Risk

Chapter XIX

Jax pushes by Johnny and bursts into Sonny's penthouse apartment. "Have you even noticed that your attorney is no where to be found?!" Jax shouts angrily. "Where were your bodyguards?"

Sonny looks over from his snifter of brandy. "Alexis stopped having guards after Helena and Stavros left town. I offered them to her once Stavros resurfaced." Sonny shrugs. "She declined-- something about you not wanting her associating with my thugs. Not that it is any of your business. You should be counting your blessings that my guards don't shoot on sight."

"Alexis was doing everything she could to get that harridan you call an ex-wife out form under Stavros thumb an this is the way you repay her? By doing nothing?!"

"You shut your mouth about my wife!" Sonny demands.

"The hell I will! Alexis is in this mess because of you and because of her!"

Sonny quirks a brow and leans his chin on one hand. "Excuse me? I thought Alexis was in this mess because she is a Cassadine? You can discredit me with many things but her existence isn't one. Maybe you should be looking in the mirror, Candyboy. Maybe it's something you did." Sonny suggests. He reads the answer in Jax's face. "Well isn't that interesting. First Brenda and now Alexis. Maybe you should be cleaning your house before you burst into mine." Sonny suggests smugly. Jax makes a move toward him. "Johnny!" The door opens. "Mr Jacks was just leaving."

"You got it, Mr Corinthos." Johnny growls. He clears a path out of the penthouse for Jax cause walking or feet first the big aussie is out of there.

The phone rings. Sonny pounces on it. "Carly?! Baby, what's wrong? Where are you?"

The call stops Johnny and Jax in their tracks both turning back toward Sonny. "Is Alexis there?" Jax tries to interject

"SHUT UP!" Sonny demands of Jax covering the mouthpiece. "Baby, just tell me where you and Michael are.... Are you where Jason met up with you? I knew he should have pulled you out of there." There is a long pause. "Puerto Rico? What's he got going in Puerto Rico? Okay.... okay. I'll be there. You and Michael be ready."

"Puerto Rico?" Jax asks. "Is Alexis there? Where in Puerto Rico? I can have my jet ready in twenty minutes."

"They aren't there yet." Sonny's eyes narrow. "She says that Stavros keeps moving them around. She overheard thats where he plans on going next."

"Why didn't she tell you where she is now?!"

"Oh I don't know, you idiot. Cause they are on the move?!"

"You sonovabitch!" Carly comes slamming back into the study. The closest thing is the cell phone still in her hand and she throws it at Stavros' head. Then she reaches over to the books on the shelves next to the french doors and picking one out by random tosses it in his direction behind the desk.

"What the hell?!" Carly's shout had given him enough warning to block the first missile and the second

"How could you? How could you?!" Carly heaves another book at him.
Stavros comes around the desk and starts moving toward Carly. "I told you if you messed with my family, I'd kick your ass." Carly reaches for a lamp "He's just a little boy. You playing your fucking games." She breaks the lamp on the corner table and reaches for one of the shards of glass not caring if it cuts her in the process. "I'll cut your black heart out."

Stavros grabs the hand with the shard in it by the wrist and shakes it. "Drop it. Drop it now." Carly's hand is forced open the glass falling to the carpeting. Stavros sees the blood dripping from the web of Carly's hand. "What have you done?"

"What have I done?!" Carly swings up with her other hand in a closed fist to bash Stavros upside the head. But she is too close and can't get any real power behind her punch. "How could you involve Lucas? How could you hurt him that way? That's something your mother would do! That your brother would do."

Stavros grabs Carly's other hand and then shoves her to the floor away from the glass of the broken lamp. He uses his weight to stop her from fighting back and further injuring herself. "What in the hell are you talking about? Lucas? Your brother? I have done nothing to your brother."

Stavros bewilderment breaks thru Carly's ire. She grinds out between gritted teeth. "get... off... me."

Stavros rolls off of Carly but watches her warily as she catches her breath. "What is going on?"

"You know Michael was kidnapped when he was a baby right?"

"Yes. By Dr Jones."

"I nearly went insane. I was worried. Frantic. And then in the courtroom when Tony smiled at me when Alexis got him off. I knew he was going to do it again. I knew he was going to take Michael from me."

"And so you shot him."

"Yes, that's what mothers do to men who kidnap children. Shoot them... Peel their skin off strip by strip and drop them in vats of rubbing alcohol. Fantasize about removing body parts one by one while the kidnapper is wide awake and screaming in agony. Because that is what it feels like every second you don't know where your child is."

"I understand."

"Do you? Do you really freaking understand?!" Carly jumps to her feet and starts to pace. "How can you say you understand when you took Lucas and Mama had no idea where he was and what condition he was in?"

"Caroline, your brother was in no danger. I gave your mother Wyndemere. Lucas was waiting for her there when she got to her new home. It was a present."

"Your mother shot my little brother up with some virus! He was in the hospital dying, in a coma. Mama doesn't trust you! She doesn't trust any of you. And right now she wants you DEAD. You never, NEVER mess with the kids."

"It was never my intention... it was a present."

"Bull- shit. You were messing with Stefan. And I have no problem with that but not my brother. not my brother." Carly waves a hand in Stavros direction. "Play all the games you like with Stefan. I don't care. My brother is off limits. Gawd poor Lucas." Carly starts crying. "He got his hopes up. For some reason he actually likes your brother. He thought they were going to be a family. That's never going to happen. But he got his hopes up, and you hurt him. You hurt him so badly." Carly wipes at her face with her sleeve hating that she is crying. She tries to bring herself back under control. "My brother is diabetic. Do you know what that means? What it means really? Stress messes with his sugar. It could kill him. Yeah, he's aces at dealing with his disease. He's already better at it than I could ever be. And yeah, I've been guilty of giving him stress. Hey I broke up his family. Not that Tony was any real prize but Lucas loves him. Go figure. I won't be part of messing with Lucas again. I won't. He's already been thru enough." Now that she's calmed down the pain in her hand starts throbbing. Carly looks down at her hand and the blood dripping on the persian carpet. She bends her arm at the elbow to bring the hand up and slow the flow.

"Caroline. I... miscalculated. I will make amends." Stavros comes near Carly as she has finally stopped pacing. "You are correct. I was toying with my brother. It was never my intention to hurt your brother or your mother."

"Yeah, well you managed." Carly sniffs.

"I will make amends." Stavros insists. He takes Carly's hand and examines the jagged cut in the meat of the palm of her hand. "You have to take care of this. I think Cook has a first aid kit in the kitchen." He goes to the phone to call the kitchen to have it brought to the study.

"I'll go." Carly says tiredly. The adrenaline of her fury having deserted her. "I'll have her send a maid to clean this place up too."

"I will make this right." Stavros brushes a hand against Carly's cheek wiping at the remaining tears.

"How can you? It happened. Mama's never going to forget. It's been years since Tony kidnapped Michael. I still can't stand to be in the same room with him. To breathe the same air as he does. The only reason why I don't wish him dead is because Lucas does love him. And I owe Lucas." Carly pulls away and leaves the room.

Stavros sighs. Going back over to the desk he sits down. Flipping on the computer he accesses the net. Between Carly and Michael he is becoming increasingly confident with using the technology even if he doesn't understand it. Calling up a search engine he enters two words. Diabetes Research.

Gia goes up to the bar to get her own drink. Nikolas had offered but she really didn't want to be near whatever pity party that Liz is throwing herself. It was bad enough watching Lucky and Nik try to cheer Liz up. So much for going out and painting the town red. The band is rocking. Everyone is having a great time except for that one little corner of the club. The corner occupied by their table. Gia sighs and rolls her eyes. Okay she got it. Liz wasn't working at Kelly's anymore. Big wow. It's not like she was that great of a waitress anyway. It was a miracle that she was still working there anyway after the way she'd up and left during the whole play dead and get over on Helena project. The only way she still had a job was cause she was sleeping with the owner's son. Course that had gone over like a drunk at a church social when she'd mentioned it. Lucky and Nik had both jumped on her then.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asks as he is handed a beer by the bartender.

"Nikolas is checking out the band for Ned. What are you doing here." Jason just looks at her. "Forget I asked." Gia says wryly. "I really don't want to know. Look you want to dance?"

"Aren't you here with..." Jason tilts his head in Nikolas' direction.

"Yeah, but I came here to dance and have fun. Neither of which is happening. Look if you don't want to..." Gia picks up her drink and starts heading back to the table.

"You wanna dance?" Jason says.

"Yes." anything but go back to that table.

Jason takes her drink from her and hands both it and his beer to the bartender. "Keep an eye on these for me."

"No problem, Mr Morgan." The bartender sets them aside behind the bar.

"I'm not that great of a dancer." Jason warns.

"I just need to get out on the floor." Gia grabs his arm and starts tugging him out in the middle. Once out there Jason rests both hands on Gia's hips. She puts both of her hands on his shoulders. They maintain an arms length of distance between them.

"So what the hell is the deal. It's not like you and Elizabeth get on. What are you doing here with her." Jason says just loud enough to be heard over the music.

Gia grimaces. "Lucky and Nikolas are brothers. I always get to be the tag along for the three muskateers. And now Liz is in a pissy mood and sharing with everyone. Course you're the wrong person to tell that.... but hey maybe you can go help her cry in her beer and I can get my fiance back."

"Elizabeth doesn't normally get in moods. She's a great friend."

Gia snorts and shakes her head. "Men. You all buy that damsel in distress crap. It's just another way of being lead around by your Johnson's."

"Johnson?" Jason gives Gia a look.

"You know... Johnson." Gia grinds her hip against Jason's.

"Elizabeth isn't like that."

Gia snorts. "Right. Look lets just dance alright?" Gia really doesn't want to hear the glories of Liz from another guy. They finish the dance in silence.

"What happened?" Jason asks as they are walking back to the bar. "Maybe I can help... and you can get the Prince back to worshiping at your feet."

"You..." Gia bites her tongue. "She got fired okay? Fired from Kelly's. Course she says it's all a misunderstanding. I say it's cause she was a crappy waitress who was always dumping her shifts on anyone who came along. Not something anyone particularly wanted to hear. But hey I can understand why she'd be upset. Where else could she get paid to show up when she felt like it... and paid even when she didn't show up." Gia takes her drink back from the bartender. "Thanks for the dance." Gia makes her way back to the table.

Jason considers the foursome in the corner. And then he remembers the call from Bobbie earlier.

"How do you think it went?" Stefan asks Bobbie. She is staring into the fire. Lucas had gone up to his room here to play video games giving the adults a little quiet time before Bobbie and Lucas head back to the brownstone for the night.

"Carly didn't know anything about it. I tried to downplay but she is too much like Luke."

"Excuse me?"

"She went off and hung up on me before I even got a chance to tell her about Alexis." Bobbie bites her lip. "I hope she is okay."

"Your daughter is like Luke?"

"Yeah, just what you wanted to hear right?" Bobbie sighs. "Stefan, when you are figuring things out you get all the information you can and go from there... well Luke and Carly both take what information is right in front of them and tie it all together out of thin air. And are right too much of the time. It's like Stavros said in Greece. She's intuitive. You don't have to draw her a picture... she draws her own just fine. Just fine."

"Caroline is also... impulsive."

"You hoping that she slit your brother's throat for you? God, Please let her be okay." Bobbie worries. She stands up and looks around for her phone. "I need to call Jason. Let him know what happened. Maybe he can go get her now." Mrs Lansbury comes in carrying a bouquet of flowers. "Good. Mrs Lansbury, do you know where my phone is?"

"I'll get it for you, Mrs Cassadine. These were just delivered for you."

"For me?" Bobbie takes the vase. Mrs Lansbury leaves to find Bobbie's phone where she'd left it in the study. "Stefan?"

"Not me." He looks at the flowers as well. "There is a card."

Bobbie hands him the vase and takes the card. Stefan sets the flowers on a nearby table. Bobbie uses a fingernail to slit open the envelope and takes out the card.

<<< Sister,

My gift was never intended to cause emotional distress to you or your son. A five million dollar donation has been made to the University of Virginia Medical School Diabetes Research Foundation in the name of your son, Lucas Jones. My apologies. In future I will run all gifts to you or your son through Caroline first.

Your Brother,

Stavros Cassadine.>>>

"Oh my word." Bobbie sits down before her knees give out. Stefan takes the note from Bobbie and reads it.

"University of Virginia Medical School?"

"They are about to go to human trials on something that might be the cure." Bobbie explains. "It's already been tested in animals. I can't believe he did this. I don't believe it."

"It appears Caroline exerts more influence over him than I thought." Stefan says softly. "More than I thought possible. It is a cure?" He looks to Bobbie knowing that she keeps up on everything diabetes related.

Bobbie nods. "Maybe. It looks good. It's probably still years away. So I haven't mentioned it to Lucas. It's not like insulin. Insulin just keeps Lucas alive; it doesn't cure the diabetes. It... maintains him, buys him time. They are working on the cure."

"I will contact them tomorrow." Stefan nods. "Perhaps they will be willing to have some participants in their trial at General Hospital." Mrs Lansbury comes back into the front room. She is carrying Bobbie's cell phone. She looks at Stefan inquiringly. "Yes, Mrs Lansbury."

"I'm sorry for the delay, sir. The launch captain called me once he reached the docks from dropping off the messenger. He indicates that the river is icing over and it would be hazardous to attempt another trip this evening."

"Oh no! Lucas and I have to get home." Bobbie protests. She glances toward the windows and even in the dark she can see the sleet coming down heavily.

"Thank you, Mrs Lansbury." Stefan dismisses the housekeeper. He walks over to Bobbie and takes her hand. "Stay. The trip will be safer in the morning... in the daylight."

Bobbie looks up at Stefan standing next to her. Her mouth goes dry. If they stay she knows what is going to happen. Her better judgement screams at her to avoid the inevitable "I'll go tell Lucas." Bobbie rises to her feet. Stefan assists her up with their clasped hands.

Stefan wraps their joined hands around Bobbie resting them in at the base of Bobbie's back and cups her face with is other hand. "Mrs Lansbury will inform him." He murmurs as leans in to kiss her.

"Elizabeth, I'll talk to my dad tomorrow. He'll get everything cleared up." Lucky encourages his morose girlfriend. "He'll talk to Aunt Bobbie."

Gia rolls her eyes and concentrates on her drink. oh this is just tons of fun. The band takes a break. Gia jumps at the chance. "Nikolas, you should go talk to the band. You know, for Ned. So you'll have something to tell him."

"Right." Nik says reluctantly. "I'll be right back." He rises to his feet. Gia hops up too and strings her arm thru his. They head to the bar where the band members are getting beverages to wet their dry pipes.

"Lucky, maybe it's not such a good idea. I don't want to cause any trouble between Bobbie and your dad." Liz says softly.

"It's all a misunderstanding. I'm sure as soon as Bobbie knows that she'll back off."

"I should be focusing on school anyway... and spending more time in my studio." Liz suggests an alternative.

"I don't want things to be bad between you and Bobbie. I know how much you value her opinion. Don't worry I'll take care of it." He stands up. "Come on. Let's go dance there; is nothing we can do about it tonight anyway."

"I'd really rather just stay here." Liz replies. "Do you think you could get me another..." She lifts her empty glass.

Lucky looks around for their waitress but she's nowhere in sight. "I'll go down and get you one. You'll be okay here?"

"I'll be fine." Liz says stoically.

"I'll be right back."

As soon as Lucky is gone, Jason appears at the table. "Bobbie called me."

"She called you? Why?"

"Wanted to know how much of a tip I left Penny." Jason says with emphasis on the waitresses name. Liz blanches. Jason reads the guilt in her expression. He shakes his head. "Bobbie isn't going to take you back. If she does then she'll lose her other waitresses at the diner. You push it then Lucky is going to find out exactly why you were fired."

"Jason, I can explain."

"You don't have to explain anything to me. You screwed up. Deal with it and move on."

"Jason, I'm sorry."

"Why? Why are you apologizing to me? I'm not the one you stole from."

"I didn't steal anything!" Liz protests.

"Then Penny got her tip, all of her tips?" Jason lifts a brow. Liz is silent. "I didn't think so. Have a nice evening, Elizabeth."

Lucky comes back with the drinks. "What did he want?" Lucky asks jealously.

"He already knows I was fired." Liz glances around the club. "Gia must have told him. This is terrible, Lucky! Gawd everyone is going to know."

Carly waits until Stavros is up helping Michael with his book project to call Switzerland. She waits impatiently for the bank manager to pick up. Once he is on the line she gives him her directions... change all her account numbers and passwords. She stares down at the neat bandage on her right hand. It covers from her knuckles to her wrist. Cook had clucked when she saw the injury but got right to work cleaning and bandaging... even threatening to put stitches in. Figured it couldn't be any harder than sewing up poultry. Carly makes another call and leaves a message on voice mail. "Jase, It's Carly. Just want you to know everything is cool but I did change my account number. Everything is fine. Michael loved the Dead Sea... we'll probably be taking off from Greece in a few days. I've got the cell if you need to get hold of me." Carly hangs up the phone.

<<< Public Service Announcement. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. And most believe that it is actually underreported because it contributes to deaths in heart disease and stroke. It is the number one cause of kidney failure, and amputation other than by accident. It can lead to blindness and a host of other related ailments. Even if you are doing everything right on your regime you can still end up with the complications that go along with the disease. That is why insulin is not a cure, it's just the best we have right now. Blacks, hispanics and indigenous people (Indians, Eskimos etc) all have a higher percentage than whites with this disease but not by much.
There are 4 different kinds of diabetes (but I remember only three of them): Type I--Juvenile-- which is what Lucas has. Insulin dependant.
Type II-- Adult Onset-- which a lot of older people have... and which is ON THE RISE in this country due to obsesity. May be treated by diet, pills or insulin depending on severity.
Gestestional Diabetes-- The one women may get while pregnant. This causes an increase in miscarriages and takes a toll on the woman's kidneys.

The study I mentioned in this chapter does exist. Here is the link
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1218gen.html

Everyone keep their fingers crossed that it works. There are... I wish I could say many but how about some avenues of research: transplants which means that the person would still be taking drugs for the rest of their life to stop their own body from rejecting the donor pancreas; stem cells which have been in the news lately and is somewhat controversial and the study I linked to. I'm hoping there are more but that is what I could find.>>>