Mr. Immigration Man II, Chapter 29





Stefan and Nikolas have agreed to meet at the GH Library.

" Nikolas."

" Stefan."

" I am glad to see that you are alright."

" Why wouldn't I be?"

" You were very angry when you left the other night. Barbara and I.."

" Please, leave Bobbie out of this. You've already hurt her enough, don't you think?"

" How have I hurt Barbara?"

" Your affair with Katherine."

" Nikolas, I don't.."

" And before you start lying to me about that, I suppose I should tell you that I know about your little love shack with Katherine. In the woods. Do you know that you can see directly into the cottage from the telescope in Emily Quartermaine's room? Well, I did. The night of the dinner for the Board Members of GH. And the sight, was illuminating. Do I need to detail it to you?"

" That is not necessary."

" Well, I was not the only one who got quite an eyeful."

" You don't mean.."

" Yes, Bobbie."

" Nikolas...well, everything is in focus now. Barbara's distance from me. As well as yours."

" So, do you enjoy your mistress."

" Katherine is not my mistress. At least, not any longer."

" How am I supposed to believe you?"

" Nikolas, I don't know. I thought that everything is under control. From what you are saying, maybe nothing is. But, please come home."

" I will."

" What?"

" The last thing that Bobbie needs right now, with Carly and Grace, is to be worried about me too. I know that I can help with Lucas, who must be confused in all of this."

" He is. Thank you Nikolas."

" You're welcome.....About the question of my paternity."

" Yes."

" All my life...you've been there for me. There was a time when you were my absolute hero, and could do no wrong. And then there was a time when you were the worst person that I have ever known. You're neither one of those people. You're somewhere in between. I love you despite myself sometimes. And because, for all my life, you are the one person who has ever loved me unconditionally. Bobbie told me about Carly. And learning the truth about her was very important. She let her anger and resentment towards Bobbie eat her up. She ruined many lives. Including her own. Either I follow down her path of anger and resentment. Or, I let it go. And we try, right now, here, to begin anew. You aren't some superhero, but just a man. With faults and frailties like others. I guess what I am trying to say, is that I want to build with you a new relationship: one as father and son. What do you say, Father?"

Stefan has tears in his eyes. " I think that it would be the most precious gift I've ever received." They hug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry and Jax are sitting at the PC Grille.

“ What’s up little brother?”

“ Brender.”

“ What about the Brainless Wonder?”

“ Jerry, be nice.”

“ About what?”

“ Brender. You shouldn’t talk about her like that.”

“ And why not? Jax, come on, I don’t know what kinds of drugs that she’s been giving you, but, you are totally delusional when it comes to her.”

“ I know.”

“ What did you say?”

“ I said, that I agree with you. Today, I was looking at Brender. We were planning her day together, and I thought, ‘ my God, woman, I am NOT your father’. I didn’t plan on having children for a long time. And now, I have one.”

“ Well...well...little brother finds a clue.”

“ It took long enough.”

“ So, is there another reason why you’ve become so enlightened?”

“ Yes. Her name is Venus. But, I think that I’ve blown it.”

“ Nonsense. You haven’t blown anything.”

“ But, I don’t want to hurt Brender’s feelings. She’s had a lot of hard blows come her way.”
“ You know what? You’re right. You should spend some more time with Brenda. To help ease her transition.”

“ What?”

“ I mean, you’re not cruel, Jax. What’s a few more months. Help Brenda get on her feet, and then, you can concentrate on your life. “

“ Jerry, you’re a genius.”

“ So people tell me.”

“ Well, I gotta go. Gotta map out a plan of action for Brender. Bye.”

“ Bye, Jax.” As soon as Jax leaves, Jerry whips out his cell phone. “ Malcolm. My man. Well, now that you’ve found him. It’s time to put the next phase of my plan into action. If we’re lucky, my brother will have himself be rid of a certain supermodel pest. So, it’s a go. Proceed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katherine awakened in a canope bed. The sun was beaming through the windows. She had never been to this place before. Before she could get out of the bed, a maid opened the door.

“ Good morning, Ms. Bell.”

“ Morning? Where the hell am I?”

“ If you would check the closets, you will see a number of outfits for your pleasure. Your host expects you downstairs in an hour.”

“ My host? Who is my host?”

“ In an hour.”

Katherine gets up and goes to the window. She looks out. There is water for as long as the eye can see. There was not another landmass that was within her eyes view. She takes a shower and changes into one of the outfits. Within an hour, she hears a knock on the door. There is another maid that she follows down the stairs of the villa. She goes into this large dining room, where she is shown to her seat. Katherine sits down. Facing her is the back of a chair. The maid goes down to the chair and whispers something to the person in the chair. She then leaves.

Katherine speaks. “ Look, I don’t know who you are. But, I am a very rich and powerful woman where I come from. If you don’t let me go, they’ll come looking for me. My lover is Stefan Cassadine. Have you heard of the Cassadines? They are VERY powerful people. He’s going to come for me. He will hunt you down. What do you want? Is it money? Because I have lots of it.”

“ I know you have lots of it, darling. Because I gave it to you.”

The chair turns and...

“ DAMIAN?!?”

“ Yes, Kat. I’m back. And I’m badder than ever.”

Katherine faints dead away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doorbell rings. Laura opens the door to find Nikolas.

" Nikolas!"

" Hello, Laura. May I come in?"

" Sure." Nikolas comes into the house and they stand there for a while. " Your sister is with your grandmother in the park."

" I came to see you. May we talk?"

" Certainly."

" Well, the revelations about my paternity have certainly thrown me. And been an illumination. I want to thank you for leaving me with my father. For, whatever his faults, he has always been there for me. And provided for me a definite space in which I could call my own. I've given this a lot of thought, a relationship between the two of us. And to be brutally honest, I don't see how it is possible. It's not worth it to me anymore to even try. I admit that I love you. Possibly, it's the masochist in me. But, I do. I would like to have a relationship with my sister and grandmother."

" And your brother?"

" No. Not necessarily."

" Well, I won't have my children fighting. I have arranged for you and Lucky to have dinners with my mother. I expect for both of you to attend. If you want visits with Lulu, then these dinners are the price to be paid."

" Blackmail."

" Whatever it takes. I want some peace with the next generation. Nikolas, I love you. And I have hurt you over and over again. I accept what you tell me. And will hope, that over time, you will change your mind. But, if not, I can live with the heartache that I have caused. Anything else?"

" No. I just wanted to get this matter out of the way. Goodbye."

" Goodbye, Nikolas."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jax slowly helps Brenda to regain control of her life. He has finished setting up expansion plans for L&B, and has come home to tell her.

“ Brender! Brender?”

Jax looks around the penthouse, and there is no sign of her. He goes to his desk, where he finds a letter for him.

‘ Dear Jax,

I am sorry to be writing this to you, instead of telling you face to face. But, I could not waste the time waiting for you. The best thing happened Jax. I found out where Sonny is. He’s sent for me. And I must go to him. I know, being my best friend, that you’ll understand my actions. Well, I have to get to Sonny before he changes his mind.

Thanks for everything.

Your Best Friend,

Brenda’

Jax crumbles up the letter. He feels like smacking himself for being this stupid. Here he was worried about Brenda’s feelings, and she wouldn’t even say goodbye in person to him. Man, what a chump he’s been. But, instead of being angry, he felt a tidalwave of relief wash over him. He threw the letter in the garbage, and picked up the phone.

“ Jones & Scorpio Investigations.”

“ Well, hello there.”

“ Jax?”

“ Yep.”

“ What do you want?”

“ Have you ever had oysters before?”