Skye was supposed to be in bed, and she knew if Alan caught her up, especially if he saw her pacing, he would scold her. She'd only been released from the hospital on his promise that she would rest at home. But Skye couldn't rest, not knowing that the hearing was going on. Her nerves were frayed waiting to hear about the outcome. Ned was furious with her. The fact that she hadn't been drinking, that the accident was just an accident didn't seem to matter. It had given Alexis a way back in, and Ned was clearly placing all the blame on Skye's shoulders.

He wasn't the only one pointing an accusing finger at her. Skye felt a tremor run through her as she remembered the way Stefan Cassadine had looked at her when he showed up in her hospital room the night before.

[I]"I'm told you're doing well," he said, his arms crossed as he stared at her. Stefan Cassadine's silence unsettled Skye, and she pushed herself up with her hands so she was sitting more upright in the hospital bed.

"I'm fine."

"You should be grateful that Kristina is as well, otherwise your condition would be quite different right now."

"Are you threatening me?" Skye asked, scared and shocked simultaneously.

"Ms. Quartermaine, don't make the mistake of thinking I'm like those maniacs you call a family. I don't threaten. I'm stating a point of fact."

"I think you're mistaken, Mr. Cassadine," Skye said, annoyed enough to let her tongue fly without thinking through her words first. "Your family seems to be the one full of maniacs... murderous ones."

"Yes, because you're such a saint. Tell me--Cindy Parker Chandler-- does that name ring a bell?"

Whatever amusement Skye had felt from landing her barb about the Cassadine family disappeared under the weight of Cindy's name. There were things she had done in her life that she regretted. What had happened with Cindy was something that caused her absolute, total shame, and deservedly so.

"What, Ms. Quartermaine, no smart remarks?" Stefan continued to stand in the same spot, his disposition virtually unchanged except for the slight grin that curled his lips. "Perhaps Barbara Montgomery? Your little sabbatical at Oak Haven Sanitarium perhaps is more present in your memory."

"Oh, my God...what..." Skye's voice trailed off as she realized the full scope of what was happening. Stefan Cassadine didn't just know some of her past, he knew it all... chapter and verse. He knew about the hate group and how she'd helped stalk Cindy, he knew she'd kidnapped Barbara, knew about her breakdown... if he was armed with that kind of information, Skye knew the man she was staring at had the power to destroy her.

"W-what do you... what do you want from me?" she asked, her tone far different than it had been minutes earlier. Stefan chose now to move closer, his expression finally changing from one of amused annoyance to one of hard, cold intimidation.

"I want you to remember that while you were whoring your way across Port Charles last year, my sister was standing vigil over Kristina, fighting for that child's life with everything inside of her. I want you to hear and understand that before she is anything else, Kristina is a Cassadine--and I do not allow Cassadines to be hurt by the likes of you. So consider yourself very lucky, Ms. Quartermaine, that Alexis, the woman you have taken great pleasure in disparaging all of town, doesn't want to see you wiped off the face of the Earth. Because if she did, I would give my sister that gift, gladly."

Skye shuddered as Stefan Cassadine continued to hold her in the grip of his icy gaze. Only when he turned and headed for the door was she able to release the breath she'd been holding. She instinctively pulled her knees to her chest when the man stopped at the door and looked back at her.

"I am not a good man, Ms. Quartermaine, and I make no pretense of being such. But there are things in my life that are good... my sister and her child are two of them. Do not ever hurt them again. Ever. Or you will find out how cold and unforgiving the people of this city can be when your sins are exposed to them in vivid, living color."[/I]

His words had chilled Skye to her core. Even now in the relative safety and warmth of the Quartermaine living room, she still felt a small jolt of fear run through her body. Stefan was a powerful enemy. She knew he'd be watching, waiting for her to make a mistake. Skye wasn't good under pressure. Her fear that she'd make that mistake was palpable.

Her eyes drifted to the pretty crystal decanters that sat on the bar. The light danced over the cut glass and their liquid contents, and Skye wondered if it was worth it to fight anymore against the allure of her painkilling friends vodka and bourbon. Maybe if she went ahead and surrendered to her old urge, she could forget the sting of Stefan's threats or the hurt of Ned's indifference. Maybe then she could ignore the nagging sense of guilt that had been eating away at her since Alexis had confronted her.

Fighting off the temptation, Skye walked over to the French doors and stared out toward Lila's beloved gardens. Skye was sure she really loved Kristina. The little girl had climbed inside of her heart and changed her, and Skye felt the effects of those changes throughout her life. She didn't care about sleeping till noon if it meant being the one to give Kristina her morning bottle, and she didn't worry about stains on her high fashion clothes anymore if meant that she and Kristina had enjoyed playing together.

But since her conversation with Alexis, Skye had come to look at those moments in a different light. Because as much as she loved them, loved the hours she had spent "mothering" Kristina, she suddenly saw something else. She saw Rae--Rae aching for the child that had been lost to her; Rae searching the world for the baby that had been hidden from her in every way, even to the extent that Rae believed she'd had a son and not a daughter for a long time.

It had been hard for Skye to accept that she was Rae's child when the truth had finally come out, but she was coming to know her mother. Slowly, they were finding out who the other was, learning to share secrets and stories of their pasts. But ever present was the sense of all they had lost, all the years that had been stolen from Skye when she might have known the love of a parent that truly wanted her; all the nights that Rae had grieved for a child unjustly stolen.

She wanted to deny it with everything in her, but Skye knew Alexis was right. She should have known... known that the bond between a mother a child deserved more respect than she had given it.

The front door opened and closed and Skye rushed forward. Ned stormed into the living room before she made it out into the entryway, his eyes darting toward her as he threw his suit jacket on the couch and moved to the bar. She barely registered the dark-haired woman who followed Ned into the house. The brunette stopped short of coming all the way into the living room, instead leaning against the doorjamb. Both women watched as Ned poured a glass of scotch and downed it in one gulp.

"Ned, how... how did it..." Skye stopped speaking when he turned and looked at her as if he wanted to choke her.

"I lost my daughter, that's how it went. Stefan got custody, Alexis has unlimited access... I lost."

"I'm... I'm sure that after everything that's happened, Alexis wouldn't..."

"Don't talk to me about what Alexis would and wouldn't do, Skye, all right?" Ned bellowed. "Because then I might listen to you, and listening to you is what brought me to this!"

Skye knew there was nothing she could say right now to try and fix this. She flashed her eyes in embarrassment at the other woman, then, head lowered, she headed out into the foyer. Purse in hand, Skye rushed through the door, fleeing the house.

"Well, that was charming," Lois offered as she strolled into the living room, her bag and coat dropping from her hand onto one of the chairs. "In fact, Nedly, today, you have been the downright king of charming behavior."

Ned turned and glared at his ex-wife. "You betrayed me today."

Lois shook her head as she moved toward him. "No, I told the truth. You seem to be the one all about betrayal and backstabbing as of late, least from what I hear."

Ned rolled his eyes and poured another drink. "What, you're gonna believe Alexis over me? You don't even like Alexis."

"I don't know Alexis, Ned. I just know a mother has a right to her child, and you were in the way of that. Which I find pretty darn curious considering how much time you don't spend with Brooke."

"Don't throw my daughter in my face."

Lois pointed one of her well-manicured fingers at her former husband. "So this is what Alexis has been putting up with, huh? OUR daughter, Ned, Brooke is our daughter. And excuse the hell outta me if I'm finding it a little hard to understand what's been going on around here."

"No, because you haven't been here, Lois, have you? You took Brooke and ran off because heaven forbid the big, bad Quartermaines warp her mind. And I didn't fight you, I let you do what you think is best, but I am not going to lose another child because Alexis is too damn irrational to listen to reason."

"And reason, in your opinion," Lois began, "is you keeping Kristina under lock and key in this house where you know these people will move heaven and earth to keep her mother away?"

"Kristina is mine. I was doing what I thought was best for her. I was doing what was best for my family, Lois, and I don't give a damn if you like it or not."

He expected one of her smart replies or a loud onslaught of yelling. What he got instead was a regretful smile coupled with a look that screamed to him that the last bit of Lois' heart he might have held had just slipped away.

"I must have missed it," she said softly. Ned, still reeling from what he'd seen on her face, sat his glass down, and then he stuffed his hands into his pockets like an apologetic schoolboy.

"Missed what?" he answered, his voice absent of the rancor it had held a moment earlier.

"The moment when you turned into Edward. Because if you didn't know it, Ned, that's who you're acting like, start to finish."

He was still standing there, mouth gaping, as the front door slammed behind Lois' exit.

*****

"Can I, uh, can I get you something to drink?" Ric turned toward his guest as he nervously shuffled newspaper and legal documents off his couch to clear space for her. Mrs. Cerullo shook her head and sat down.

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

Ric nodded, the mass of papers still clutched in his hands. "Um, okay. Well, I'm gonna, um, I'm gonna just put this down and, um, yeah."

Gloria couldn't imagine that many people had seen this polished young man so flustered before. Of course, few people would have information like what she possessed, and it was understandable that even the most sophisticated of men would be nervous about hearing their own origin recounted to them.

"Honey, why don't you sit down?"

Ric had been jerking his head from side to side looking for a place to deposit the stack of paper. Mrs. Cerullo's voice urged him to action, and he moved to the desk, dropping the collection there before he crossed back and sat on the couch a cushion away from the woman who held secrets he was both afraid and anxious to hear.

"You look a lot like you father," she said, and Ric looked at her in surprise.

"You met him?"

"No," Gloria said, "I only saw pictures. But you have a lot of him in you. You have Adella's smile, though."

Said smile appeared for a brief instant as Ric heard his father's voice echoing the same words.

"I never imagine her smiling," Ric admitted. "From what my father told me about her life, what I found out on my own, I always see her face as being sad."

Gloria nodded. "She was, a lot of the time. What happened with Trevor, with you, it changed her life forever, Ric."

She waited to see if he would ask a question, if he had a course of his own he wanted to follow in this clearly difficult conversation. When he didn't volunteer, Gloria scooted closer to him and placed her hand gently on his forearm.

"What do you know already?"

Ric felt his body tense as he thought about what he knew, the story his father had told him, the research he'd done into what his mother's life had been after she'd walked away from him. It all made him feel blind fury and physical illness.

"I know my father loved her. I know he was planning to marry her until... until after her fall, and when he asked her to give up Sonny, she wouldn't. She chose him over me and my father."

Gloria squeezed her hand slightly where it rested on his arm. The action drew the young man's dark, sad eyes toward her, and Gloria reached out with her other hand, touching his cheek lightly with her fingers.

"She loved your father very much. Adella thought you were all going to make a family together. Ric, just so you know, she told me that what happened in Martha's Vineyard was an accident."

"You wouldn't expect her to say otherwise, would you?" he asked, his voice filled with bitterness.

"Adella didn't lie to me. If she said it, she believed it. I'm not trying to change your mind, I'm telling you that she felt your father refused to consider it was an accident and she was convinced it was. They talked and they talked, but in the end, he just wasn't willing to try to live with Sonny, and your mother..."

"Chose him, yeah, that part of it I got." Ric stood and walked toward the mantle. He leaned one elbow onto it, his head resting against his hand.

"You seem to think it was an easy decision." Gloria's comment failed to rouse a reaction from him, so she stood, too, crossing nearer to him but not crowding him. "Your mother tried to think of any solution she could. She offered to spend days at your father's with you while Sonny was in school, she tried to think up a way to support all three of you so she could fight your father to keep you, she even thought about running away when your father refused every idea she came up with."

"He loved her," Ric said, whirling around. "He didn't want to live a part-time life with her, and he shouldn't have had to. We shouldn't have had to."

"No, you shouldn't," she agreed. "But, Ric, think about what it was your father was asking Adella to do. It was devastating enough for her to imagine walking away from you, this little tiny baby she hadn't had a chance to even know. But Sonny... she'd raised him every day for all those years... what do you think it would have done to that boy for her to walk away from him, just disappear from his life like she never existed?"

"What do you think it did to my life to never have a mother?"

His pain was radiating off of him, and Gloria wanted so much to wrap her arms around Adella's baby boy and somehow make it better, but she knew he wasn't ready yet. His anger was too old, too long left to fester for any one moment of revelation to make it better.

"I'm not saying you didn't suffer. Of course you did. You were a little boy who didn't understand why his mama wasn't there. And I'm sure your father tried to make it okay for you, but you can't make something like that okay for a child. He couldn't make it okay for you, and Adella couldn't make it okay for Sonny."

"She didn't have to, she stayed with him," Ric stated emphatically.

"She did, but his father didn't."

Ric had always known that Sonny's father had walked out on the family. Yet somehow, hearing the way Mrs. Cerullo said the words made him stop and think for a moment.

"Sonny had already lost his father. And, yes, she knew that choosing to give you up to your father meant you would be losing a mother, but at least she knew you would still have your daddy. What would Sonny have had, Ric, if she'd walked away? What kind of mother would she have been if she left that boy, that boy who knew her laugh and her smile and her embrace, all alone in the world?"

Moisture glistened in his eyes as Ric tried to feel what he knew Mrs. Cerullo wanted him to feel, but all that was there was that emptiness he'd never been able to fill and the anger that had been squarely aimed at his brother for so long.

"He tried to kill her, Mrs. Cerullo."

Gloria smiled and moved closer to him. She put both her hands on his cheeks in that universal gesture of motherhood that Ric had always seen in movie or on TV and wished so much to feel.

"I knew that child, Ric. I knew Michael Corinthos before he became a man the world feared, and I'm sorry, but I will never believe that. No matter how angry Sonny might have been, he would never have hurt Adella."

Ric let his hands rise up and come to rest on top of Mrs. Cerullo's wrists. She lowered her arms then, and he felt a true absence of something when the contact was broken. His mind clicked furiously as he thought about what she had said to him. Ric knew she believed what she was saying, but the question was, could he ever find truth in it?

"Her took all of her choices away from her. Do you think a man like Deke Woods would have gotten near my mother if my father had..."

His voice trailed off and Gloria crossed her arms in front of herself. "Your mother never forgave herself for what she did. Once she let you go, we never spoke about it again. But I knew she never let it go because she accepted Deke as her punishment. She didn't stay with him because Sonny took away her options, Ric. She stayed because she thought she didn't deserve any better."

Ric squeezed his eyelids together. He had heard all he could hear for now. His past was too complicated and too painful to be unraveled in one conversation. When he opened his eyes again, the woman who had known his mother so well was looking at him with nothing but warmth and compassion.

"I appreciate you telling me all this, Mrs. Cerullo, I really do. But, you know, I know my brother, and I'm just, I'm not gonna change my opinion of him overnight."

"No one expects you to." Gloria smiled and turned, walking back to the sofa. "I just thought there were some things you should know before, you know, before you made any more decisions."

Nodding, Ric moved to retake his seat on the couch beside her. "I do appreciate it. I... you've given me some things to think about."

"She'd be very proud of you," Gloria said, her smile wide and shining. Ric shook his head and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

"I'm not so sure of about that."

"What's not to be proud? Fancy lawyer, handsome as all get out, and helping mothers and babies who need help... sounds like a son any mother would be proud of."

"Well," Ric give a shrug before continuing, "fancy lawyer is easy when you have a big trust fund, uh, handsome, well, maybe and uh, what I did today, that was just my job. No, I'm not at all sure that my mother would think she made the wrong choice if she met me today."

Gloria didn't mention that she and Lois had placed some very specific phone calls after meeting Ric in order to find out what had been happening in Port Charles. She knew the extremes the young man sitting next to her had gone to in order to seek revenge on Sonny. She also knew that no matter the malice between them, both of Adella's stubborn boys were still alive, and that meant they both had a chance to do better.

"Hey, I know from sons, okay? I got me some sons that could make a mother's hair turn gray, but flawed sons full of good. That's what I see when I look at you." Gloria smiled again, her hand once more touching down on his person, this time on his shoulder. "There's a lot of good in there. You just gotta focus on it, choose the good. Like what you did today, and don't tell me that was just your job. You were worried about Alexis and her little girl. You wanted what was best for them.

Ric chuckled slightly and glanced at her. "I, uh, I think you give me too much credit. Alexis Davis recently offered me a job, and then circumstances forced her to rescind the offer. I was just, you know, I was... I wanted to impress her."

The last bit was stated just a bit too strongly for Gloria to believe it completely. No doubt Ric's motives weren't pure, but she'd seen the way he looked at Alexis in the courtroom. He was invested in what happened, and not just because of a job.

"Ric, work with me here, okay?" Gloria teased. "Focus on the good, the rest will work itself out."

This time he laughed. As Gloria rose, Ric stood with her. "I'll do my best, I promise."

"Good." Gloria pulled on her coat and gave Ric one more smile. "I should get back to the hotel. Lord only knows how many rounds Lois and my former son-in-law went, and I need to go get the play-by-play."

Ric drove Gloria back to the hotel, the conversation between them light with no mention of the past. Mostly Gloria related some stories that Lois had told her about the Quartermaines. The stories made Ric glad that Alexis and Kristina were no longer at the strange family's mercy.

When he got back home, Ric found a message waiting on his answering machine. He pushed play and felt an odd flutter of delight when he heard Alexis' voice.

"Ric, hi, it's Alexis. Not that you probably don't know that. Um, anyway, I'm out at Wyndamere, and I'm holding my daughter while she falls asleep, and we just wanted to call and say thank you for what you did for us. Um, anyway, I should go, but, look, when you get a chance, please come out to the house, okay? There's something I want to talk to you about. Thanks again. Good night."

The machine clicked and an automated voice asked if Ric wanted to delete the message. He pushed the button that meant "do not delete" and a smile crossed his face. 'Focus on the good.' Ric still wasn't sure how much good there was, but he knew one thing, he was glad he'd made the right decision. Alexis and Kristina weren't weapons to be used in his feud with Sonny.

"She sounds awfully grateful," Faith purred from the doorway of Ric's bedroom. He turned and leveled his eyes at her. She was standing there in a skintight black dress and scarlet red lipstick. "Will you ask her to repay her debts the same way I do?"

"Faith, what the hell are you doing here?" Ric asked, his tone indicative of his displeasure at seeing her.

"I can't imagine miss mousy attorney is all that fun in bed, but you never know. I hear she got your brother all hot and bothered, so maybe I'm wrong."

Faith glided toward him as she spoke, her voice meant to seduce, but it only served to aggravate Ric further. He hated this woman. Becoming partners of any kind with her had been a critical mistake, and the sooner he was rid of her, the better, both tonight and in general.

"Get out," he ordered, his body moving to elude the arms she tried to wrap around him.
"I had a long day and I'm tired."

"Yeah, a long day helping some woman and her brat who mean nothing to us, Ric, nothing to our plans. Plans that you have been ignoring, I might add, since little miss Lizzy told you to hit the bricks."

"Faith, I mean it," Ric said, his growing irritation evident, "get out now."

"Hey, remember me?" Faith stalked toward him, her movements mirroring any he made so that he couldn't escape her. "I am not done with your brother or Jason Morgan, and that means neither are you. Now it's time to sic the cops on Morgan. We need to find a way to get that crowbar out into the open."

"Look, we will talk about this later, all right? I told you, I'm not in the mood."

Faith glowered at him. "Well, you better get in the mood. We have a deal, and I swear, Ric, you back out on me now, and when I'm finished with Sonny and Jason, I will come after you."

He watched as the blonde stormed toward his bedroom. She returned a moment later with her coat and purse in her hands.

"Next time, wait for an invitation," Ric called out as she twisted the doorknob on the front door. Faith smirked as she looked over at him.

"You have a lot to lose, Ric. Don't forget that."

It was the last straw, and Ric rushed toward the door as she slammed it shut. He pounded his hands against the wood, grunting in frustration. He had to have been insane to get involved with that psychotic bitch, he thought to himself, and now he had to find a way to control her before she turned his life upside down.

Shaking his head, Ric walked back over to his desk. He meant to turn the light out, but instead, he stared at the now solid "1" that was illuminated on his machine. His finger triggered the play button and Alexis' message filled the air one more time.

She was going to offer him the job again, he knew it. That's what she wanted to talk to him about. And Ric wanted it, now more than ever. He needed something in his life that wasn't about Sonny, something that was real and that mattered, even if only to the Cassadines because their family needed his help. For the first time, Ric realized he wanted that something different, something better for himself. He wasn't worried about proving anything to anyone, not even Elizabeth anymore. He wanted this for himself.

'Focus on the good.'

This was good. He'd work with Alexis, who he already respected, and he have the chance to do what he'd been trained to do before he'd taken his degrees and turned them into ammunition in his war on Sonny. It was a new start of sorts, even if his life was still occupied with an airport full of baggage stamped with his brother and mother's names on it. But if he was going to get this chance, if it was going to be real and honest, Ric knew there was something he had to do. And it couldn't wait.

*****

Never in her life had Alexis imagined she would call Wyndemere a safe place, but that's what it had become. Kristina was finally somewhere with people who truly wanted what was best for her, and so far, it was all going well. The baby adored Nikolas and she seemed fascinated with her Uncle Stefan. But more than anything, Kristina seemed to want little else at present than the constant presence of her mother. It warmed Alexis' heart to feel her daughter's need for her and be able to respond to it freely, even if it made it harder to know there had been so many nights past when Kristina had been without her. But that didn't matter now. Kristina was upstairs in her new room, her lamby tucked in beside her, and not a single Quartermaine in sight.

"Ms. Davis," Mrs. Landsbury called out as she walked into the study where Alexis was sipping herbal tea to try to unwind from the day. "Mr. Lansing is here. He said to tell you he apologizes for the hour, but that it's urgent."

"Of course, show him in," Alexis said. She put the teacup down and stood, a surge of panic gripping her stomach. The second Ric was in the room, Alexis rushed over to him.

"What? Did something happen with the custody ruling?"

Ric realized the unneeded worry he'd caused her and he put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "No, no, everything is fine. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. This isn't about... well, it is about Kristina, but not about her custody."

Alexis sighed her relief, and Ric let his hands fall away from her body. "Thank goodness. I have to tell you, I really don't know how much more my nerves could have taken tonight."

"It was a long day," he agreed, "but at least it had a happy ending."

She smiled and tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Yes, it did. Did I mention that Kristina and I are eternally grateful to you? Because if not, we are."

Ric chuckled. "You might have mentioned that, yeah."

"Good."

He hated that what he was about to say would take away the brilliantly happy expression on Alexis' face. He could already see the dimples fading, the sparkle in her eyes dimming, but Ric knew if he was going to take this next step in his life, he had to say what he'd come to say to Alexis.

"I, um, I did get your message, and I appreciated it," Ric began. "And I'm guessing, but I have a feeling I know what you want to talk to me about, and let me just say, my answer's going to be unequivocally yes, I'd love to work with you... but after I tell you what I came to tell you, you may want to change your mind again."

"Why?" Alexis asked.

Ric reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo he'd tucked inside it before leaving his apartment. He handed it to Alexis. From her reaction, he realized she didn't know who she was looking at.

"She's beautiful," Alexis commented. "Who is she?"

"My mother. Sonny's mother."

He saw her weigh the momentary impulse to ask why he was showing her the picture, but it passed without the question being asked. Ric sensed Alexis knew what was coming, but she wasn't going to willingly walk into it.

"I, um, I wanted you to see that, I wanted you to know how I knew, Alexis. I swear, I wasn't checking up on you or trying to pry into your business, but the moment I got a good look at Kristina..."

Her hand started to shake. Ric could see it because the photo was moving, too.

"I knew it because Kristina has her grandmother's eyes."

The photo fell from her hand and Ric was beside her in a second, one hand on her lower back, the other on her shoulder steadying her. The close contact seemed appropriate given the intimacy of the secret they were sharing.

"You know?" she whispered, her eyes turning toward him full of fear at what this might mean.

"Yes, Alexis, I do. I know that Sonny is Kristina's father."

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