The Road Trip Series
by Cher

Journey's End - Part 8

"Death walks up on that mountain."

Cameron's decision was made the moment the old woman touched him and uttered her ominous words.

"That's it I'm going up there. I don't know what the hell is going on but Alexis is in trouble," Cameron worried as he handed Kristina to Jerry.

Luke shook his head. "I'm with you all the way Doc, but how the heck are we gonna get up there? We'll be flyin' blind goin' into that storm and the trail is probably washed away by now."

Jerry had to agree. "We don't even know where the house is and we can't do a fly over in this weather."

Zander narrowed his eyes and pointed to Magda. "I'll bet she knows."

"Excuse me, gentlemen. I believe I can be of some assistance to you." It was the man that had been seated by the bar listening to them. "I have an enclosed ATV that is used for construction and I know this mountain."

Jerry with his mercenary heart was immediately suspicious. "And just why are you volunteering for extra-hazardous duty, mate? We're strangers to you."

The man looked uncomfortable but stared them down. "A friend of mine was part of this mountain and I lost him a long time ago. I don't want you to lose your friend."

Luke scoffed, "Well isn't that just all touchy-feely. Seems to me there must be more to it and still doesn't explain why you are willing to put your life on the line for a bunch of folks you don't know."

Mrs. Lansbury knew time was their enemy and she'd had enough. She banged her hand down on the table, rattling the glasses and startling them all. "JUST DO IT! Right now getting to Miss Alexis is more important than justifying someone's reasons."

Arms crossed over her chest, she eyed the man until he squirmed. "There will be time enough to settle up the score later. Worse comes to pass, you make him pay dearly for his error in judgment. It is four against one, correct?"

Zander grinned as he shrugged on his coat. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, Mrs. L."

"You boys bring her back safe or you will all find out just how bad my bad side can be."

* * *

From this day you will no longer be alone

Her Father's words exploded inside Alexis's mind, her heart yielding to their seduction even as it rebelled against it. Her mind roiled at the image standing before her.

It can't be true. Mrs. Lansbury prepared her body, the Vicar performed the burial service and neither of them would lie to me. Mama loved me and if she were alive she would have found a way to be with me.

She stared at the woman. It must be the loss of air. Yes, that's it. I'm hallucinating what I want most and can't have. Ok, Alexis, just close your eyes and she'll be gone.

She slowly opened her eyes to find her Mother still standing before them, anger tensing every muscle in her body as she glared at her nemesis. Alexis eyed a woman with a cruel twist to her lips and an aura of coldness emanating from her. The Mother that existed in her memory was always gentle and loving, never cruel and always unfailingly careful of others feelings. She should be overjoyed but the woman before her was a stranger and the thought of her being different from the Mother of her heart frightened Alexis more than the knife poised at her throat.

Her Father's face flashed before her and she thought of the man he became, his losses buffeting him like a rag doll twisting in the wind, existing within the confines of an ever-maddening life that led him toward his ultimate self-destruction. She could not know what emotional damage the decades had forced upon her Mother but she was alive and for Alexis it was now all that mattered.

Alexis fought her mind's drift toward unconsciousness. The joy that she felt in her heart was tempered by terror that Helena would take her Mother from her again.

Helena trembled as she stared at the ghost from the past. ""No, it can't be you!"

"It would seem the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," the woman replied with elaborate sarcasm, her once melodious voice now a grating whisper. "You do not believe what you see before your eyes, Helena? You know very well that my Mikkos would have stormed the gates of hell itself to save me."

Disbelief haunted Helena's face. She muttered to herself, "But I felt you die. I willed you to die."

Kristin's laugh was biting, her glittering sapphire eyes flashing blue fire. "Then it would seem the exalted reputation of your 'will' is terribly overstated. Alas for you, here I am quite alive and back to reclaim all that is mine. Ah, I can see by your expression you do not understand. Come, Helena, do not allow modesty to cloud your own celebrated history, your use of elaborate smoke and mirrors to hide your true purposes is by all accounts quite legendary."

Alexis watched with fascination as her Mother scrutinized Helena, her head tilted as if studying an insect under a microscope. "Pity, it seems that time has affected your memory or perhaps one must presume advanced old age to be the cause? Shall I refresh it? Does the name Dr. Lesley Webber toll any bells for you? Or perhaps a bell by any other name would toll as sweet? Katharine Bell, that is. Or perhaps your greatest achievement… that of bringing your own eldest son back to life."

Kristin snickered softly as she watched Helena and Alexis saw cruel amusement in her eyes.

"Or is the jury still deliberating that little fiasco? It would appear that despite your grandiose efforts Mr. Spencer is quite practiced at killing Cassadine Princes."

Anger that this nightmare from the past should mention Stavros roared through Helena bringing clarity in its wake. "Drugs..."

"Yes, Mikkos Cassadine was a genius and he used all the scientific knowledge he possessed, called in every debt owed him to make the world believe I was dead," Kristin gloated, a dagger of guilt stabbing her heart as her eyes flicked unconsciously toward the daughter she'd abandoned.

Helena continued shaking her head, whether from confusion or anger Alexis could not tell but she sensed distraction as her hold loosened. She kept very still, not wanting to alert Helena so she would be caught off guard when she was ready to move. She knew her Mother was trying to keep her talking to eventually gain the advantage and noticed her inching slowly closer.

"You meant nothing to him!" Helena hissed, "And neither did your bastard daughters."

Kristin moved closer, pity in her eyes. "I see the years have not assuaged your pathetic state of denial, Helena. You always denied his affairs had any meaning but when Mikkos and I fell in love you sensed it was different. You knew that he'd finally achieved with me what you could never give him... genuine passion and unselfish love. With me he was not the Prince history and you forced him to be but merely a gifted man with an infinite capacity for love. And for a woman whose life is ruled by power, it galled that you had no power to shatter what Mikkos and I shared."

Helena suddenly gripped Alexis tighter, her manicured nails digging into her shoulder. Alexis winced as Helena barked, "Stop talking! Mikkos loved me until the day he died!"

Kristin pressed on. She needed to undermine Helena's confidence and distract her so she would move away from her daughter and she could get a clear shot.

Skepticism painted Kristin's lovely face. "Died? Don't you mean drove to suicide? You forced the man you claimed your undying love to give up everything that bore any meaning in his life. You killed me…" At those words she laughed wildly, "Forced him to give up one child, ignore the existence of another and walk away from his happiness to protect us all. Loss drove him mad. YOU drove him mad and everything that happened leading to the day Luke Spencer killed him was all on you. I believe he chose to die that day on the Island because it would release him from a life he despised and no longer wished to live, a life that included YOU."

At that Kristin raised the gun and stared down the barrel. "You need to pay for ravaging my world and keeping me from those that I love. You killed him, Helena, and I pray it haunts you as you burn for eternity in the fires of hell."

Helena smiled triumphantly as she tightened her grip around Alexis's neck. "Put the gun down or I will kill your precious Natasha."

Kristin cocked the pistol, her sapphire eyes glazed with hatred. "Free her NOW."

Helena edged the knife closer to Alexis's neck. "I think you may want to reconsider that request. I can pierce her jugular before you can move and your quaint but rather unexpected Mother-child reunion will die with her. You know quite intimately the things I am capable of but this time I will make certain that it is your daughter that dies as you watch and there will be no miraculous resurrection from the dead. Now, drop the gun."

For the first time since she entered the house, Kristin found the courage to look directly into her daughter's eyes and her years of lonely exile threatened to engulf her heart. It shattered at the fear and confusion and anger she glimpsed there but behind her child's terror she caught a glimpse of what she feared she had lost by her secrecy … her daughter's love. Natasha was in shock and panicked but she could read her emotions in a glance just as she did when she was a child. Love was still alive in her and tenuous hope and that gave Kristin the strength to finish the task before her. Never again would she be separated from her child, the child who had grown into a stronger woman than she'd ever dreamed. Mikkos had not planned for this confluence to occur, for Helena to find this place and imperil their great secret but perhaps Fate in its infinite wisdom decreed that old scores be settled before a reunion with her daughter can occur. She had not sacrificed so much happiness and spent so many years alone to lose her daughter now. She'd already lost enough for a lifetime.

The bitch was going to pay.

Kristin gripped the gun tighter and calmly replied, "Don't do something you'll regret, Helena."

Helena's arm squeezed her neck like a vise and Alexis fought back tears.

"Regret? Why would I regret disposing of a longstanding nuisance? But it does seem fitting that you are both here, Mother and daughter. Too bad your little Natasha didn't think to bring the latest in a long line of bastard daughters with her. It would be so much easier to rid myself of the three of you at once."

Fear for her daughter filled Alexis and she struggled in Helena's arms. "Stay away from Kristina!"

Kristin moved closer, the gun steady in her hand as her eyes glittered with anger. "You'll not harm either of them. I will kill you where you stand before I allow that to happen."

Helena chuckled and its malevolence sent shivers up Alexis's spine. "Practice makes perfect, my dear, and I have much more practice in the delicious art of death than you. Now drop the gun or I will cut her throat."

Alexis looked into her Mother's eyes and saw rage aflame there. She'd seen her Mother in many moods - filled with joy as she sang, angry when she misbehaved, sad when her Father was gone - but never before can she recall seeing her Mother totally enraged. But as her Mother turned to her, she looked beyond the anger and saw the indecision and fear that haunted her blue eyes, not for herself but fear for her child.

Kristin gazed into dark eyes so much like those of her beloved Mikkos and her heart finally acquiesced to the decision her mind forced upon her.

"I've failed you, my Tasha. I am so sorry," she whispered tearfully as she dropped the gun to the floor and kicked it toward Helena.

Helena narrowed her eyes as she pushed Alexis away and she fell to the floor. She bent down to retrieve the gun, grasped Kristin's arm and shoved her toward her daughter.

Kristin staggered forward and fell beside Alexis. Her Mother's arms instinctively reached out and pulled her into an embrace. Time suddenly stood still, the grains of sand that trickle through its eternal hourglass unmoving as the world melted away and Alexis's only reality was the warmth of her Mother's touch. She'd dreamed the feeling many times, even sensed it as when a limb is removed and its presence still echoes in your mind and body. She especially longed for it when she was pregnant and alone and undecided about what to do. Those memories, as fleeting as they were, grounded her and comforted her when nothing else could.

Alexis knew that nothing in her life will ever compare to this moment, to feel her Mother's heart beat again next to hers and know that miracles do exist, that the small part of her heart that never stopped believing in them was justified even when her skeptical mind laughed at the very concept. Alexis no longer cared about the whys and wherefores of her Mother's existence only that she was here now.

She would find a way to turn the tables on Helena. She was, after all, her Father's daughter.

* * *

"Damn!" Luke cursed as another tree branch snapped into his face. "Are you sure you're readin' that map right, Doc?"

The wind howled around them as Cameron struggled to hold the flashlight beam on the hastily drawn map. "This is the way Magda told us to go. We found the tree split into three and the path so…"

Luke rolled his eyes as he tripped over a log, "Yeah… right."

Zander walked ahead with the compass. "Too bad that guy couldn't drive the ATV through the trees."

Jerry brought up the rear, his head moving from side to side searching with his infrared goggles. "It was much too large. You know what they say about trying to thread a camel through the eye of a needle."

Luke snorted. "A camel would come in mighty handy about now."

Cameron's jaw dropped and he grinned as he noticed the white boulder to the left of the path. "Well, there's irony for you."

Zander pushed his rain-soaked hair back from his face. "What's ironic?"

Cameron smiled wistfully remembering their very first road trip last year searching for the makings for Easter eggs and a night filled with melted chocolate and a paintbrush.

He shrugged. "Nothing really. Alexis has a thing for white rocks."

Jerry laughed. "White rocks? I thought Cassadines were more about Faberge eggs and diamonds."

"Big oversized ICY diamonds," Luke added, snickering at his clever inside joke.

Cameron thought about the woman he's come to love and recalled a comment she once made concerning her heritage. "Alexis, I think, takes after her Mother's side of the family.

Luke snorted. "Well, at least when she's gone all psycho you know it's fake as opposed to the other Russian nutjobs in the family."

"There!" Cameron pointed to the stone house in the center of an open area. "Up ahead… there's the ATV."

Jerry scanned the area. "And there's another over there hidden in the trees. Let's spread out and check the perimeter. Be careful to keep out of sight of the windows."

Zander rolled his eyes as he moved off to the left. "Like anyone could see anything out in this storm."

Cameron dropped to a crouch and headed straight toward the house. He could see someone moving through the dim light reflecting in the window but wasn't certain who it was.

"Hold on, Alexis, we're coming."

* * *

Helena laughed malevolently as she gripped the gun and waved it wildly in their direction. "It is so heartwarming to see a Mother and daughter so much alike. Haven't you both learned treacle and sentiment will always distract you from your goal? Concern for others is fine but one should never mix it with revenge. You will find the resulting aperitif never truly satisfying to the palate."

Alexis searched her Mother's eyes and the depth of love she discovered there washed over her and a strength she had lost long ago and relentlessly sought to recapture all her life suddenly felt reborn. She wished with all her heart that her sister were alive to share this moment, to be reunited with the Mother they both adored. She dreaded telling her about Kristina's death but somehow Alexis believed she already knew as any Mother would when a heartbeat once shared is suddenly stilled. If they survived, Alexis vowed to share memories of her sister, her fiery red hair and temper to match, her love of herbs and candles and meditation, the way her laugh tinkled like windchimes and how a melody became a slice of heaven when she sang. She would share all she knew until there was nothing more and share it again as they merged their memories and kept her presence alive in their hearts.

Yes, Kristina of all people would enjoy this moment as karma truly had uttered its endless truth.

Kristin could not stop contemplating the woman in her arms, the child she once was long ago still present if one only knew where to look. Her serious little Natasha was there in the way her teeth captured her lower lip when she was uncertain as it did now, the way her curls always escaped their clip to drift across her brow begging for a hand to smooth them, how her warm eyes changed in the light as their banked fires shifted and juggled the sparks reflected by her smile. She was as beautiful in person as the pictures she had come into possession of during their years apart, her heart lightened and her painful exile lessened by just a glimpse of her child's sweet smile. It nearly decimated her to abandon the children she loved more than life but it was a decision she would make again to protect them.

She thought of her granddaughter, hers and Mikkos' true legacy, and the terrible price her daughter paid to keep her safe and it hardened her resolve.

She leaned over and whispered, "I promise on my life that I will never allow anything or anyone to harm you or my granddaughter ever again."

They gazed into each other's eyes and souls connected, the mutual love of a child their enduring bond. They knew in that moment that they were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect each other and Kristina.

* * *

Cameron gnawed his lower lip as he dropped to the ground beside the others. "Helena's in there waving a gun. From the direction she's speaking I assume Alexis must be on the floor behind some furniture. I couldn't see her."

"And there's only one door," Jerry whispered as looked back at the house.

Zander scratched his head. "But there are two larger windows. Maybe we can bust through one and grab her."

Cameron retorted, "And get Alexis killed? No. We have to find another way."

Luke frowned. "Are you sure there's only one entrance? The Mikkos Cassadine I knew always left himself an out."

Jerry shook his head. "I got very close and checked it out with infrared and there is only that one door. If there is another way out of there it's hidden in the house."

Cameron thought for a moment. "Alexis rarely spoke of the Island but she once told me about hidden passageways and how she used to explore them with Stefan."

Zander nodded. "Just like Wyndemere. Nikolas used to say that his Uncle liked that creepy old place because it reminded him of Greece.""

Cameron turned to Luke. "You knew Mikkos better than anyone. Do you think there is a hidden passageway in the house?"

Luke exhaled a deep breath. "I'd bet my life on it. With no doorway visible, I'd say our best bet is a tunnel under the house leading to where a door or hatch could be hidden."

Jerry pursed his lips, glanced around and pointed. "The woods."

Cameron glanced behind him at the house. "Get moving. I'll keep an eye on Helena."

The three men moved off toward the woods while Cameron moved stealthily in the direction of the house.

* * *

Helena's eyes raked Alexis. "No withering retort, little mouse? I must say I'm a bit disappointed. You've never had a problem with commentary having to do with faults your feeble mind imagines I possess. Well now is your moment to shine, to show off that expensive Harvard education to your dear Mother. Let's call it your last statement before the court or, in this case, the court of execution."

Alexis remained silent as Helena impatiently tapped her foot. "So has the cat got your tongue, little mouse?" Helena's eyes flicked to Kristin and she smirked, her coldly beautiful face twisted into a mask of cruelty. "Or is it perhaps that of a Swedish nightingale whose song is about once again to be stilled?"

At the implied threat to her Mother, Alexis jerked forward but Kristin shook her head with warning. They needed to wait for the moment Helena lost control and they could move against her. She knew that Helena was bitterly angry at her reappearance and all she needed was one last push over the edge.

Kristin smiled sweetly as she twisted her verbal knife. "My daughter doesn't need to utter a single word. Her very existence is an endless soliloquy to the passion that her Father and I shared."

Helena's eyes narrowed with hatred at the thought of her husband making love to this woman. Those disturbing images rose from her subconscious unbidden whenever she looked at Alexis, the image in more ways of her dead husband than she would ever admit, and she brutally beat them back down with all the strength of her formidable will. She refused to accept the truths embedded in her husband's infidelity with this woman, that she was like none other in that he chose her over his own wife, his own heritage and his own sons. Her desperate mind believed that killing her would mean its end but she never anticipated the consequences of her actions. The icy bitterness that emanated from her husband and a marriage that withered and died even as he descended into madness fueled by the grief she caused. Kristin's words echoed in her mind, the laying of blame for his death at her door and she knew the truth of them. Yes, she blamed everyone and everything except herself and lived that lie until the moment she discovered the Paris apartment, walked across the threshold and felt the passion lingering in the air to her very bones. The undeniable force of its power made her face what she had denied since the evening she attended the opera in Rome and recognized a lowly governess transformed into a diva. That this woman had shared more with her husband and captured more of his love than she could ever hope in a lifetime. She despised both of them for shattering the dream she built her world upon even if the foundation of that dream was merely an illusion.

And now Fate had gifted a second chance to make her pay, to destroy her dreams for a future with her daughter and granddaughter. She whispered a silent thank you to Mikkos for going to such lengths to keep this secret. Now she will exact the ultimate revenge upon her cheating husband by killing his great love and smashing his grand legacy into dust.

Sadly, she shook her head. "Poor little Natasha! That pained existence you live now sadly at the end of its days. But lessons in life can be learned until our dying breath and in Natasha's case, I think there is yet one more to learn. Let's call it the 'be careful what you wish for' lesson. Poor dear, she came here and discovered her past only for it to be forever lost again. She will have a chance few are gifted: to relive her inability to save you and this time there will be no coming back."

She waved the gun toward Kristin. "Move away from her."

Kristin looked into her daughter's eyes and gently smiled. "Have no fears, my love." She then whispered softly in Swedish, "Köpa grisen i säcken."

Alexis frowned as her Mother kissed her cheek and gracefully stood to face the woman who laid waste to her world. Her Mother's words literally translated as 'to buy the pig in the bag'. It was a familiar Swedish phrase she used many times and loosely meant 'to do something without knowing what may be the consequences'. Alexis realized her Mother was about to do something drastic. She prayed that Cameron was on his way with the cavalry but she couldn't wait for him. She watched and waited and held herself ready.

Kristin stood quietly before Helena without uttering a sound, her beautiful face serene and at peace. She prayed she would have the strength to do what was necessary. Her daughter and granddaughter were her world now, all that remained of her family and a once great love. If she were to die this day, she would assure it would be an honorable death to save the woman her child had become. The few precious minutes spent with her daughter and the love she felt touch her lonely heart gave meaning to the heartache of the last decades at long last. She could not save Mikkos from his shipwrecked life or her youngest daughter from a bomb meant for others but she could save her child and the grandchild she may now never meet except in twilight dreams.

The image of her family centered in her heart, she readied to move.

Helena raised the gun. "You never were very bright, Kristin. Falling in love with my husband was your first error in judgment. Thinking you could trick me will now be your last."

Alexis froze as Helena pointed the gun at her Mother's heart. And then all hell broke loose and reality spun out of control. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Alexis watched in horror. Her Mother moved quickly, ducked low to the ground and rushed toward Helena. Caught off guard, Helena fought to keep her footing as they struggled for possession of the gun. Suddenly a shot rang out and Kristin fell back and tumbled to the floor.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Alexis heard a scream echoing in her head and realized it was her own voice. Her Mother lay at her feet bleeding, her face ashen. Alexis felt cold tendrils of anger run through her body as she gaped at Helena's triumphant face.

Helena looked upon her with an almost bored expression. "So you see, Natasha, the moral of the lesson is no matter what you wish for, even if you eventually are rewarded with it, I will always have the power to take it from you."

Alexis glared at her as she shielded her bleeding Mother. "Even if you kill me you will never win, Helena. Truths may be twisted to one's purpose but the heart of them, their very foundation, is everlasting. Killing my Mother and me will never erase the greatest truth, that the love my Mother and Father shared was eternal. Our family is eternal."

Helena raised the gun. "Then my dear, time for all of you to meet again in eternity."

Resigned and inconsolable, Alexis covered her Mother with her body, closed her eyes and waited for death. Her heart cried for the Mother she regained and lost in a day and for the little girl who now would grow up alone. Her heart dipped into the memory pool of her mind and ruffled Kristina's dark bouncy curls, melted at the sight of her innocent smile, and shattered at the love and trust in her eyes that was now betrayed. And lastly, her memory caressed the face of the handsome bearded man she met one long ago night in a homeless shelter. The infuriating man with the amazing ability to make her laugh and to make her scream, the man who showed her a way out of the darkness that smothered her life and orchestrated the harmonies of her heart to resonate with an unrestrained love she thought she would never know in her lifetime.

She whispered, "Papa, I found the singer of the song of my heart just as you hoped."

She thought of Cameron and her beautiful baby girl, their future now merely a twilight dream that will live in her heart until the last breath passes from her and follows her into eternity.

She braced herself for death, for bullets to pierce flesh and muscle and bone.

A shot rang out, then another and a scream as sounds slashed into the darkness and she heard voices… men's voices…

"Hold her!"

"I've got her!"

"Where is she?"

"Oh my God!"

"Alexis!"

Cameron's voice

She was afraid to lift her head, fearful that the deep baritone was merely a seductive auditory remnant of happier times living now within her dead spirit. She heard a soft moan and felt something move beneath her. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and saw her Mother's clouded eyes trying to focus. She felt a hand on her arm and looked up hesitantly into a bearded face filled with tears.

Cameron

"I'm… I'm alive?" she whispered.

"Yes, we got here in time. She was aiming for you and…" he was silenced as he noticed the woman Alexis was protecting, a woman with the deepest sapphire blue eyes he'd ever seen.

She saw disbelief on his face and smiled through her tears. "My Mother."

Nodding, Cameron mumbled as he contemplated the older woman, "Your legacy…"

Luke walked over and stopped short at the sight of the woman. Oddly, from a man of many words none came as he stared at Alexis's past. He then smiled gently, leaned down to kiss Alexis on the cheek and walked out of the house stubbornly wiping away the tears that now trickled down his face.

Kristin started coughing and Alexis quickly turned to her. "Mama! Please don't leave me! Please don't die! Cameron! She's been shot!"

Still in shock, he gently lifted Alexis from her Mother and knelt down next to Kristin. Alexis held her Mother's hand as he examined her.

He'll save her. He saved Kristina and me so many times I've stopped counting. He won't let me down.

"Tasha," her Mother gasped wincing in pain. "Tasha."

Alexis leaned down and looked into her eyes. "Yes, Mama, I'm here."

"It was worth it, my little one, all the years of being alone just to hold you once more, to be loved again. We loved you… Papa and I … we needed… to protect you and… little sister. My heart broke but there was no other way…" she whispered resting a trembling hand on her daughter's cheek. "I missed you so very much… my little Tas..."

She sucked in a breath as her eyes closed and her head slumped down. Alexis started weeping and the tears of a lifetime of loneliness and sorrow cascaded like gentle summer rain onto her Mother's beautiful face. Cameron had loosened her Mother's scarf and for the first time Alexis saw the vestiges of the scar that circled her throat, a visual reminder of the past and the terrible price she paid for the sin of loving Mikkos. The sight of that disfigurement on her pale throat reminded Alexis that once again she'd failed to protect her Mother and all was lost to her again.

"Alexis." The voice drifted over her tears fording them to reach her. "Alexis! ALEXIS!"

Cameron's voice

She slowly turned tear-stained eyes to the man she loved. He grasped her shoulders in his hands and shook her.

"Alexis, your Mother isn't dead. The bullet wound is serious not fatal but she's fainted from loss of blood. I need get her to a hospital immediately."

Zander walked over, knelt down next to Alexis and placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. "The storm's lifted and you can actually see the stars. Hey, that's the lady in the painting."

She nodded as she leaned into him suddenly feeling faint. "My Mama."

He eyed his Father with surprise but decided to keep his questions to himself. "She's as beautiful as you. Don't worry. You know Dad will take care of her. He's the best."

Cameron smiled at the compliment as he worked on Kristin. She was very lucky that Helena didn't get a clear shot. The bullet had lodged in the thoracic region but didn't penetrate any major organs. Still, he was worried because the bullet needed to be removed and she was losing blood. Getting her off this mountain was going to be tricky.

Alexis glanced around and shuddered. "Where's Helena?"

Zander crooked a thumb at the front door. "Out there with Jerry and Luke. To stop her we had to shoot and she took a bullet in the arm. Thank God we found the underground passage into the house back in the woods. We just came out of the storage room when Helena was taking aim. She didn't see us until it was too late. They are taking her back down the mountain in the ATV and getting help."

* * *

Time was like a dream to Alexis as they waited for help to arrive. She asked Zander to help her lift the wooden chest from its hiding place under the floor. She lifted out the receiving blanket to cover her Mother and then pulled the picture of the four of them from the chest, removed it from the silver frame and placed it into her Mother's hands.

Leaning down, she tearfully whispered in her ear. "You must live… for your family… for Papa and Kristina now together… for me… and for little Kristina. She is my truest legacy. She needs you to rock her to sleep at night, to teach her to sing like Grandma and not Mommy, to show her how to tie back a rose bush and share the meaning of its colors. Together we can give her memories of her amazing Aunt Kristina and her Grandpa and bring them alive in her mind and in her heart and how much they would have loved her. I need you to give her all the love you gave me when I was a child and all the love you couldn't when we were parted. I want you to watch her grow up, get married, become President and to always be part of her life. You have missed so much… I've missed so much. Together we can give Kristina a life that the loneliness we've known never touches. I love you, Mama."

They heard the sound of a helicopter landing in the clearing. Cameron wondered what kind of lunatic was piloting a chopper at night on this mountain. He walked over to the door but it was thrown open before he could reach it.

"Jax!" Alexis cried as she ran and threw her arms around her ex-husband. "How…"

"What? You think I'm going to allow my brother to get all the credit helping my favorite ex-wife? No sir, I'm greedy that way. Jerry kept me posted and when I heard you were heading up here, I knew it was time to move. They filled me in down in the village. I understand we have a passenger in need of assistance?"

Alexis gripped his hand as she led him across the room. "Jax, this is my Mother."

He looked down at the woman and smiled as tears misted his eyes. He turned back to the woman who was the best friend he would ever know, kissed her smack on the lips and grinned.

"I guess this road trip was the best of them all."

* * *

The room at the hospital 35 miles from Såmmarjökka was very Nordic, awash in cool pastels and artwork and filled with multitudes of roses, even more than when she sang in concert. Kristin was pensive as she gazed out the window, at peace for the first time in more years than she could remember but still fearful about the fallout from her deception. The secrecy was ended and she could finally be with the daughter she loved more than her own life. But was Natasha willing to forgive the years of loneliness and humiliation she suffered at Helena's hands because of her deception? She knew too many of the sad details, how she managed with her half-brother's assistance to walk away and build her own life. Kristin felt her love when they were at Shangri-La but could her reactions be from the heat of the moment? Would her anger at her Mother bubble to the surface when things cool and she can look at reality for what it is… her very much alive Mother had abandoned her for decades. Kristin knew she would not be able to survive if her daughter turned her back on her.

Since she'd awakened, an endless revolving door of people made their way into her room. Magda was by her side as always, still as loyal as she'd been since the terrible night their lives changed and she had to walk away from her family and her life to protect them. Her eyes flicked about the room finally settling on the vase of pink roses sitting on the dresser, a gift from Amelia Lansbury. She smiled recalling her tearful reunion with the old friend who took upon herself the unenviable task of placing herself between Helena and her daughter's welfare. Amelia seemed shocked but not especially surprised at Kristin's reappearance after many years of experiencing resurrections at the hands of the Cassadines. The three sat like old times as Amelia told stories of her children, memories that gladdened yet also saddened her because she was not there to share them. Luke Spencer stopped by with a handful of flowers that looked as if they were stolen from someone's garden along with a mumbled speech about the wonders of her daughter, how she's always saved his life when no one else cared and some odd remark to the effect that she's the only Cassadine worth spit. He is a man both very American and very intriguing. He left quickly as he came, obviously uncomfortable with the elephant in the room… his murder of the man she loved. Kristin knew that discussion must come but now was not the time. The Jacks brothers came by with a large box of Swiss chocolates flown in from a little shop in Geneva and spent the time making her laugh uproariously with each wild tale, each attempt to trump the other. She liked her daughter's ex-husband very much and wondered why they divorced since he obviously still adored Natasha. But her favorite was handsome young Alexander, the son of Dr. Lewis, who shyly entered the room bearing a single yellow rose and told her that Alexis… how odd to hear Natasha referred to by that name… informed him that yellow roses usually stand for joy and gladness and that's what he feels for Alexis now that she has her Mother back.

But the one person she hadn't seen since she awakened was Natasha and nervously wondered if she was avoiding her. Magda told her that she wasn't feeling well that morning and would be at the hospital later.

A knock sounded on the door and quickly putting on her game face, she bade them enter.

Cameron poked his head around the door and smiled. "So, how's the patient today?"

"The patient hates being confined to a hospital bed on such a lovely day," she replied with a sparkle in her eye. She liked Dr. Lewis, her daughter's good friend and, from the little she observed, so very much more. "When can the prisoner be set free?"

He looked over her chart. "Now you sound exactly like your daughter and the most stubborn woman I know though I think you trump her coming back from the dead. I'm a psychiatrist and not your doctor but looking at these numbers, I'd say a day or two tops. You need to recuperate from the loss of blood and that bullet extraction but you are strong and healthy and I see no lasting problems."

She sighed as she gazed into his eyes. "Well, none of the physical kind."

He frowned and sat down on the bed next to her. "Something on your mind, Kristin?"

"I'm worried that Nata… I mean Alexis... will not be able to forgive my lying to her. She had to grow up in that house of horrors all alone. How can she forgive that Mikkos or I could have taken her away and we did not?"

He took her elegant hand in his and gently replied, "She can forgive because that is her nature. She may be angry at first when she thinks about it but one thing I've learned about Alexis is that she is very logical and very fair. Everyone gets a hearing…"

"But what of her judgment?" she asked, thinking of her own sentence.

"I've not known her as long as many people, certainly less than Luke, Jax and Jerry, even less than my own son. But what I have found is an infinite capacity for believing the best about people, even when they disappoint her she finds a way to somehow co-exist with them. She saved my son's life, believed in him and the man he could be even when everyone wrote him off and he found himself on death row. She saved him then and many times to come with no reason and no connection except she believed in him and accepted him for who he was. She is a much better person than me. I tried to make him into what I wanted him to be. I forced my own son to walk away from me when his brother was killed, refusing to see Alexander's pain through my own grief. We didn't talk for years until I arrived in Port Charles and then all we did was argue about the past. Alexis showed me what my not forgiving was doing to my son, showed both of us what we stood to lose by not dealing with our pain. She'd suffered so many losses in her life…she'd lost you, her father, her sister and almost Kristina. She lived pain at her very heart and instead of twisting her it only made her stronger and more willing to believe in herself and others. That is such a gift, Kristin. I may have saved her and Kristina but she's saved my life in more ways than she will ever know just by being in it."

She nodded her head and her eyes twinkled. "You love my Natasha."

He blushed. "More every day. She makes me crazy and happy all at the same time. She brought laughter and love and passion back when my life was empty and withered and filled with bitterness. Almost losing her up on that mountain has shown me that time itself does not wait for the best of circumstances. You must grasp your dreams and run with them, live them as boldly as life allows." He glanced at her. "But then you have some knowledge of that philosophy."

She leaned back against the pillows and regarded him. "Yes I do but perhaps you and my Tasha will be luckier than her parents. We stretched the boundaries of conventional wisdom with our love and despite the years of heartache that followed, I would not give up one moment of the love we shared. To be loved by the one that brings music to your soul, to be enveloped in an everlasting embrace even when apart, to know the heart of another with passionate intimacy brings one truly alive, Cameron. May I tell you a secret?"

Shocked, he arched an eyebrow. "There are more secrets?"

She laughed delicately at his expression. "When one is involved with a Cassadine there are always secrets. When I was shot and Alexis was protecting me, I heard her whisper something to her Papa."

He was intrigued. "What did she say?"

She smiled, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "That she'd found the singer of the song of her heart just as he'd hoped. So you see, Cameron, you do indeed bring music to her soul."

He kissed her hand and simply replied, "And she to mine."

The door suddenly opened and Alexis appeared. She looked wan but her smile was bright as she walked over and kissed her Mother's cheek.

"What no kiss for your savior?" Cameron pouted pointing to his cheek.

She rolled her eyes and bent down to kiss him. He was up like a flash and dipping her back kissed her passionately. He continued to kiss her until Kristin coughed gently behind them. He brought Alexis to her feet and sat her down on the bed.

He glanced at her Mother who was stifling a chuckle. "Too much?"

She shook her head. "You will find Cameron that there is never 'too much'. Now go and busy yourself somewhere while my daughter and I get reacquainted."

He looked hurt. "You are throwing me out?"

Alexis and Kristin looked at each other, then at Cameron and both replied in unison, "YES!"

"Ok, ok… I know when I'm not wanted," he muttered as he closed the door behind him.

Alexis turned back from watching him and saw her Mother's bemused expression. "What?"

Kristin took her hand. "I approve of the good doctor. He loves you very much and I know you love him."

Alexis smiled. "I never thought I would find a love like you and Papa shared. Cameron stormed into my world at the worst possible time, when everything I thought was real was an illusion and when my life was a runaway train. He stopped the train and didn't make me get off but started to ride beside me and it has made all the difference. I was afraid to open up to love again, its doors had been shut in my face so many times I had splinters but he made me believe again in dreams."

Kristin decided to segue to the subject at hand. "But we both know that dreams are illusive and when we are faced with them they are often not all that we wished."

Alexis assumed that her Mother was talking about her resurrection and she struggled for the words to explain what her heart was telling her.

"When I saw you walk into the house I thought I was in a waking dream. So many times I've wished… no prayed… that you would do exactly that, to sweep into a room as if you never died. I didn't recall what happened to you or even who I really was until a number of years ago but even as a child on the Island I would have dreams that I didn't understand. Dreams of a beautiful blonde woman, of walking hand in hand with her down a road, the strain of a melody lingering on the wind, how the scent of roses made me happy and fearful at the same time, just flashes I could not comprehend. When I discovered who I was and my memories started to return, I relived that night. I saw you die, I lost Kristina again and slowly over the years the memories have fallen into place, even more so when I was reunited with my sister. When this journey started I had no idea what waited for me at its end. With each clue Papa left, my mind searched for the answers and they started to fall into place but never would I have imagined even in my dreams that you would be waiting for me at the end of the journey. Mrs. Lansbury and the Vicar told me you had lived a few days after the attack then died."

Kristin's eyes had a faraway look as her mind touched the past. "And that is true. I don't recall much about those days, just terrible images in my nightmares. After Helena attacked me the next thing I can recall is waking up in a private clinic in South America. I was confused because the last thing I remembered was the feel of the knife across my throat and I knew that meant my death. Magda was there and she assured me I was alive, that Mikkos had used drugs to confuse everyone and I was safe. I underwent countless surgeries to my vocal cords and physical therapies. I was told I would never sing again."

Alexis's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Mama."

She patted her hand. "In the scope of importance it is nothing. I'm alive and that is what matters. Your Papa came sporadically to see me because if Helena had any suspicion I was alive, you would be endangered. One day we talked about the future. Your sister was in a good home beyond Helena's reach and I wanted you to be brought to me. Mikkos argued that he could not protect both of us if Helena found out I was alive. Your memory still had not returned and the doctors were unsure it ever would. Papa believed that even if he could not acknowledge you he could at least protect you. Helena feared his wrath and my death hung over their lives. As long as your memory remained a blank slate as to your past you were safe. We took that chance so you would grow up with at least one of your parents even if you could not be raised as his daughter. We also decided that my safety required the sacrifice of our secret meetings. Both decisions broke my heart but it was the right thing to do for all of us. My identity changed and it would be as if Kristin Bergmann had truly died. I lived in Europe, quite luxuriously, but very much alone. My need for a creative outlet did not die with my voice and I discovered painting and spend my time with canvas and palette. A lonely existence but Magda remains with me. She and others were given the task of watching over you and your sister and from time to time I had pictures to ease the sadness and news of your lives to warm the lonely nights."

Alexis was sobbing remembering the emptiness in her world when Kristina was kept from her and she can't imagine the grief her Mother felt with no one to share when her sister was killed. "It must have been so hard for you."

Her Mother leaned over and kissed her forehead. "It was but knowing that you were safe lightened the burden of my heart. When my granddaughter was in critical care, I broke my own promise, flew to Port Charles and came to the hospital. I stood outside NICU and watched as you slept by Kristina's side. You looked so exhausted and alone I decided that my daughter needed me and safety was to be damned. I was moving toward the door when a tall man walked into the room with a crocheted afghan, placed it gently around your shoulders and sat down in the rocking chair to watch over both of you. I did not know then that it was Cameron but from the expression in his eyes as he regarded you I knew that you had a special person in your life that cared about you and your daughter and that gave me enough peace to fly back to England. I left there and it wasn't until I learned of your movements in recent weeks that I flew to Stockholm to await what would come."

"But how would you know I would find my way to the house?"

She smiled. "Your Papa came to me a month before he died. I hadn't seen him in a long time and he seemed quite… what is the word? … unhinged. He told me of the steps he had taken to draw you home and how much depended on your memory which then was still a mystery. He wanted you to have all that you'd been denied, your heritage as well as the love of your Mother. There was no certainty the day would ever come that would bring you to our old home on the mountain. He said that you were molded in his image and he believed that someday your heart and mind would lead you there. He set Sir Edwin the task of beginning the chain of events when the time was optimal."

Alexis sighed. "Helena killed him."

Kristin's eyes clouded. "Yes, I know. But what I need to know is whether you can forgive us? Can you forgive me for deceiving you all these years after your Papa died? Our choice forced you to grow up a virtual servant, an afterthought in that house where you should have been a princess."

She leaned down and rested her head on her mother's chest. "Your choice probably saved my life. Having made a choice to save my own daughter resulted in my losing a year of being in her life. The consequences of that action have given me a new perspective about why people do what they do. I killed a man in self-defense to protect her, faked a mental disorder that cost me custody of my child as well as the respect of the man I love. What we do for love can't be explained or even judged only accepted and is often the only option that will keep our family intact. My choice was wrong because I should have trusted the law that I deem so highly. What right do I have to judge your choice or Papa's choice? You made the best decision you could and Fate alone determined its rightness. Your terrible choice allowed me to grow up, build a life, bear a wonderful child and find a man I truly love. I do not see anything else worth considering, Mother. But that is not the end of the story because you are here now to share my life and my love. We've lost decades but we still have time and that is what matters most."

Kristin wrapped her arms around her child and wept for the loss of all the yesterdays unlived and for the tomorrows waiting to be shared together.

The door suddenly opened and Jerry, Jax, and Luke burst in mangling what appeared to be a perfectly decent Swedish song.

Alexis picked up her head and covered her ears with her hands. "Goddess, that's worse than my attempts at singing."

Luke winked. "Not quite, Tash, not quite. We figured we'd get some action going in this dismal excuse for a hospital. Geez, at least at GH you get gossip and intrigue to entertain you. Mom must be bored as hell after going mano-a-mano with the Queen of the Damned."

Kristin laughed. "Boredom actually is quite pleasurable."

Magda, Mrs. Lansbury and Zander arrived pushing a cake on a gurney. Zander chuckled. "No time to be bored today… not with these singing fools around."

Kristin glanced at the cake and frowned. "And why is there cake?"

Mrs. Lansbury was shaking her head and laughing. Alexis looked at her Mother. "It's your birthday, Mama."

Kristin looked shocked. "Oh my dear! I really haven't celebrated in many years."

Jerry was surprised. "And why not? You are one good lookin' woman."

Jax elbowed him in the chest. "Better run, Kristin, my brother fancies himself a ladies man."

Jerry pouted. "I am a ladies man. As opposed to my brother who showed just how stupid he is by divorcing your daughter."

"But had he not done so I would have been forced to challenge him to a duel at sunrise to win my fair lady's hand," Cameron retorted as he walked through the door holding Kristina.

Kristin's eyes touched upon her granddaughter's face and she smiled. Kristina looked at her grandmother and shyly smiled back.

It was love at first sight.

Cameron walked over to the bed and looked down at the cake as he bounced Kristina in his arms. "We heard someone was having a birthday and Kristina insisted on attending. Rumor has it she's a real party girl just like her Mama."

"My daughter is not a party animal," Alexis sniffed as she kissed her daughter's tummy.

Cameron looked into Kristina's eyes and grinned. "Remember the very pretty lady in the big painting where you and Mommy were napping? Well she's sitting right over there and even better…she's your Grandma."

Kristina giggled and batted her long eyelashes. "Granna!"

"She's such a flirt," Cameron laughed as he set her down on the bed.

She threw her arms around her Mother and burrowed in her arms as she sneaked a peek at her Grandmother. Smiling, she crawled over Alexis and made her way to her Grandmother's lap. She stood up until she was looking into her blue eyes, tilted her head and came to a decision. She deposited a kiss on Kristin's nose and proceeded to make butterfly kisses. Her Grandmother giggled and happily shared them right back.

Luke caught Cameron grinning at him like the Cheshire cat. He snarked, "What's up with you, Quack?"

Cameron shrugged and tried to hide his smile. "First time I've ever seen your heart go all melty. It's kind of scary."

Luke scoffed, "It's that kid. She's got some kind of freaky mystical power or somethin'. I tell ya, Tash, she ain't normal."

"She's quite normal thank you and my secret weapon."

"Time to cut the cake!" Zander shouted. "Seeing as your Mother is occupied, would you like the first slice?"

Alexis looked from her Mother over to Zander, "What kind is it?"

"Chocolate fudge."

Alexis shuddered. "No thanks."

Jax frowned. "Alexis, you never refuse chocolate."

"I'm too excited by everything to eat," she said quietly as she watched Kristina playing with the lace on her Mother's dressing gown.

Magda walked over and handed Alexis a small blue velvet box. Alexis looked at her curiously.

"Magda, it isn't my birthday. What is this?"

"Something of your heritage, Miss Tasha," she replied as she stepped back and looked at Kristin.

Alexis opened the box and a small Faberge egg was nestled in the folds of blue. She removed it and held it up to the light. It was smaller than many of the eggs resting in the Cassadine vault, a white egg studded with sapphires and pearls. She clicked the latch and two halves of the egg opened to reveal a miniature carousel, its horses inlaid with gold. She felt the spring underneath, twisted it and the horses began to prance to the strains of Beautiful Dreamer.

It was Kristin that spoke. "Magda, isn't that the egg Mikkos gave me when I told him I was pregnant with Natasha? I thought it lost a long time ago."

Magda shook her head as she continued to gaze at Alexis. "No, madam, not lost… merely waiting."

Alexis wrinkled her nose as Cameron asked, "Waiting for what?"

"Why the next child of course, Doctor."

Jerry was confused. "What child?"

Magda continued to stare at Alexis.

Cameron looked from one to the other. "Alexis's child? You mean Kristina?"

She shook her head. "No Doctor I meant exactly what I said."

"But there is no other child…" Cameron continued.

Kristin burst into gales of laughter. "Natasha! Are you…"

Alexis felt all eyes turn to her. "Pregnant? What would make you say that?"

Jax tapped the cleft in his chin with his finger. "Well, the last time I saw you refuse anything chocolate was 1999 when we were married and you had the intestinal flu. Any other time you just about grabbed it out of my hand."

Mrs. Lansbury chimed in, "And when you were pregnant with Kristina, I made the mistake of giving you hot cocoa."

Zander agreed. "And when you were at Kelly's one night and Penny gave you chocolate syrup on your triple dip ice cream…"

Alexis put up a quieting hand as she shouted, "Ok, ok. No need to cause a riot here. Yes, I'm pregnant. Happy now?"

They all stared slack-jawed but a tall bearded man stared the longest, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth until it eventually widened to a grin. "We're pregnant? You and me?"

"Well of course it's you," she retorted as her eyes almost spun out of her head. "Who else would it be? You take me on road trips to all these weird places and well something was bound to happen."

Luke scooped out a piece of cake and licked the icing. "Well, Doc, sounds a bit risqué to me. I always thought these little excursions of yours were a bit questionable but making love hither and yon? Shame on you!"

Cameron took a piece of cake and smooshed it into his face. "Shut up, friend."

Zander leaned against Mrs. Lansbury. "I'm gonna have a brother or sister. Wow."

Kristin watched her daughter as the news floated around the room. These people loved her and she was happy to know that her child had never really been alone. She was back now, her family was in her arms and a new member was on the way. Time really does heal wounds and Fate every so often guides weary and lost travelers home. A new beginning awaited them and she intended it to be everything her daughter ever dreamed.

"Granna! Horseys!" Kristina shouted as her hand touched the Faberge egg.

Kristin hugged her granddaughter and started to hum the melody, her once powerful soprano aching to touch the chords and break into song.

Cameron sat behind Alexis on the bed, his arms enveloping her as he kissed her cheek. He was happier in that moment than he's ever been in his life. He found someone that completes him, who with just a touch breathed new life into his battered soul and set his spirit free again to love without fear, and to find the courage to forgive himself and his son for the past. A woman who gave back his hope in the form of a new life that will be born from their love. It was almost more happiness than he could bear but he wouldn't give up an iota of it.

He whispered into her ear, "We're going to have a baby."

"And guess who just drew the 2:00a feeding lottery," she slyly whispered back.

Alexis listened as her Mother quietly started to sing, barely a whisper of melody at first but becoming stronger with every note. Her voice was softer and more delicate now but also richer than it had been at the height of her fame. It was as if her voice paralleled her life and the quiet serenity she yearned for was reflected in its tone. Her memory took her back to nights filled with song and her heart savored days long past filled with more happiness than she'd ever known.

Until now.

Cameron kissed her and asked, "Where did you go just now?"

She smiled as she gazed into his warm eyes. "Just a little road trip."

He pouted his lip. 'Without me?"

She snuggled into his arms. "Yes, but the road led back to you and I'm home now to stay."

THE END