"Bring Stefan Back Fanfiction Challenge"       Obfuscations   By Anna Dannir   The drug suppressed his breathing and immobilized his muscles, but it did nothing to stop brain activity, nor help to while away the time. He had heard Luke's grandiose soliloquy, and would have flinched as the implement in Luke's hands dug deeply into the wood of the coffin next to his arm, and again when the lid was dropped: the silk lining covering his face nearly smothering him, if he could have moved. And for once he approved of Luke gaining the upper hand in his badinage with Helena, but then Luke retired from the field. He left him alone. With his mother.         Helena lifted the lid. He could smell her perfume: cloying, masking the decay and rot of her soul.         "Stefan..." she purred, obviously pleased. "Oh my darling, in the end you could not even die well. But I must admit you do make a handsome corpse."         She straightened his tie. He prayed she would not touch his face because it would be somewhat too warm for a corpse, but she did not.         "You will be happy to know that the estate shall be in good hands. My hands. I have anticipated that Nikolas might require time to --regroup." She paused for a moment. "His wife," she made a dismissive noise. "--Well. 'Lydia' is not in any position to run the estate, especially now that she is with child. I am certain she has not yet told Nikolas, but, as you well know, I do have my sources."         Impotent curses echoed in his mind. He had to escape. He regretted now being unable to move. He heartily regretted not simply bugging the coffin: if he had he could have been standing behind her now and all would be over. If only I could grab her by the throat...         "Goodbye my son. Boringly conventional to the last."         He felt the lining of the coffin threatening to smother him again, and then the coffin was lifted.         "Take him to be cremated as we arranged. I shall deal with..."         Stefan felt panic grip him. Cremation? No! This could not be happening!         "What are you doing?! Put him down!"         Nikolas, thank god.         "Grandmother, what are you doing?!" Nikolas demanded a second time.         "Simply assuring that your uncle stays dead, my darling. Come, you are quite distraught..."         "What are you...?! Unhand me! Grandmother: you shall order them to release me at once!"         "No my darling. You have had more than enough excitement: you are overwrought..."         He could hear a short struggle, and then nothing. A moment later the coffin was again picked up, this time carried away. Unable to escape, Stefan listened for clues as to what was occurring. It seemed forever before they stopped.         "'Kay now. You boys'll have to leave: union rules. For your safety, y'unnerstand."         A door shut, and a moment later the coffin shifted forward on rollers nearly drowning out the off-key whistling of the attendant. He would have screamed if he could have made a noise. He would have pounded on the coffin --plan be damned. Instead he lay there hearing the squeals as the doors opened, and then shut behind him a few moments later.         Ten minutes. He was inside for ten minutes before he heard the doors open again. He heard Luke Spencer's exclamation as he burned his hand on the brass handles of the coffin: quite the amusing revenge for having been left smothering inside the box terrified that the heat would suddenly increase.         The lid was raised. "Damn, Vlad," Luke said, then he paused. "You're grinning y'know. That stuff must be wearing off."         "C'mon Dad. Let's get going before those guys come back," Lucky said.         "Okay son. Okay. Let me just turn this thing back on. You have the other one, right?"         "Yeah, Dad. In the truck. On ice. One hundred and seventy-five pounds of imitation-Stefan."         The next afternoon Stefan was sitting in front of a fireplace, sipping a hot toddy, wrapped in a polartec throw in a rustic cabin not far outside the Port Charles city limits. As the door at the other end of the room opened, he looked up from the novel he was reading and took off his glasses.         "You're real lucky I was hiding out as an attendant driving pick-up for Ferncliffe..." Luke was saying as he came into the room.         "Believe me Luke, I..." Nikolas stopped in mid-sentence and in mid-stride simultaniously.         Luke shut the door then leaned back against it with his arms folded and a satisfied smirk on his face.         "You have my deepest apologies, Nikolas," Stefan began when Nikolas seemed to be incapable of coherent thought. "If there had truly been any other way..."         Nikolas cut him off. "You're alive."         Stefan put down the mug and the book and got to his feet with some difficulty. "After a fashion." He took a step toward Nikolas and his rebellious knees chose that time to buckle.         Nikolas moved forward to help him, but was waived away as Stefan managed to keep his feet.         "Are you all right?"         "I shall be in this deplorably weakened state for a few more days: until the drugs have completely exited my system." I heartily regret disposing of Helena's replacement so quickly. If I had only known I would have an adverse reaction...         "You couldn't tell me?" Nikolas demanded as he looked from Stefan to Luke.         "You wouldn't have believed it Nikky," Luke said quietly. "--Speaking of which, where is the third member of our little triad?"         "About to serve dinner," Lorenzo Alcazar emerged from the kitchen wearing dark blue oven mitts and bearing a large shallow double handled copper pan which he put on trivets in the center of the table. The smells that issued from under the lid were delectable.         Stefan almost laughed seeing Nikolas so surprised.         "The injuries. The beatings: were they all a lie as well?"         Alcazar shook his head. "No. No, they were real. You're uncle insisted. I tend to think my men went a little overboard, but," he shrugged. "He wanted verisimilitude."         "You were not the target of our deception," Stefan assured him.         "Then...?"         "Helena, Nik. We had to smoke her out. And we had to be real careful doing it too." Luke looked at Stefan. "By the way Lucky's going to try to keep an eye on Lydia. He won't let anything happen to her, even if she does sort of deserve it."         Stefan nodded. "Good."         Nikolas frowned in confusion.         Luke grinned, raising an eyebrow. "You gonna tell him or am I, Vlad?"         "I've been meaning to ask," Lorenzo interrupted. "'Vlad'?"         "Long story. C'mon: I'll help you get the rest of the stuff out and explain." He gave Nikolas a slight shove. "Go pull up a chair and talk to your uncle."         Stefan waited until they had gone into the kitchen. "Sit down Nikolas."         Nikolas sat down on the edge of the raised hearth as Stefan eased back into the chair he had been sitting in.         "Lydia is pregnant," he said simply. "The child is believed to be yours. It is not Lucky's: they did not actually ever sleep together. Unless she had found another...."         Nikolas shook his head. "No, Uncle. She was watched. And Lucky and I had an agreement: he would become the focus of her lust, but he promised..." Nikolas blushing, shrugged and let the rest of the sentence remain unsaid.         Stefan nodded. They at least must still trust one another. I have not ruined everything. He took a deep breath and looked at his hands: they shook. They would continue to shake whenever they were not in use until the nerves of his body had recovered from the ordeal. "As that is the case, then the one evening you both spent together..."         "Has produced a child." Nikolas shut his eyes, trying to deny what he knew was the truth.         "You shall have abided by the strictures of the will in good time," Stefan pointed out.         "Money be damned, Uncle! I don't love Lydia: I don't even like her."         He nodded. "You love Emily Quartermaine."         At Emily's name Nikolas' frown deepened. "You won't touch a hair on her head..."         He shook his head. "No, Nikolas. I shall not. That was the impostor's doing. I only returned a day or so before I was burned."         Nikolas stared at him. "That too was a fake?"         Stefan nodded. "The person Lorenzo Alcazar assigned to the situation was quite...thorough. I was slightly injured, as I knew I would be, however with Barbara's help we managed to make my injuries look much worse than they were. If you remember you did drive me to the hospital yourself as I requested..."         Nikolas nodded. "And you disappeared into one of the cubicles and Bobbie and Tony Jones worked on you, and then you were moved upstairs."         Stefan nodded. "No one but Barbara changed my dressings. Believing that your grandmother was becoming suspicious we arranged for Lorenzo Alcazar and then Spencer to assault me in my 'weakened' state. Spencer and I had agreed before hand that whatever was said or done in the process would be forgotten." He offered Nikolas a small smile. "I am afraid I indulged myself and vented my spleen."         "And I tried to strangle you so we're even," Luke said dryly from where he was putting something on the table. "I think it was a good idea you asked Bobbie to be near by: she stopped me before it got out of hand."         "I still don't understand. Was it you, Uncle, or the impostor who attempted to kill Mr. Alcazar?"         "Oh that was your Uncle," Alcazar said. "But he had managed to contact me beforehand and if Carly Corinthos and then Dillon and Georgie had not found me, one of my people would have. I was not going to lay on the chill cement in that alleyway all evening. In fact, your uncle did me a favor: turns out Jason Morgan was going to kill me, or try to, but seeing that I was apparently nearly dead and no one was around, and hearing the sirens in the distance, he left me to die. The most difficult part was not breathing while Carly was attempting to get me to breathe. --Dinner is served by the way." "This is really good Enzo," Luke commented after a few mouthfuls of Paella.         "It's my mother's recipe."         "If you and Corinthos weren't trying to kill each other, you two could retire and open a restaurant."         "He cooks?"         Luke nodded. "Among other things. He was taught by one of the best cooks in Bensonhurst."         "Well you know if I wasn't...." Lorenzo shrugged. "Ah well."         "Tell me exactly what you expect to get out of planning your death this time," Nikolas demanded. Stefan exchanged looks with Luke.         "Go ahead, Steffin. He's your nephew."         He glanced at Lorenzo Alcazar, who shrugged slightly. "Might as well tell him the whole thing."         "Very well." He turned to Nikolas. "Your grandmother was behind all of our financial woes, Nikolas. The information presented to you that I had somehow missed discovering the Russian financiers were a front for the Alcazars was erroneous. She had already suborned Luis Alcazar who, it must be admitted, had his own agenda, in order to be revenged upon Jasper Jacks and Sonny Corinthos. While he did hold the lien on the estate, I was more than cognizant of it. While I was unhappy at the arrangement, I believed that we could extricate ourselves given a little time. Unfortunately I did not discover her involvement until much later: she caused several key negotiations to fail...as you are aware they did."         "What about Kristina?"         "The explosion that killed Kristina was not set off by Luis, but by Andreas on Helena's orders in order to kill Kristina and to drive a wedge between Alexis and Sonny Corinthos. He has since been dealt with."         "It worked spectactularly well," Lorenzo muttered.         "It lead to Alexis killing your brother."         For a moment Lorenzo Alcazar frowned. "Yeah, well, I think I've figured out by now that he was 'expendable' to Helena. Alexis killing him fit perfectly in with her plans."         "Information I acquired while ostensibly in Europe led me to believe that she has orchestrated everything."         "Which is where I ran into your uncle," Luke put in. "He was talking to the doctors at that high priced clinic you and Lucky moved Laura to. And he was giving them a vial. So I tried to kill him." Luke shrugged somewhat negligently. "Luckily for Laura I was distracted enough so the doctors actually gave whatever it was to her."         Stefan suppressed a slight smile at Nikolas' dawning comprehension.         "She's better?"         "Let us rather say that she is recovering."         "It's going to be a long time before she can come back, Nik."         "She is currently safely hidden away in a compound in Venezuela," Lorenzo added. "One even Sonny Corinthos will not ever discover is mine."         "I wonder if Sonny ever figured out that Roy wasn't killed and dumped someplace but actually disappeared. --He's down there keeping an eye on her for the rest of us."         "Totally unnecessarily," Lorenzo grumbled.         "Hey, you got me to not watch Corinthos' six...."         "I thought you two weren't friends...?" Nikolas asked.         Luke laughed. "Kid, you've got a lot to learn about long term friendships. The only reason I'd stop being enough of a friend to Sonny that I'd warn him what 'Enzo here has planned is 'cause he offered a safe-haven for your mom. I don't think she'd be safe anywhere else." "The ranch in Texas owned by Moriah Cummings is being watched. All of the Cassadine properties are being watched. Mine are not. Especially not this one. And it is heavily defended. She will be safe there until things are concluded here."         "And then you're leaving, right?" Luke prodded.         "Yeah, yeah. I'll leave. Empty handed if need be, per our agreement." Alcazar frowned, unhappily.         "You might win y'know. You have time yet. All I said was I'd stay out of it as long as Carly and not you or Sonny gets to choose."         Stefan almost laughed watching Nikolas trying to take it all in. It was difficult even now for him to realize he was in league with an international arms broker and Luke Spencer.         "So you're not going to kill Alexis?"         Lorenzo stared at Nikolas for a moment, obviously offended. "No, Nikolas Cassadine, your Aunt Alexis is safe from me. Whether she believes that or not is not my problem. As I said: I am laying my brother's death at Helena's doorstep. Otherwise I would not be a party to these proceedings."         "And that would be a pity: the paella is wonderful...." Luke said.         A week later Stefan was hidden in the passageway behind Nikolas' study listening as Helena and a man who appeared to be an encryption expert worked on Nikolas' laptop. He could barely see them in the very narrow field of vision through a spyhole in the wall.         "This is unacceptable," Helena complained when once again the computer refused to render up the files it held.         "I am sorry, Madame Cassadine. I have tried to crack this system for three days. I won't say it's foolproof, but I have not yet found the right algorithm or password or any other thing that will allow me to access anything beyond the outer security shell. I'll keep trying."         I see Lucky has done his job exceedingly well.         "See that you do. I cannot do anything until I can access those files. Why oh why did Nikolas set up a password system with the banks? How could he trust one of these horrid machines to do anything right?"         Mrs. Landsbury knocked on the door, then entered. "A Mr. Lorenzo Alcazar to see you, Madame."         Even from his vantage point Stefan could see the disapproving set to his housekeeper's shoulders, and could hear her disapproval echoed in the tone of her voice, although he very much doubted it even registered with Helena. My poor Mrs. Landsbury. How you hate Helena. Soon she will be gone: have patience.         "You may show him in," Helena replied. "You: remove yourself to another room with that infernal machine," she ordered the encryption expert.         "Of course, Madame." The man left, going up the steps to head down the hallway as Alcazar was shown through the large double doors.         She met him in the middle of the room in front of the couch. he stopped just out of reach.       "Ah, Lorenzo. How wonderful to see you again. How goes the chase?"         "It goes well."         "What brings you to visit Wyndemere?"         "My investment. I'm afraid, according to the schedule I set up with Nikolas, this week's payment is overdue. Which is really too bad: Nikolas was doing quite well under the circumstances, I thought." Lorenzo rubbed his chin, pretending to think about it. "Quite frankly, I thought you would be running a tighter ship."         Helena's welcoming stance changed to slight indignation, as her tone of voice changed as well. "A little roughness during a transition is to be expected."         "Well, I suppose. Still. You do realize I shall have to take something as collateral..."         Lydia was marched into the room her arm twisted behind her in a come-along hold by the largest hired gun Stefan had ever seen. Over six and a half feet tall and built like a sumo wrestler but with more muscles than fat, the man screamed 'New York Mafia' even to Stefan. He idly wondered who Lorenzo had 'borrowed' the man from.         "Unhand me, you moron!"         For a moment Helena stared, obviously caught flatfooted. "Lorenzo! What is the meaning of this?!"         "Lydia Karanin-Cassadine will be the collateral on this installment, Mrs. Cassadine. I'm sure you understand. Bring me the overdue payment as well as the next one due by tomorrow morning and Nikolas' wife will be none the worse for wear."         "And if I don't?"         "Well, lets just say that it won't go well for her. Or for you."         "You wouldn't dare."         He smiled easily. "Oh I'll dare. I'll also allow my associates to present to the FBI, Interpol, and the WSB, not to mention the local police, certain documents in my possession. They shall not only prove your complicity in Kristina Carter's death but also the way you implicated my brother in her death thus causing his own. Documents I received months ago from the executor of his will: an insurance policy, if you will. Not to mention papers detailing your own actions of late."         "You fool. You'll implicate yourself as well."         "Charges against me will be dropped, eventually. If you cannot access your accounts then you cannot buy your freedom as I shall." With a nod he left the room. Lydia, still under the control of the huge man, following, apparently too shocked to protest.         Stefan suppressed a laugh as he watched Helena pick up a paperweight and throw it at the wall over the fireplace with a scream of rage.         She picked up the telephone and dialled. "Yes. This is Helena Cassadine. May I speak with Dr. Amwalt."         She waited, obviously listening to some insipid music from her expression. "Yes doctor. How does my grandson?" She paled visibly. "What? What do you mean 'he never arrived'? Why did you fail to call me?" Whatever she was told made her slam the receiver down in a pique. She closed her eyes briefly, pushing away the fury in order to think straight, then she picked up the telephone again and hit a button. "Stop Lorenzo Alcazar from leaving the island. ...What do you mean he isn't on the island? He did not come by boat? Search the tunnels! Find them before they reach the catacombs under the docks on the opposite shore or I will have you all killed!"         Stefan made a strategic retreat. Soon the island would be home to only Helena and whatever boytoys she had brought with her: the tunnel gates locked, the launches gone. Security and the servants all owed their allegiance to Nikolas and would follow her no longer, now that they had proof that she had attempted to have Nikolas committed. He idly wondered if she would ever realize that the call to Ferncliffe was her undoing: that Security had bugged the phones at Nikolas' orders a week ago, after they had been informed he had gone on 'vacation'. They had orders to leave the island and take the servants with them the moment they had proof of her duplicity. Proof they now had.         He caught up with Alcazar in the basement of Luke's blues club. The overly large bodyguard was standing between Lydia and the stairs, and she was sitting dejectedly on a crate sipping from a bottle of sparkling water as Lorenzo paced nearby.         "I thought you weren't going to make it," Lorenzo said by way of greeting.         "She knows Nikolas isn't at Ferncliffe."         Lydia shut her eyes. "Thank god."         Stefan reached her in two strides and dragged her to her feet, the seltzer splashing his ankles when she dropped the bottle. "Do not play the innocent with me, Lydia. You are as much a player as my unlamented doppleganger was. You knew who was pulling your strings and you did not care in the least."         She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, the shock of seeing him alive adding to her confusion. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay? She approached my grandfather first: did you know they shot skeet together? --Of course you did: you probably were the one in the coffin."         He nodded minutely. "I was." He lowered her to sit on the crates again. "Continue. Tell me how it is you came to be involved in this hideous situation."         She looked up at him, swallowed nervously, then looked away. "Grandfather was going to disown me," she said quietly. "I lived to fast. Partied too hard. When I came back from boarding school I was not the sweet biddable child he had raised after my parents died. All I wanted was to live in the present and he was stuck back in the middle of some nineteenth century gothic novel. So he sold me to Helena: if I wanted my inheritance I had to play by her rules; do her bidding. Marry your nephew." She looked up again, faux defiance in her eyes and tone. "Do I get at least some points for managing to make him hate me?"         He stared at her until she looked away again.         "I'm pregnant and the child is Nikolas'," she said quietly.         "I am aware of that. Go on."         Lydia sighed. "When she came back here after the funeral she told me she knew. And that Nikolas had proven himself unreliable and had been removed." She tried to keep her hands still but they travelled up her arms and rubbed unconsciously as if she were cold. "I was not to leave the island. If I tried I would wake up in the compound in Greece. I know it's a perfectly nice place: I remember it from the time Grandfather and I were 'stranded' there, but I knew how easily it could become a prison. Or an oubliette." She looked up at Stefan. "She reminded me about that too."         Stefan suppressed any sympathy he had for her: pushing it away for the moment by reminding himself how much damage she had caused. "It could still."         "Please. Stefan. I'll do anything. ...Almost anything."         He glanced at Lorenzo who was frowning. He dislikes seeing a woman in fear of her life. But it is necessary to impress upon her how much her life hangs in the balance. Even now she could be taken: spirited away and killed by my mother once the child is born, and then Nikolas could be killed at any time thereafter if the child is a boy. He turned back to look down at Lydia. "You will go with Lorenzo Alcazar. Quietly, and without argument or struggle. During the journey you will be given something that will make you sleep. You will be in a safe location when you wake; someplace where Helena cannot find you: one of Mr. Alcazar's properties. Nikolas' mother is there also, recovering from what was done to her."         Lydia blinked up at him. "But..."         Realizing that ordering and threatening her was not working: she was, perhaps, too afraid now, he crouched in front of her so that they were nearly at eye level. "You carry the heir to the Cassadine estate. My opinion of your behavior to date is irrelevant. You must be protected, and you shall be," he explained quietly. "Unlike my... unlike Helena, neither I nor Lorenzo Alcazar would see you harmed in any way even after the child is born."         "But what about Nikolas...he's..."         "Nikolas is in love with Emily Quartermaine. I am aware of that. He shall not divorce you at the present time. That shall have to suffice for now. How he feels about the situation in six months or a year I cannot guess. But you need not try to sway him to stay by your side. Your grandfather's will says nothing about divorce, only that a legitimate heir must be born within five years, and that Nikolas will manage the inheritance given the two of you at that time." Pray the child you carry is a boy, Lydia, for all our sakes. A girl child cannot inherit the Cassadine Estate even if she might fulfill the requirements of your grandfather's will.         Immediately after receiving word that Lorenzo and Lydia left on an unmarked private jet from Kennedy Airport, Stefan went to the Port Charles Police Department with Lucky in tow. Unchallenged, they proceeded upstairs to the office of the Commissioner of Police. He knew that Mac Scorpio might be angry enough to throw him in jail but he was willing to gamble that the Commissioner might be so annoyed he would simply kick him out of his office.         Lucky knocked on the door.         "Come in."         Lucky opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Mac...uh, Commissioner? I have someone who would like to speak to you," he said, then pushed the door open wide enough for Stefan to proceed him into the room.         Mac Scorpio rose to his feet, temporary surprise quickly replaced by annoyance. "Well, well. You live. Why am I not surprised." He looked at Lucky. "Was there any point in chasing your father all over the place the last few weeks?"         "Yes," Stefan replied, before Lucky could speak. "Your actions kept my mother 'occupied' and thinking she had finally won. For which you have my gratitude."         "You were in on this weren't you?" Mac accused Lucky.         "Look, Commissioner, I can explain."         "I bet you have something already worked out. Well it's not going to work Lucky. Unless you can tell me you had no idea where your father was the last two weeks..."         Stefan glanced back. Lucky's expression was bleak.         Lucky shook his head at Mac. "No sir, I can't."         "Fine. Did you ever really want this job or was it just a scam?"         "I want this job. It's just...when my Dad came back he proved Stefan, this one: the real Stefan, hadn't killed Summer, and...and...Stefan did something and my Mom's getting better and that convinced my Dad to work out this plan..."         "An insane plan."         "It worked, didn't it?"         Mac Scorpio looked at Stefan. "Did it work Stefan?"         He nodded, and decided to go on the offensive before Mac became completely unmanageable. "My mother is the only resident on Spoon Island, or she was several hours ago. Although she may have escaped by this time, my Mother is quite thoroughly routed, and it may take her some time to regroup. Which reminds me: why did your people not arrest her at the funeral?"         "I beg your pardon?"         "I could hear everything: she was there, as was Lucky and DA Baldwin as well as others. My mother is and remains a wanted felon: her double is currently serving time in her place, which I believe is also a felony? Why was she not arrested?"         Mac glanced at Lucky.         "Don't look at me: Scott Baldwin was calling the shots. I was off duty anyway."         Mac looked down at the blotter on his desk as if he could somehow find strength in the neat squares of the calendar on it. "Get out Lucky. Just go. Take a couple of days: think about how you're going to write this up, then bring me the report. If you can make it sound both plausible and as if you really did not break any laws, or your probation, you'll still have a job. But after this no more chances."         "I understand. Uh, thanks." Lucky said, then beat a hasty retreat.         As the door closed Mac looked up. "As for you..."         "Shall I be pressing charges against the police department for dereliction of duty? Failure to protect the citizens of Port Charles from the menace that is my mother?"         "I'm warning you Stefan...         "I am considering buying the Port Charles Herald from the Quartermaines, Commissioner. Perhaps the sharp focus of a free and unencumbered press will..."         Mac put his hands up. "Stop. All right Stefan. What do you really want?"         "Charges dropped against myself of course: 'wiped clean' I believe the term is. Also the same for Spencer, as it is obvious that I did not die at his hands."         "And?"         "Have that poor woman currently serving concurrent sentences in my mother's place transferred to a facility where she might die in peace? ...Do make sure it is her and not my mother before you do so however."         "Done. Anything else?"         "I would think that would be the most obvious: issue an all points bulletin for Helena Cassadine." Postscript:         Not quite nine months later Stefan stood next to Nikolas and Lydia at the front of the nave of St. George the Victorious Russian Orthodox Church watching as the priest baptized Timothy Stefan Nikolai'evich Cassadine the required three full immersions. It was no wonder that Timoshka began to wail as he was marched around three times completely naked and wet in full view of the congregation. Stefan could not help thinking that perhaps it was just as well that infants remember so very little because to remember this as a child or teenager would be quite embarrassing.         Behind them stood friends and family, even Laura who was supported by Lesley on one side and Lucky on the other. Luke had, of course, declined the invitation although Nikolas had gone to his club to ask him in person. Toward the back of the church stood Emily: he had seen her as they advanced toward the altar. But she was not alone. Surprisingly Gia had come with her for moral support: they had become better friends after Zander Smith had divorced Emily and Gia had rejected him in favor of some other man.         They are Nikolas' once and future loves. Yet Lydia is happy: once the divorce is finalized she will be with Lucky at last. I shall certainly remember this past year to remind me that sometimes, however odd or desperate it seems, dire situations do work out in the end.