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When Cassadines Fall
You'll Never Know
Jerry's voice comes over the intercom to the cabin of the plane. "Keep it buckled up back there we're going to ride some rough winds into Louisiana. All goes well we'll beat Maddy into the city."
Stefan buckles up his seat belt. "And if it doesn't go well?"
"I don't think I want to know. Damn Hooligan." Edward mutters.
Jerry doesn't realize that the intercom is still on when he adds the aside to Nikolas. "Course if I time this one wrong they'll be picking pieces up all over the hills of West Virginia. Oops." Jerry turns off the intercom.
"Damn foolhardy hooligan." Edward white knuckles the arms of the chair and pats his pockets for his nitro tablets just in case. Within minutes the flight gets bumpy, real bumpy as Jerry finds the air current he wants and starts surfing it. Conversation is limited as each passenger finds their own way of dealing with the rough ride. Edward starts saying his prayers thanking God for all his years with Lila, two plus ungrateful children, five plus ungrateful grandchildren. Whoops make that four. Emily is a good girl. And the great grandchildren, he's thankful for them too although it would be nice if he actually got to see them now and then.
Stefan falls silent beginning to mediate. His body relaxes and flows with the motion of the rocking plane. His breathing deepens. Edward looks over at Stefan. "Damn fool. You think now is the time to take a nap?"
Stefan doesn't open his eyes as he answers. "Can you think of a better time?"
Up in the cockpit, Nikolas watches with a grim fascination as Jerry practically yeehaws when they hit a patch of turbulance that sets the plane to rocking violently. "Remind me to never go rafting with you..."
"Are you kidding? This is fun!" Jerry looks over at the pasty faced Nik and grins. "courtesy bag is to the right. You lose it anywhere else and you're cleaning it up. Bet you're just a bundle of laughs on a roller coaster. Good thing I checked this baby out on the ground. Wouldn't want a screw loose now would ya?"
Nik mutters under his breath. "Unfortunately nobody checked to see if the pilot had a screw loose."
"No skin off my nose, mate. We can meet up with Maddy at the airport or at the hospital. If it's getting too rough for ya."
"No, this is fine." Nik says between gritted teeth.
"You shouldn't grit your teeth that way. One wicked bout of turbulance and you'll be signing up for dental caps."
Back at the carriage house of Wyndermere lite. Lucky and Liz play host to Emily and Johnny. "Well what do you think of the place?"
"It's great." Em looks around. "But you guys were such stinkers keeping this from me. I can't believe nobody said anything."
"And spoil the surprise? You got to admit, Bowen, you've been a little busy lately. Nik would have never said anything to me or Liz if the whole thing hadn't hit with the press with me getting rich over night."
"Oh my! That's right you found the old stocks in Nik's house. I though you meant the cottage! You found them HERE!"
Lucky looks out the window toward the house that actually has a good view of the lot. He bring Em over to look at it. "Actually there were three houses. Two of them were beyond repair good only for parts and the main house that was looking kind of sorry. Nik gave me a ring told me about a safe he wanted cracked that he found in the house over there. When I showed up it was still in the wall and the bulldozers were on their way."
"Then what happened?" Em prompts fascinated by the story.
"Well there was a pulley lying about from when Nik had pulled this huge claw foot tub out of the house. So we rigged the safe up and lowered it to wheel barrel. Brought it back over here. In exchange for opening the safe, I got the safe and the contents and Nik took one thing from it."
"You got all those stocks and what did Nik take?"
"That Victorian choker necklace and earrings that Maddy was wearing tonight."
Em bites her lip her worry about Maddy coming back to the forefront. "How did Maddy end up living here?"
"Nik owed her a favor. She needed a place to stay and told him she didn't mind living in a construction zone. Nik stayed out at the cottage until just a bit ago when Maddy moved all his furniture out and over here."
"Way more furniture than he had at the cottage."
"Yeah, well he's been making copies of those auctions that Carly likes to attend so much on the weekends and picking up a few things here and there."
"That's why he moved Sheba out to Carly's stables."
"Right. Between the construction here and the hospital he was never out at the cottage. Carly makes sure Sheba gets ridden regularly."
"I still can't believe that nobody told me! That I didn't figure it out. I mean I think Carly had it figured out. She asked me how many friends you and Maddy had that I didn't know about. Especially friends you'd be staying with. And here you are both of you, all of you, staying with Nik."
"Well you know now. Look on the plus side, Em...." Liz intervenes. "Unlike the motorcycle garage this place has heat. You can see why it got my vote. And the only condition was keeping it a secret until the housewarming so it would be a surprise. And it's a really cool surprise right?!"
"Very cool, I guess." Emily agrees hesitantly.
"Em, we should get going. Ms Lila's flying solo at the mansion and I'm going to have to do the early circuit of the kiosks." Johnny cuts off the questioning. Lucky and Liz walk them out to Johnny's van and wait for them to pull away before walking back into the carriage house.
"How soon before she figures it out?" Liz asks.
"Oh about the next time Monica says It's my house and Alan says I gave it to you " Lucky winces. "What a mess."
"Shouldn't Nik have called by now?"
"He's probably got his hands full. Come on-- Jerry Jacks, Edward Quartermaine and Stefan Cassadine all in one plane?"
"Well everyone still all in one piece back there?" Jerry says cheerfully over the intercom. "Good news it's clear sailing from here on in and I'd say we picked up a good half hour. Got a good chance of catching Maddy at the airport now." Jerry clicks off the intercom. "Wanna go back there and check on them all?"
Nik nods unfastening his seat belt and rising to his feet. He grabs the back of the seats as his legs go wobbly beneath him. He exhales and claims. "I'm fine." And then starts making his way back making sure he is hanging onto something all the way. It was like being on the ocean and then back on land. It took a minute or two to get bearings back. "Anyone need a drink?"
"Make mine a double." Edward brushes his hand over his brow not surprised when it comes back sweaty. That had been more invigorating than the last stress test that quack at GH had put him through.
Nik goes over to the bar and pours Edward his drink and grabs a hot towel from the repository where they are stored for just before landing. Looked like Edward needs his now. "Here you go, Mr Quartermaine. Uncle?"
"Water would be fine." Stefan tells Nik. "So when will we becoming in for a landing?"
"About an hour." Nik guesses. "Jerry thinks that we should arrive about the same time as the plane Maddy is on now. We've made up for whatever time we lost tracking them down and following them."
"Unless their pilot is as much of a daredevil as Mr Jacks."
"Frankly, uncle, I don't think it is possible."
"This whole scenario doesn't make any sense." Stefan complains. He'd been chewing this over as part of his mediation. "If the situation is so urgent, so grave, why did Robideau send someone? He added hours to the travel time. If he had called then Maddy could have been at the hospital hours ago. After our conversation and that with Mr Quartermaine..." Stefan nods in Edward's direction. "... he had to know that we would ensure her safe and swift passage to New Orleans."
"He didn't want Maddy there hours ago." Nik agrees with Stefan but not in the way that Stefan expected.
"What do you mean, young man?" Edward studies Nik with a narrowed gaze.
"We aren't getting any information out of the hospital. If it had been a stroke, a heart attack, some kind of accident I think Pete would have done as you suggested-- called. But he didn't. He sent his son to pick Maddy up in person."
"That thug was Robideau's son?!" Stefan quirks a brow in disbelief.
"That's what Jerry thinks. The age is right. And it would be someone that Maddy wouldn't question."
"So Robideau suspects foul play." Edward mutters. "Is your mother in on this? Maddy saved both of you at that party for Alexis and Ned keeping the old bat occupied."
"It's crossed my mind." Nik admits he looks over at Stefan who nods. "Both of our minds. But Jerry has pointed out a couple of other options. a) It could be something that Maddy's mother was involved in. or b) it could be about Pete and his connections."
"So Robideau used the time for his own investigation." Stefan supposes. It would be what he would have done.
"And it's too soon to assume anything other than that little girl is in a world of hurt." Edward admits.
"Exactly." Stefan agrees quietly astonished that he and Edward would agree on anything.
Jerry comes back into the cabin having set the plane on auto pilot. "Stretch your legs now. The seatbelt light goes back on in about fifteen. That's when we'll be on the radar for New Orleans airport. Everyone still got all their teeth? Quite the E ticket attraction." He says proudly. The three look at him blankly. "Forget it." Jerry makes a quick trip to the back of the plane and then returns to the cockpit, straping himself in.
The arrival at New Orleans airport is anticlimatic. The touch down so smooth that the ice in Edward's drink doesn't even settle. Shutting the plane down in practiced steps. The party is soon on the ground and checking out the other arrivals. Jerry figures the guys in the know will be the mechanics and hunts one down to do some checking for him. By the time he's gotten back, Edward has already called for a limo and Stefan has called security to get his answers there. Nikolas is on the phone to Memorial to find out if there has been any change in Lisette Reynolds condition.
"The limo is on it's way should be out front within ten minutes." Edward gets his good news in first.
"Security doesn't deal routinely with the private jets." Stefan adds in a disgusted voice. "They mainly patrol the commercial venues."
"Lisette is still in Grave condition."
"Down that corridor and and about three doors down." Jerry points the way. "The ground crew already has a work order." Jerry leads the way with Edward, Stefan and Nikolas close on his heels. As soon as they are down the corridor they know exactly where the plane will be coming in. Airport might not provide security but Pete Robideau sure as hell does. There are three beefy guys and one evil eyed woman checking them out as soon as they turned the corner. "Oh boy." Jerry keeps his hands away from his body. "Someone want to tell Pete that Jerry Jacks is here?!" Jerry stops enough back to not be threatening.
Pete comes out of the seating area having heard his voice. "Jerry? What the hell are you doing here?"
"That's what I'd like to know! What's going on with Maddy? And if she needed a lift to town why didn't you just give me a ring I'd have brought her down myself."
Pete looks behind Jerry to where the Cassadines and Edward wait. "How did you manage...." Pete looks at Jerry again. "Nevermind. I wasn't in the mood to start tracking down phone numbers." Pete turns around to go back to the chairs. Jerry follows him easing by the bodyguards. Pete takes a seat. Jerry remains standing not so much in a power play but because he'd been sitting too long already. Edward takes a nearby seat. Stefan and Nikolas hang back. "What do you know?" Pete asks tiredly.
"That her mother is in grave condition at Memorial hospital."
"Her mother is dead." Pete says flatly. He points to his head. "There is no brain activity. Only the machines keep her breathing. And that is only until Maddy can get here to say her last respects."
"My god!" Stefan exclaims. He sits down. Death was a frequent companion to the Cassadine; a threat tossed casually around but this coldness was even beyond the family's callousness.
"How?" Nikolas asks resting a hand on his uncles' shoulder.
"I could protect Lisette from the outside but I could not protect from the filth she let in." Pete says bitterly. "One of the neighbors called after calling the police. The police called the ambulance and rescue unit. Tic tock, tic tock time passing. More time until she gets to the hospital. More time for the scum to attempt..." Pete sneers. "...to get from my reach. The doctors try for their miracle. Her heart beats. A machine pushes the air in and out but there is nothing there, nothing but a bloody shell."
Nikolas fingers dig into Stefan's shoulders. That was the same way that Maddy had described Granny Rosa after finding her. "Was it like last time? a home invasion"
Pete looks over at him. "Non. It was her lover." Pete looks to the windows and sees the plane approaching. He rises to his feet and goes to the window watching as it slow and the steps are extended. Ricky is first off the plane checking the scene first and then assisting Madeliene from the plane. The shock had worn off leaving only despair. Pete throws the door open. Maddy sees him and runs to him holding him fast about the waist and burying her head into his chest. Pete wraps his arms around her, hugging her close and kissing the top of her head.
"Poppi, Is she?" Maddy looks up at him not bothering to wipe away the tears.
"She won't last the night." Pete tells her gently.
"How?"
"Later. First you must see her and make your peace. There will be time enough for the rest later." Pete pats Maddy on the back. "Your friends beat you here." He indicates the Cassadines and Edward.
"I'm sorry." Maddy stutters. "I left without telling you..."
"Enough Madeliene. There is no apology necessary. We're here for you now." Stefan says calmly. He rises to his feet. "Jerry indicates he can find the hospital. We'll meet you there."
Maddy nods and buries her head again against Pete. Pete indicates with his free hand to his son. "Ricky, have the car brought around." The bodyguards split into two units one leading and the other following.
Nik catches up to the hard eyed woman of the bodyguards and hand her Maddy's bag. "There is a change of clothes and her ID in the bag. She left without them." The guard just nods stringing the bag over her shoulder and keeping moving.
The four men are silent and wait as Maddy and Pete disappear down the concourse. "Son of a Bitch!" Edward swears. "What kind of slimy scum sucking no account low life would kill that poor little girl's mother?"
"I doubt we'll ever find out." Jerry says quietly.
"No, we'll never know." Nikolas agrees.