July 21, 2004 Transcript
"New York or Montréal"

At Kelly's.

Nikolas: I haven't regained my memory, but I’ve decided to stop running from my past and try and live up to the man people say I was.

Lorenzo: Great. Why'd you call me?

Alexis enters.

Nikolas: Because I need someone that -- that I think I can trust to tell me everything about Nikolas Cassadine.

Alexis: Then you're asking the wrong person.

Alexis: Did Mr. Alcazar happen to mention to you that the Cassadines owed him a staggering amount of money that you were expected to pay him back? And when you didn't pay him back fast enough, he had you nearly beaten to death?

Lorenzo: That was business.

Alexis: That was attempted murder.

Lorenzo: As opposed to murder in the first degree?

Nikolas: Wait, is that true?

Lorenzo: Yes. It was a warning to your late uncle who was late on his payments.

Nikolas: What about the debt?

Lorenzo: It's been settled.

Alexis: Nikolas, the man is a criminal who will destroy your life.

Nikolas: I need to speak with Alexis for a moment.

Lorenzo: Yeah, I think someone better. Feel free to call me anytime.

Lorenzo leaves.

Alexis: The man is poison.

Nikolas: That's for me to decide, thank you.

Alexis: Before your accident, you would never, ever have considered him an ally.

Nikolas: We come from the same world, Alexis, so to speak.

Alexis: You and Alcazar?

Nikolas: Yes.

Alexis: I hardly think so. The man is an international criminal. He deals in drugs and weapons and God knows what else.

Nikolas: And I'm -- and I'm what? The Prince Cassadine? Prince of what, exactly?

Alexis: Well, nothing. It's what you used to say, but the truth is, is that is a real, legitimate title. You were trained from birth to take over the Cassadine Empire. My brother raised you, and he loved you, Nikolas, beyond all reason. Unfortunately, he died. Your mother is Laura. She left you in Greece when you were very young.

Nikolas: How did I end up here?

Alexis: Obligation. You made friends here, Nikolas. You made good friends. They were your own age, and you had never had that experience before.

Nikolas: Was I happy?

Alexis: I think so -- for a Cassadine. The Cassadines have never been accused of looking at the bright side of things. You were kind, you were generous, you were loyal. You wanted to replace the Cassadine insanity with reason. You were our soul, our conscience.

Nikolas: Like -- like Emily is for the Quartermaines.

Alexis: In a way, yes.

Nikolas: Yeah. I think I'm beginning to realize why we fell in love.

Ric is in the park on his cell phone.

Ric: Yeah, I'll be back at the office in a few minutes. All right. Bye. (Carly walks by him) Carly -- Carly, wait a minute.

Carly: I have nothing to say to you, Ric.

Ric: Look, your family is worried about you. You might want to call home.

Carly: You better stay away from my family, Ric.

Ric: Well, I'm trying, Carly, believe me, but it's a little difficult -- at least in the professional sense. Can't say that I blame you for walking out, though.

Carly: Who said that I walked out?

Ric: Oh, right, of course, yeah. Sonny was a little vague. I mean, after all, I can't blame him. You know, his wife disappears, finds out his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with another man's child, Jason’s nowhere to be found. But Michael -- I think he's going to grow up very, very well. Mm-hmm, that's one tough kid you're raising there.

Alexis comes across them and listens behind some bushes. She doesn't let them know she's there.

Carly: Do they teach you this in law school, Ric, because you're not in the courtroom. You do not get to interrogate me.

Ric: Yeah. Double the Corinthos surveillance. Something's about to break with Sam McCall. I want to be able to move in if she turns up. Yeah, we should be able to charge Corinthos with aiding and abetting.

Ric turns around and sees Alexis watching him. He looks concerned.

Alexis: Was that about your job or are you trying to prove your brother's wrong again?

Ric: My brother is aiding and abetting a convicted murderer.

Alexis: Your brother is making you look bad, and that's making you mad.

Ric: Oh, really? This from the woman who hates to lose?

Alexis: Nice try.

Ric: No, no, no, it's a simple observation. Look, you enjoy feeling superior. You know, you like being right. You were wrong about Sonny. Now it's eating you up. So be it.

Alexis: He's your obsession, not mine.

Ric: Well, then why did you feel compelled to dig at me when you realized there was a chance that I might arrest him?

Alexis: I was offering a friendly word of caution.

Ric: That was "friendly"? I missed that.

Alexis: Well, you miss a lot of things when you're pursuing a vendetta.

Ric: Well, you know what? Thank you for that unoriginal, brilliant observation of me, but right now I have a job to do.

Alexis: Hey. Wait a minute.

Alexis: If I hadn't wasted years defending Sonny and Jason, they'd be in prison right now.

Ric: Well, that's where they belong.

Alexis: Perhaps. But I needed to let that go. I just offered you really good advice, and this was the one time you really didn't need to bite my head off.

Ric: Ok. All right, fair enough. I guess I'm just concerned with the welfare of Sam’s child. You know, she doesn't have a choice in any of this. I mean, can you imagine a child growing up in a world like Sonny's?

Alexis: It's a reasonable argument.

Ric: Thank you.

Alexis: But it's not what's motivating you. You're motivated by your obsession with your brother.

Ric: Look, Sonny put himself in the middle of this; I didn’t. He thinks he can do whatever he wants to, and he holds people like you and I and the law in complete contempt. I'm just trying to clean up the mess.

Alexis: Aren't we all?

Ric: Are you saying that I’m right?

Alexis: No. No.

Ric: No, I didn't think so.

Alexis: I didn't say that.

Ric: Ok. Hey, listen -- look, would you -- would you consider having dinner with me sometime? I mean -- I don't know -- maybe go to New York or Montréal or --

Alexis: What?

Ric: Look, I -- imagine the two of us away from all this, you know, no cases to win, no -- no distractions.

Alexis: Well -- uh -- I can tell you that that hasn't crossed my mind, not once.

Ric: Look, would you consider it?

Alexis: Yes.

She turns and leaves.