Risk

Chapter LXII

Alliances

Mrs Lansbury greets Stefan and Bobbie when they return from the wedding. "You have guests."

"Guests?" Bobbie inquires as Stefan hands over her coat and his own to Mrs Lansbury.

"Your grandson, Mrs Cassadine, and his... tutor, Kris Windsor are here. They have been for awhile. I think Mr Windsor has something for you, sir, but he didn't want to leave it with me." Mrs Lansbury's tone is disapproving. "Lucas realized it was Michael visiting and... commandeered him."

"Michael is here." Bobbie seeks to clarify.

Mrs Lansbury nods. "The boys are all up in Lucas' rooms playing video games. Mr Windsor wanted to take them to a movie but I said not until I talked to you."

"Thank you, you are a goddess. Lucas doesn't go anywhere with anyone that works for Stavros unless I'm with him too."

"Unless we are both with him." Stefan corrects. "Thank you, Mrs Lansbury."

Mrs L nods and leaves to go back to the supervise the "boys."

"What do you think it means?" Bobbie worries. "Michael here. Do you think it was the wire? Whatever is going on over there-- he didn't want Michael to see. I can't believe Carly wore a wire."

"Barbara, please. Ease out of your Spencer mindset and realize that Stavros wired Caroline. If he hadn't... if she hadn't agreed then my brother would have in all likelihood been at the wedding. Caroline wearing a wire is the preferred outcome."

"Yeah, right for you maybe! You knew she was wearing it. I have no idea what I said to Carly. And Carly's fight with Laura. The fight with Monica. The only thing that was probably missing was a fight with Elizabeth and for all I know they could have had a knockdown drag out in the bathroom." Bobbie throws up her hands. "I hate those damn things. Privacy. It's a wonderful thing."

"The Prince would agree with you, Mrs Cassadine." Kris says coming down the stairs. "Which is why Michael and I are out for the rest of the afternoon. We've already missed the movie but the boys seem to be having a good time. This is for you, sir." Kris hands the videotape to Stefan.

"What is this?" Stefan asks before taking the videotape.

"You expressed some curiosity as to the conversation between Carly and Mrs Spencer." Kris watches Stefan's face go wooden. "You should watch it too, Mrs Cassadine, the throwing of the bouquet was really quite amusing but the tape itself is cued up to a few minutes before Carly... lost video."

"Excuse us." Stefan orders. Kris nods and goes back upstairs to Lucas' room.

"I thought she disconnected the wire!"

"Let's see how bad it is before..."

"Oh screw the not panicking part. My daughter is alone with him!" Bobbie reaches for the phone and hits the speed dial to Carly.

"Stavros Cassadine's line." Carly answers cheerfully.

"Carly! Are you okay? We just found out that Stavros know everything that happened at the wedding. He knows about your fight with Laura! You have to get out of there!"

Carly laughs. "Mama, everything is fine. Stavros already knows I hate Laura's guts and I live to make her miserable. The tape wasn't exactly news."

"You're lying. I'm on my way."

"No! Don't. Look.. Michael is at the movies with his tutor... Stavros and I are having some nice... adult time. Just a couple of hours."

"Actually Michael is here. Visiting with Lucas. The tutor wanted to give the tape to Stefan directly. They missed the movie and are playing video games. Lucas has been demanding to see Michael ever since he realized you were both back in town."

"Gimme a sec, Mama" Carly talks to Stavros but leaves the line open so that Bobbie can hear. "Stavros, I'm going to ask Mama if she'll keep Michael for the night. He's still there playing video games with Lucas and having a good time. Kris must have had the videotape cuffed to him or something and would only give it over to Stefan."

Bobbie can hear Stavros right there next to Carly. "Tell her Kris can stay or take the night off whatever makes her more comfortable. If tonight isn't good for her the boys can arrange another night for a sleepover."

"Tonight's fine!" Bobbie calls into the phone to get Carly's attention. "Tonight's fine. We'll bring Michael back tomorrow."

"Thanks Mama! You're the best." Carly hangs up.

Stefan studies Bobbie studying her phone. "And so... your daughter is alone with my brother..."

"Just shut up. Let's watch the tape before the boys come down."

"What tape?" Nikolas asks from the doorway.

"How's Laura?" Bobbie asks.

"Out for blood. Monday is going to be very interesting at work." Nik says wryly. "What tape?"

"I shouldn't have ordered you to take your mother home." Stefan tries to duck. "Gia ended up getting a ride home with Jason Morgan."

Bobbie looks at Stefan slack jawed. "I can't believe you said that." She turns to Nikolas. "Yes, Jason gave Gia a ride home from the wedding.. along with Carly and Penny. And the tape.."

"Barbara..."

"The tape is from the wire Carly was wearing."

Nik nods. "I figured as much."

"You knew about the wire?!" Am I the only one that didn't know?

"Sure, Gia told me. Michael was watching the wedding with Emily's grandmother. This tape has what ever started the fight between Carly and Laura? Then I definitely need to see it before Monday."

"They're all back, Mrs Q." Reggie comes into Lila's rooms. "And wonders of wonders the wedding actually went off. I didn't get to see much of it I was sticking to the kitchen but there was certainly the required amount of drama. I brought you back a piece of cake. You ready for me to fill you in?" Reggie sets the sliver of cake on the table next to Lila's chair.

Lila reaches for the remote to her VCR with the oversized buttons on it and presses play. "Perhaps I should be the one to fill you in."

Over in the study, Alice has managed to wait until everyone has cleared out to get Edward alone. He is over by the bar and pouring himself a drink. Alice looks around and then comes in and closes the door. "Yo, Mr Q. I gotta talk to you."

Edward frowns. "Alice? Is Lila alright? Did something happen while we were at the wedding?"

"Yeah boss." Alice nods. "While you, the Doctors, and little missy were at the wedding. Guy showed up here with the great grandson, Michael. Guy named Stavros Cassadine."

"WHAT!!!"

"Now I was keeping an eye on him, mostly. He brought some equipment with him so that Ms Lila and the boy could watch the wedding. But your wife did order me out of the room so she could talk to that Stavros guy on the QT. And then when they left I found this on the table in the foyer." Alice hands an envelope to Edward.

Edward tears it open. "Call the police. I want the commissioner here five minutes ago. And Alan, Get Alan in here."

"You got it, Mr. Q. I'm on it."

"Alice?" Edward calls her back as she is reaching the door.

Alice turns around. "Yeah boss?"

"I don't care what you have to do. Stavros Cassadine doesn't step foot in this house again."

"You got it, Boss."

Nik, Stefan and Bobbie are joined by Lucas and Michael. "What are you doing?" Lucas demands.

Stefan hits the stop on the VCR. "Waiting for the two of you to tire of your video games."

"Michael, I talked to your mother and she says it's okay for you to stay over night."

"Yes!" Michael does a little happy dance.

"Is this your first sleepover?" Bobbie asks.

"Nah." Michael replies. "I stayed over at my girlfriend's house when we were in Switzerland."

Nik grins. "Your girlfriend."

"Yes, her name is Sophie. But she had to go back home to France, 'cause her Dad had business."

My Grandson is having sleepovers with his french girlfriend and my son isn't even allowed to date. Bobbie winces even as she knows it's all perfectly innocent. "So what do you guys want to do?" Lucas has an idea but hesitates. Bobbie prompts him. "Honey?"

"I have a game Dad gave me, a board game. It's suppose to be fun but an all nighter. But I don't know if Michael is old enough to play."

"I'm old enough!" Michael says indignantly.

"Michael, why don't you and I play as a team. I don't think I'm ready for an all nighter. That way I don't mess the game up for everyone else." Bobbie suggests.

Lucas goes running up to his room and comes back with a board game. Michael crows as soon as he sees it. "I know how to play this! I play all the time on the 'puter with Mama and Stavros." Lucas lays the board out flat while Michael grabs the clear plastic cases of armies. He hands a color to Stefan. "Here you be you..." Michael grabs another. "...and I'll be Stavros." Another. "You be Jax and Nikolas, you can be everybody else." Michael hands Nikolas the green box.

Stefan has a dawning realization at the specific names of the boxes not red, blue or green but him, Stavros and Jax and the memory that the only thing that had been on Stavros' laptop computer had been games. "Michael, how long have you been playing Risk with Stavros?"

"Well mostly Mama plays with Stavros. And they like playing on the computer then you can save games. Mama showed Stavros how a little while after we got to the island. See she was playing Risk-Deception and she made a special game for Stavros-- Risk-Estate. And Stavros used to play against someone named Helena but he got all her armies and she couldn't play anymore. And then Stavros found out that Jax had lots of armies and used to play against Helena. Jax will be able to play for a long time."

"Really?" Bobbie says while watching Stefan closely. "Well in this game everyone is going to start with the same number of armies spread out all over." Bobbie deals out the cards to the players and supervises Michael counting out armies.

Nikolas starts placing single armies on each of the countries he's been dealt just as markers. He keeps his voice casual. "So Michael... what was the last... army, my dad won from Jax?"

Michael is already studing the board and working a strategy. He answers absently. "ELQ."

"Oh dear." Bobbie says quietly.

Lucky had stayed with Laura until Lulu and Lesley got home. It had been tense at the house. Mom was ticked and there is really no way he's looking forward to Monday at Deception. Nikolas had ducked out as fast as possible after getting back to the house. chicken Leaving him to deal with the drama. And of course Dad is no where around again. Hadn't been around except by appointment to see Lulu since he found out that bottomless pit hadn't been so bottomless and Mom had known long before he did. Where to go? Didn't want to stay at the house. Didn't want to go to Kelly's. Lucky sighs and then realizes. There is someone.

The lights are off in Em's old room at the Q's. They'd never followed thru on the threat to cut down the old tree outside of her window thankfully. Lucky hauls himself up the tree and with the ease of years of practice opens the window to Em's old room. "Em?" He says softly into the darkness. He fumbles around looking for a light and then switches it on. The room is empty. Well there was still the posters of the backstreet boys and N'Sync on the walls but nothing new. "Em?"

Reggie opens the door to Em's old room with a sigh. "I figured it had to be either you or Zander. All of Emily's other friends use the front door."

"Where's she?"

"Room on the first floor. Thought it would be easier on her back. She can do steps of course but just in case she gets overtired."

"How is she really?" Lucky asks curiously.

"She's good."

"Well I'll just..." Lucky starts making a move as if to go out in the hallway but Reggie blocks him.

"Actually now is not the best time to be... in the common areas. Mr Q is on the warpath about Stavros Cassadine showing up here while everyone was at the wedding." Reggie points back to the window. "First floor, east wing, french doors. I think she's still up."

"Ah. Okay. Thanks Reggie." Lucky takes the hint and heads back out the way he came-- out the window down the tree and sticking to the shadows walking around the house to the east wing. He sees the lights on behind some curtained french doors and raps on the doors. He sees Em peek out the window, there is a phone to her ear. She waves Lucky in after unlocking the doors and holds a finger to her lips. Lucky nods.

"Zander, coming over is really not a good idea. Grandfather is on the warpath over something. Mom is watching his color like a thermometer and threatening to stick him in the cardiac care unit for tests. Dad has been in with Grandmother off and on all night checking on her which is annoying Grandmother no end. Something's going on. I don't know what. It wasn't the wedding though. Grandfather was happy when we left the wedding.... cause of the fight Mrs Spencer and Carly got into. Let me figure out what is going on. I'll call you tomorrow." Emily listens to something on Zanders end and winces. "I know. Good night, Zander." She hangs up.

"Harsh, Bowen. Really harsh. You couldn't even say I love you back?" Lucky throws himself down on Em's bed but it's like hitting a slab of concrete. "Gees! Why don't you just sleep on the floor?"

"I suggested it when I saw the original bed in here. Grandfather threw a tizzy about drafts and ordered me that one."

"He bought this thing on purpose?"

"Yep." Em crawls into the bed next to Lucky and adjusts the pillows behind her so she's sitting up against the headboard. "All right. I'm sick of the mushroom feeling. What in the hell is going on? I know that Nikolas and Gia broke up but it's not even that cause they still seemed kinda buddy buddy at the wedding. Whereas you and Elizabeth..." Emily shivers.

"Yeah, we're thru." Lucky frowns.

"But Lucky..."

"No. Stop, Bowen. You wanted to know what was going on. Let me get it out. Aunt Bobbie fired Liz from Kelly's."

"Right she messed up her tables with Penny's. And she was always late. Penny almost got fired from her other job. Elizabeth told me. I used to work before Elizabeth on weekends... I remember. She'd always get hung up in a painting and..."

"No more excuses. Just stop." Lucky rolls off the bed and starts pacing.

"Lucky."

"She stole money from Penny. She knew those weren't her tips. She made up some bs story about how whoever cleared the tables should get the tip when her first lie backfired." Emily winces. "Yeah, you like that one too, right. I was suckered. I confronted Bobbie, thinking there was some big misunderstanding. Nik went off on Gia defending Liz... at a club when we were all out to try to cheer Liz up."

"He told me Gia left him. She left him over that? That's it!" Emily exclaims loyally.

"It wasn't the first time just the last. But it gets better from there. Mom figures she'll play matchmaker and she cancels Gia out of the Milan shoot and sends Liz along to just keep me company."

"Well that was nice of her."

"And sends Gia to a car show down in Atlantic City as a public appearance."

"Oh. Oh." Emily winces. "I remember when that was the only job Brenda could get after her breakdown. Genie Motors. It was... ugly... degrading."

"And Mom didn't send any security along. Not even someone to hand out pictures or get Gia water."

"But.. Okay I'll be quiet."

"Luckily Jason was down there for whatever reason and he found out what was going on and put somebody on her. But not before two guys were trying to get into her room."

"Oh God."

"So here's Nik, knowing he f'd up. Knowing that Gia was nearly raped because of it. Knowing if it hadn't been for your brother... And he kinda went... Cassadine."

"Oh God."

"He bought out half of Deception from under Mom. Started laying down the law."

"How does this involve Carly and Stavros Cassadine?"

"You know what happened to Carly at Deception right? Sonny sold her half to my mom for a dollar. A betrayal clause that Alexis put in the contract. Mom handed Sonny a dollar and Carly was out of there."

"Somebody wrote me about that one." Em frowns. "But it was a while back and I wasn't connecting on much but trying to get on my feet. And news of Carly wasn't my idea of a good time."

"Do you really think that Carly would walk away from Deception after all the shit she pulled to get Gia to be the face of Deception? Oh hell no. Evidently she started sabotaging the company from the outside taking lessons from Stavros Cassadine in how to pull something to pieces from the outside. Mom ran into money troubles engineered by Carly...."

"And Nik bought half of the company. None of them working together just kinda coming together." Em brings her hands together and intertwines her fingers.

"Gia might have known what Carly was up to but by then she was already broken up with Nik. She kept hanging in there when frankly the stuff that was going down... Mom wanted her to quit. She never wanted Gia as the FOD."

"And Carly did. Gotcha."

"And you know that Nik had to be ticked at Mom because he turned around and gave half of his half of Deception to Carly."

"You're making that up." Emily shakes her head.

"Nope. I couldn't make up something that stupid. You saw what happened at the wedding? It's just a preview of what Monday at the office is going to be like."

"Why was Stavros Cassadine here visiting my grandmother during the wedding?"

"Oh man." Lucky can tell by the look on Em's face that she's not and throws himself back on the bed and runs his hands thru his hair. "You can't be here. Port Charles sure but you can't be in this house. It's too dangerous."

"Not you too!"

"What?" Lucky turns on his side leaning up on one elbow so he's looking at Em.

"Gia talked to me at the wedding. Says that Jason and Nikolas want me to move in with her."

"I called Jason." Lucky nods. "I know there is a better chance of you staying with Liz, but..." He grimaces. "But if you stay with Liz then you're never going to see me or Nik."

"It's that bad between you and Liz?"

"It's over, Em. And I don't want there to be any misunderstandings. Things went down hard. I sided with Elizabeth against Nikolas. I thought he was acting out of wack, overreacting. That it was all a big misunderstanding. I know it snowballed on Elizabeth... one lie on another. I could have dealt with the tip thing. But the lies almost cost me my brother, almost got Gia assaulted. And there is something weird going on. You know how Stefan isn't really thrilled with Nik and Gia."

"Who is?" Emily thinks she is asking a rhetorical question but Lucky answers.

"Stavros. He actually likes Gia. Maybe it's cause he's with Carly and Carly gets on with Gia. But he's taken it on to ruin Elizabeth's life, blame her for Nik and Gia's break up... not that Liz needed much help in that department. You can't be around Liz right now."

Emily decides she's going to chew on that one a little more before making up her own mind. "Why was Stavros Cassadine visiting my Grandmother?"

"I don't know." Lucky says seriously. "It can't be good. The closest I can figure is that Stavros is going to be coming after the Quartermaines and anyone in the family that tries to separate Carly from Michael. Which is AJ and the custody suit he filed while Carly was out of the country. Look Em, I don't know how this guy thinks. I know what my dad says. A measured response is not his style. The safest place for you to be, other than back in rehab, would be with Jason. And Gia is living in Jason's building now since she moved out of Nik's."

Hours have past. Bobbie is curled up in a chair with a magazine available if Michael needed help with his math which he hadn't so far. Stefan has stripped out of his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves as has Nikolas. Lucas and Michael are sitting on the floor as close to the board as they can get. "No cheating you two." Nikolas mock glares at the two youngest at the table. He'd seen the looks going between the two of them and knew they were working an alliance. "It's every man for himself here."

"We weren't cheating." Lucas says indignantly as he passes the dice to Michael.

Michael starts carefully counting the countries and continents he controls and calculating the additional armies he gets and makes the necessary troop movements. He controls South America and reinforces putting most of his armies at the access points. "Mama says good fences make good neighbors." As he eyes Africa. Lucas hands Stefan the dice already seeing what Michael sees. If Michael can get thru North Africa it would open up the whole continent. And then Lucas' armies can sweep down from Asia. They'd split Africa right down the middle.

"Are you taking me on, Mister Man?" Stefan asks calmly taking the dice from Lucas.

Michael just grins and starts shaking all three dice, the max allowed in an attack, in both of his hands. "Brazil to North Africa rolling three."

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