They just received a call downstairs saying they is abomb
planted somewhere in the downtown area set to go off at 6:15. I'vecalled
the bomb squad and is on my way down there now."
Getting up and grabbing his coat Mac asks, "Was the call able to betraced?"
"No, the caller wasn't on long enough to establish a trace," Garciaanswers
as they leave the office.
Robert, Sonny and Frisco along with several other WSB men and womendressed
as homeless are on the docks. They appear to wandering aroundaimlessly or
in groups of two or three, only their eyes give away their truealertness
level. Frisco wonders over towards Robert and Sonny, "They are late.I
thought Owens said the arms were to be here at 5:00."
"Calm down, it is only a few minutes after," Robert replies just astwo
Mack trucks pull onto the dock area. As the trucks stop, a tall manin his
late twenties approaches them.
Sonny leans over to Robert and whispers, "That is Parker Reinhart. Heis
an assistant harbor master. Some of my people have had run-ins withhim
before. Always seem above reproach."
"Obviously someone did," Frisco replies as they continue to watch thescene
unfold before them.
A man gets out of the second truck and approaches Reinhart. Theyspeak
briefly and then the man hands Reinhart an envelope.
"That is Phiasal, all right," Robert says. As he glances around hesees
that Ariel, Cahill and Dix have their groups in place and that manyof the
dockworkers are nowhere in sight. "It looks like the civilians havebeen
taken care of," Robert says as he signals to the agents to begin toclose
in.
Reinhart and Phiasal shakes hands and Reinhart starts to walk away.As he
approaches one of the warehouse a hand is clasped over his mouth andhe is
pulled behind the warehouse and quickly subdued.
Mac and Garcia have just arrived in the downtown area and approacha
uniformed officer. Mac asks, "Where has the bomb squad set up?"
"I'm sorry, sir. No one is allowed in this area. You will need toleave,"
the uniformed officer says. Mac pulls out his badge and shows it tothe
officer. "I'm sorry, Commissioner. Captain Fisher has set up his baseat
the corner of 96th and Cherry."
"ThanksS" Mac looks at the officers name tag, "Bakker." He andGarcia
starts for the base. Approaching 96th and Cherry Mac sees CaptainFisher
and walks over towards him. "What have you found, Tom?"
"Good evening Commissioner. Not much, the men and dogs are searchingthe
buildings floor by floor, but there is no way we will be able tocover all
the buildings down here before 6:15. We are concentrating on the onesthat
is most easily assessable to the public, butS" Captain Fisher shrugshis
shoulders. Mac and Garcia both understand the severity of thesituation
without it being vocalized. "Is there any more information thatmight
narrow this search down?" Fisher asks hopefully.
"Sorry," said Garcia. "There was only one call and except for sayingthat
there is one planted down here to go off at 6:15 there is nothing. Wehave
pulled in as many patrol offices as possible to help with theevacuation
and to keep people out of here. Now all we can do is pray for amiracle
that the bomb will be found in time." Mac and Fisher both nod.
At that time Mac's cell phone goes off. He answers it, "Scorpio. Didthey
say what it was about?S Have any thing else come in about this bomb?SOkay
keep me posted on the situation at the docks and Garcia will be here,so
keep him posted on anything about this bombing situation." Macfinishes
his phone call and turns to Garcia. "Seem that something is up atthe
docks. You stay here with Fisher and I'll take a couple of men andcheck
out the docks."
"Do you think these two incidences are connected?" Garcia asks.
"I don't know, Alex, but keep me posted as to what is going on here."Mac
turns to leave and talks to two other plainclothes detectives and thethree
of them leave.
Just as Robert and the WSB are starting to swoop down on Phiasal,Phiasal
senses something is wrong. He draws his gun and yells to his men tobe
ready for anything. Just then one of Phiasal's men spot a WSB agentand
fires. This starts gun play as agents and Phiasal's men dive forcover.
Mac and the detectives arrive at the dock and hear gunshots. Theyquickly
draw their weapons and approach cautiously not knowing what is goingon.
Mac spots Sonny and starts to approach him as a hail of bullets causehim
to dive behind a stack of crates. When Mac gets up he no longer cansee
Sonny. The gun play continues, then Mac is jumped from behind andis
subdued by his attacker. His gun is taken and he is left handcuffed.Mac
is stunned -- What is going on here??
Robert has not let Phiasal out of his sight since he step out of histruck.
He is now following him down the dock as he tries to escape."Phiasal, it
is over!" Phiasal turns around and fires a couple of shots at Robertand
Robert returns the shots hitting Phiasal in the leg. Phiasal shootsagain
at Robert as he struggles down the dock. This time the bulletgrazes
Robert's upper left arm. Robert shoot again this time hitting Phiasalin
the chest. Phiasal collapses on the dock as Robert runs up to himwith his
gun trained on him. He kicks Phiasal's gun away from his and stoopsdown
and check for Phiasal pulse. He does not find one.
Robert walks towards the trucks as agents round up Phiasal's men. Hespots
Ariel and Sonny and walks over towards them. "You two get out ofhere.
This is over."
"You are hurtS Where's Phiasal?" Ariel asks.
"He is down there on he docks. Dead," Robert answers, "it's just agraze.
Now get going. I'll see you two later."
"Okay," says Sonny as he starts to walks away.
"You get that looked at," Ariel tells Robert as she joins Sonny andleaves.
Robert continues over towards the trucks where Frisco is talking toCahill.
As Robert approaches, Frisco turns and see the blood on his arm."Robert,
are you okay?"
"Yea, it is just a little graze. Phiasal is dead. Do we have all ofhis men?"
"Yea, we have them in custody," Cahill answers just as Dix brings upa man
who is protesting his capture.
"I'm telling you, I'm Commissioner Scorpio of the PCPD. Now let mego!"
"Sure you are the Commissioner. Now let's get going," Dix says.
Overhearing this, Frisco tells Dix to bring the man over. As they
approach, Frisco and Robert see that it is actually Mac. "Let him go,Dix.
He is Commission Scorpio," Frisco says.
Releasing Mac and handing his gun back, Dix says, "SorryCommissioner. I
couldn't take any chances"
"Where are my detectives?" Mac asks Frisco.
"Dix, find the commissioner's detectives and bring them here," Friscosays
as Mac approaches.
"Frisco, what in hell is going on," Mac demands. Mac notices theother man
next to Frisco and he seems familiar.
The man speaks to Mac, "It has been a long time, little brother."
Mac approaches Robert and looks at him closely, "Robert?" Robert hugsMac
tightly and Mac returns the hug. They hold each other for awhile.
When they release, Mac asks, "What is this about?" Then henotices
Robert's arm. "Robert, your arm. You should get to General Hospitalto
have that looked at."
Just then Dix walks up to Robert, Mac and Frisco with the twodetectives.
Mac turns to his men and address them, "This is Frisco Jones with theWSB.
He will fill you in on what is going on. Do as he asks. I need toget
back downtown." Looking at his watch he sees it is 5:55 he takes outhis
cell phone. "Garcia, is there anything new?S The area has been
evacuated?S Good. . . I'll be there in a few minutes." Mac ends hiscall
and turns to Robert, "I have a situation downtown I need to dealwith.
I'll drop you off at General Hospital so Alan can look at you and getback
there as soon as I can so you can fill me in on what is goingon."
"I can handle this, Robert. Go get your arm looked at," Friscosays.
"I'll talk to you later." Robert and Mac leave.
Robert is waiting in an ER trauma room for Alan to come and look athim.
The nurse have removed his coat and shirt and has started to cleanthe
wound. Alan enters and stops in his tracks as he realizes who hispatient
is. "Robert?"
"Hello, Alan. It has been a long time."
"Yea, it hasS Where have you been?"
As Alan checks Robert's arm, then dresses it and gives Robertinjections of
antibiotics and a Titnus shot, Robert tell Alan what has transpiredover
the last six years.
"Does Mac and Robin know," asks Alan.
"Mac and I ran into each other on the docks, but Robin doesn't knowyet. I
can't wait to see her. But that will probably be a couple of dayssince
she is at Yale."
"You know she is at Yale?"
"Yea, I've kept up with her over the years. Actually Frisco has beenvery
helpful in that area. He has been able to get videos and pictures forme
of Robin over the years. You don't know how much I wanted to be herefor
her when Stone died, but I would have just put her in more danger ifI
would have come."
"Alan, are you going to make it to Emily's school program tonight,"Monica
asks as she pokes her head into the room.
"Monica, come in and see who I have in here," Alan says.
Monica enters the room and then a look of shock comes across herface.
"Robert Scorpio, is that you?"
"Hi, Monica."
Mac returns to where Fisher and Garcia are. He sees the grim lookson
their faces. It is now 6:13. "I take it no bombs have been found."Both
men look at Mac and nods. Before anything else can be said a loudblast is
heard and the three men spin around to the direction of the sound. Asthey
do they see a large amount of green smoke come off the roof abuilding
about one and one half blocks away. Looking dumbfounded at the smokethey
hear a second blast in the opposite direction and turn around to seepink
smoke billowing into the evening sky from the roof of anotherbuilding.
"Captain Fisher," a voice comes over the radio, we are on the roofwhere
the green smoke is coming from. It appears to be a giant smokebomb.
There doesn't appear to be any damage."
Captain Fisher clicks on the radio and speaks, "Okay Jeff, finishchecking
it out, but be careful."
In a minute another voice comes over radio. "Captain, this is just asmoke
bomb, too, with no damage to see."
"Okay, Sherry."
Fisher turns to Scorpio saying, "Someone out there is playing gameswith us."
Mac shakes his head and says, "And I think I know whom." Fisher andGarcia
looks questioning at Mac, but Mac says nothing more on thesubject.
Nikolas is sitting in the downstairs study immersed in thoughtas he
studies the chess board which shows a game in progress between Uncleand
himself. He hears the front door of Wyndemere open and figures thathis
uncle is back from his trip and will want to continue the game, buthe
hasn't figure out his strategy yet. He hadn't won a game from Unclein a
long time and wanted desperately to win this one.
"Nikolas," Stefan call out to him.
"In the study," Nikolas answers. Nikolas looks up from the board asStefan
enters the study carrying a young girl that Nikolas hasn't everseen
before, but some how looks familiar. Uncle looks happier than he hasseen
him in a long time and Nikolas wonders who the little girl is.
"Nikolas, I would like you to meet Victoria," Stefan says as Victoriahugs
Stefan closer. "Victoria, this is Nikolas. I told you about him. Thetwo
of you are going to be good friends."
Not understanding what is going, Nikolas stand up and approachesStefan and
Victoria, "I'm glad to met you, Victoria."
"Hello, Nikolas," Victoria says shyly. Stefan smiles at her andkisses her
on her temple as Mrs. Landsbury enters the room.
"Mrs. Landsbury, this is Victoria. Is her room ready?"
"Hello, Miss Victoria. Yes, Mr. Cassadine."
"Will you please see that she is settled into her room and we will beready
for dinner in an hour."
"Very good, Mr. Cassadine," turning to Victoria, "would you and yourdoll
like to see your new room?"
Victoria turns to Stefan, "Papa?"
"It is okay, Victoria. You go with Mrs. Landsbury and she will showyou
your room and then we will have dinner with Nikolas." He putsVictoria
down and Mrs. Landsbury takes her hand and they leave the room.
Nikolas looks at Stefan astonishly. "Come, Nikolas, sit. I havemany
things to tell you." Nikolas goes over to the sofa and sits downand
Stefan sits in a chair next to the sofa looking at Nikolas.
Nikolas looks at Stefan and says, "She called you 'Papa.' What isgoing
on? Who is Victoria?"
"Victoria is my daughter."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Helena told me before she died."
Nikolas is shocked, "Grandmother is dead. How?"
"I will explain that to you after I tell you about Victoria."
"Okay, Uncle," Nikolas says as he braces himself against what is tocome.
"When Ariel left me she was pregnant. Somehow Helena found out aboutit
and went to her accusing her of trying to get into the Cassadinefamily and
telling her that she would not allow it. There was a confrontationand
Ariel fell down a flight of stairs. She was unconscious and wentinto
labor. When the baby was delivered Ariel was still unconscious soHelena
took the baby and gave her to one of her men to hide her from Arieland me.
When Ariel regain consciousness she was told that the baby wasstill
born."
"How did you find her then?" Nikolas asks.
"I overheard Ariel saying something to Laura that led me to believethere
was a child. When I asked Ariel about it she told me to talk toHelena.
So that is where I was. I went to talk to Helena.
"Grandmother told you about Victoria?
"With a little persuasion." Stefan pauses for a moment reliving thatscene
with his mother. Then he continues, "I found Ariel on Naxos. She waswith
a family who was abusing her. Nikolas, please be patient with her.One of
the boys in the family who abused her was also named Nikolas. Shewas
terrified when I first started telling her about you."
Nikolas is agasted with what Stefan is telling him about how Victoriahas
been treated. "How did they abuse her," he asks cautiously notreally
wanting to ask, but feeling he needed to know.
"As far as I know it was just verbal and some physical. I'm going tohave
Simone Hardy check her out though. If there was something else peopleare
going to pay."
Nikolas nods his head in understanding. "How could anyone do that toa
little girl?"
Stefan brushes Nikolas cheek with his hand, "I don't know,Nikolas."
They sit quietly for a few minutes. Then Nikolas says, "You saidAriel
was told the baby was stillborn, does she know about Victoria?"
"Not yet. I'm going to see her after Victoria is asleep tonight."Stefan
sees the look on Nikolas's face when he hears that Stefan is going tosee
Ariel. "Nikolas, Ariel had her reasons when she left. I know that,now.
She was trying to protect our baby. Then Helena interfered and whatAriel
was afraid of happened." Nikolas nods. "I still love her. I want herto
be here with us. I will do anything she asks, except to give up youand
Victoria, to have her back."
Nikolas realizes what his uncle says is the truth. He would dowhatever it
would take to have Ariel. Changing the subject Nikolas says, "Youwere
going to tell me about how Grandmother died."
Stefan takes a deep breath and decides that even though a lie wouldbe
easier, he knows that it has been the lies that had hurt Nikolas themost.
Stefan stands up and starts to pace. He stops and looks at Nikolas.In a
low voice, "I disconnected her ventilator."
"Why, Uncle?" Nikolas asks wide-eyed.
"Because when I found out what she had done to Ariel and our child itwas
the last straw. I could not allow her to hurt the people I love anymore.
She has hurt you enough over the years and would again if she could.I
want you and your mother, sister and brother to have the chance totruly
become a family. I want to keep Victoria safe and free fromHelena's
influence. She has been through enough."
Nikolas walks over to his uncle and puts his hand on his uncle'sshoulder.
"Thank you for telling me the truth."
Stefan pulls Nikolas into his arms and hugs him. While he is holdinghim
he says to Nikolas, "I know you are my nephew, but in my heart youare my
son. Now I also have a daughter. I hope you come to think of her asyour
sister along with Lesley Lu." Stefan then kisses Nikolas on theforehead.
"It is almost time for dinner, you better go get ready."
Nikolas starts to leave, but turns around and says to Stefan, "I loveyou,
too. And I know Victoria and I will be like brother and sister
eventually."
Stefan smiles as Nikolas leaves the room. For the first time in avery
long time he felt peace.
Sonny is waiting in the terminal of the airport for the passengersto
deplane. When he sees Robin he walks over to her and gives her a bighug
and takes her bag.
"Now, Sonny tell me what is wrong. Is it Jason? Is he all right?Brenda?
Is it Brenda? You wouldn't tell me anything over the phone just thatI
needed to come home right away and you would have the ticket waitingfor me
at the airport. What is going on, Sonny?"
Sonny is just smiling that wonderful smile of his that shows hisdimples
off so well. "As I told you on the phone, everyone is fine. I justhave a
surprise for you that could not wait."
"I couldn't wait until after my classes tomorrow?"
"No!! You said your friend, Shaneika, would let you copy her notesfor
those classes anyway."
They get into Sonny's limo and they take off with the driver andJoseph in
the front seat and Sonny and Robin in the back. "Okay where are youtaking
me?"
"Home."
"So Mac is in on this, too. What are the two of you up to?
"No, Mac doesn't know anything about this." Putting up his hand tostop
Robin from questioning more. "You will find out when we getthere."
They arrive at the house and Robin digs in her purse for her keys asSonny
waits. Robin opens the door and Sonny follows her in carrying herbag.
Robin see Mac with another man in the living room. "Mac?"
Mac and Robert turn around at the sound of Robin's voice. Robin'sface
goes pale as she recognizes the other man. "Daddy?" Robin is frozenin
her tracks.
Robert comes over to Robin, hugs her and swing her around in hisarms. He
puts her down but continues to hold her. He looks up and seesSonny.
"Thanks, Sonny."
"Sure, no problem. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Motioning to Robin,"Take
good care of her."
"I will," Robert replies.
Mac is stunned at what is going on before him. He approaches Sonny."How
did you know about Robert?"
"Robert will fill you in," Sonny says. "I'm going to leave Robertand
Robin to get reacquainted. See ya, Mac." And with that Sonnyleaves.
Robin steps back from her father. "Daddy, what is this about? Wherehave
you been? Where's Mom?"
Robert looks at Robin and motion for them to sit down on the sofa."I'm
sorry, honey, it wasn't safe for you to know about me. There wassomeone
who was after me and would not have hesitated one minute to use you.Oh,
Robin, you are so grown up. I've missed so much."
"We was told you were killed when the yacht exploded. Whathappened?"
"I don't really know. When I woke up it was three weeks later and Iwas in
a small hospital on the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. I wastold
that a small fishing boat had seen the explosion and had picked meand your
mother up." Tears come to Robert eyes. Your mother died in thehospital
about a week after I woke up. She is buried on Antigua. I'msorry,
Robin," Robert says brushing the tear away that fell on her cheek.Robert
continued, "It took me another six months to fully recover and I knewI
couldn't come back to you until Phiasal was dealt with. He was theone who
ordered the yacht to be blown up." Robert continued to tell Robin andMac
about what has happened to him since they were last together. Thenhe
tells them about Sonny and Ariel and the WSB.
Ariel had returned to her hotel suite after she left the docks. Shetakes
a quick shower to wash the dirt and grime off her and out of herhair. She
then decides to draw herself a bath to help ease her sore muscles.Ariel
goes back into the sitting room and puts Kenny G's latest CD, 'TheMoment'
on the CD player. As the soft sounds of the saxophone drift intothe
bathroom, Ariel immerses herself into a hot bubble bath with thescent of
juniper wafting in air and candles providing the only light. Shesettle
in, allowing the hot water to ease her tired muscle. The case wasover and
Robert can now be with Robin. She was happy for Robert.
As she lays back and closes her eyes, visions of Stefan appear in herhead.
At first she tried to block them out, but then decided to allowherself to
indulge in them. She loved the man and she knew she always would. Ifthis
was a perfect world, she and Stefan would be together and their childwould
not have died. A tear escapes her closed eye as she thinks aboutwhat
could have been.
The music ends and Ariel realizes that the water has grown cold. Shegets
out of the bath, dries herself and puts on a pair of red silkOriental
designed pajamas. As she is brushing her hair out, she hears a knockon
the her door. She grabs the robe that goes with her pajamas and putsit on
as she goes to answer the door expecting it to be Sonny.
She opens the door and finds Stefan. She takes a deep breath andasks,
"What do you want? I thought we settle everything last time."
"I need to talk to you about a couple of things. Can I come in?"
Ariel braces herself and lets Stefan in as she keeps telling herselfthat
she is not going to allow him to get to her again. She walks over tothe
bar and starts to pour herself a brandy. "Would you like one?" sheasks
Stefan.
"Yes, thank you," Stefan says from where he has seated himself in achair.
Ariel brings over the brandies and gives one to Stefan and thenseats
herself across from him on the sofa with a coffee table between them."You
said you have a couple of things you want to talk about."
"Yes. First of all, I think you need to know that Helena is dead.She
died yesterday."
"So, the viper is dead. I can't say I'm sorry for that. I hope sherots
in hell for eternity."
"Before she died she told me about what she did to you and ourchild."
Ariel's head snaps up when she hears this statement. Softly, "So nowyou know."
"Yes, I know why you felt you had to leave. . . You felt it was theonly
way to keep the baby safe."
Very softly, "It didn't help."
Stefan moves over from the chair he was seated in to the sofa besidesAriel
and continues, "She told me about finding you in Paris and aboutyou
falling down the stairs and her role in it. She told me that you weretold
that the baby was stillborn."
"Yes, the baby was killed by my fall down the stairs," Ariel sayswith
tears rolling down her cheeks. It had been a long time since shehad
allowed herself to think about that day.
Stefan gathers her in his arms and she rests her head against hischest as
he strokes her hair. "Ariel, the fall did not kill our baby. Theylied to
you because of Helena. Our daughter is alive and is now with me."
It seemed like Ariel had stopped breathing momentarily with thisnews.
"Our baby is alive? My little Victoria is alive?" Ariel asks in ashaky
voice.
"Yes, darling, Victoria is alive and is presently asleep in her bedat
Wyndemere."
"How? Why? Where?"
Stefan relayed the story to her about how he found out about Victoriaand
what he had done to Helena. He told her how he found Victoria onNaxos and
brought her back to Port Charles.
"How could anyone abuse a little girl," Ariel says through hertears.
"They paid for what they did. From now on no one is going to touchmy
little princess." Ariel smiles through her tears at Stefan's loveand
protectiveness for his daughter. She always knew deep down Stefanwould
love his child. Stefan then reaches into his pocket and brings outa
jeweler's box. He opens it saying. "When I found out about Victoria,I
had this made for you." He holds up the locket to show Ariel. "I alsohad
one made for Victoria."
Ariel takes the locket and opens it. She sees the picture of a littlegirl
inside. "Is this Victoria?"
"Yes, I had the snapshot taken on Naxos so I would have a picture foryou.
When I have her pictures taken here, I will get you a better one forthe
locket."
"No, Stefan this is fine. Thank you." She continues to stare atthe
picture trying to memorize every facial feature of her daughter. Shecan
see that she has inherited from Stefan her eyes. The eyes that madeher
fall in love with him so many years ago. Her hair color was like herown
and her high cheekbones was like her mother's, Victoria'sgrandmother's.
Then she notices the inscription on the other side -- To my eternallove
with all my heart and soul. Stefan. What is she to do now? She looksat
Stefan. "I don't know how to thank you. You brought my little girlback
to me. When can I see her?"
"How about lunch tomorrow at Wyndemere?"
"Thank you, Stefan." Ariel reaches over and kisses him sweetly onthe
lips. He pulls her into an embrace and deepens the kiss.
The kiss breaks and Stefan goes to stand up. "I need to get backto
Wyndemere. I want to be there if Victoria wakes up in the middle ofthe
night."
"Okay," Ariel says hoarsely as she, too, stand and walks him to thedoor.
"Thank you again, Stefan. For the locket and more importantly forfinding
my baby. . . our baby."
"You're welcome," Stefan says as he draws her into his strong armsfor
another embrace and soul-searching kiss. When he releases her heleaves
without another word.
Ariel shuts the door and leans back against it clutching the locketto her
chest. "Thank you, God, for giving me back my baby."