Chapter 12

For several minutes, Stefan continued to hold Katherine in his arms.  It had 
been months and months since he had known such peace.  He felt whole again, and 
he never wanted to let her go. However, the spell was broken as Katherine began 
to lift her head from his shoulder.  Stefan grasped both sides of her face and 
looked deep into her eyes.  "I never tried to murder you.  I never tried to kill 
you."  

Katherine looked back into his face.  Here was a man who was in reality an 
absolute stranger to her.  They shared a baby, but she had no remembrance of 
their past.  The newspaper articles had only described a painful past between 
them.  Her mind was telling her to leave him, take their baby, and never look 
back.  Yet, her heart was telling her to stay.  For some inexplicable reason, 
she was totally drawn to this man.  "I want so much to believe you.  I want so 
much to believe that you are telling me the truth."

"I am Katherine.  I would never harm you.  Please, believe me."  Stefan slowly 
dropped his hands from Katherine's face.

"If we are to have any future together, I have to know about our past.  I need 
to know what really happened."  There was only the sound of desperation in 
Katherine's voice as she asked for answers.

The room was silent and full of tension as Stefan thought about the events that 
had shaped their relationship.  He knew that he was going to have to answer 
Katherine's questions very carefully.  One misspoken word or slip of the tongue 
could prove disastrous.  If this meant the truth had to be stretched or 
discarded all together, then so be it.  Stefan's heart was pounding nearly out 
of chest as he asked, "Where do you want to start?"

Quickly, Katherine answered.  "How did we meet?… How did we really meet?"  

Keeping his composure, Stefan began to recall the fateful night in which he had 
first laid eyes on Katherine.  "As I said before, it was a foggy December night.  
You had come to Spoon Island to speak with Nikolas, and you lost your way.  I, 
myself, was walking alone on the island that night when I came upon you. You had 
been shot, and you were lying near death."

By now, Katherine's heart was beating as hard as Stefan's. She was trying to 
picture in her mind the events that he was describing.  "Who shot me?"  She 
asked.

"I don't know.  You had no remembrance of the shooting, and the police had few 
leads.  Consequently, the gunman was never found."  Stefan had no intention of 
ever confessing that he was in fact the unknown assailant.

"I don't understand," Katherine said despondently.  She had been hoping that her 
mind would remember something of that night. However, she could not recall 
anything.  The realization that part of her memory was gone forever was becoming 
a reality.  "I read in one of those articles that I was shot by a gun owned by 
Luke Spencer.  Did he shoot me?  Is he responsible for me being paralyzed at one 
time?"

Stefan knew that it would be easy to accuse Luke Spencer as the gunman.  
However, what would he do if Katherine by chance ever came face to face with 
Spencer?  She would accuse him, and Spencer would happily announce that Stefan 
Cassadine was the true culprit. At first, he hesitated, and then he answered.  
"The police were never able to prove Luke Spencer as the shooter.  I believe the 
unofficial police theory was that the shooter had found Spencer's gun on the 
island and that I was the intended victim.  I have made enemies around the world 
Katherine.  It is not hard for me to believe that your shooting was really an 
assassination plot meant for me."

The expression forming on Katherine's face immediately told Stefan that he had 
misspoken.  He knew what her next question was going to be.  "Why would Luke 
Spencer's gun be on Spoon Island?" Mentally, he cursed at himself for the 
mistake.  He could not tell Katherine that she had once been shot and paralyzed 
due to his overwhelming grief over the belief that Laura Spencer had died.

So, before she could ask the question that he knew was on her lips, he 
continued.  "I visited you daily at the hospital. Admittedly at first, it was 
out of guilt.  You had been left paralyzed from the waist down.  I felt as 
though it was my fault because you had been shot on my property."  He didn't 
tell Katherine that his guilt was actually due to the fact that he had been the 
one who had shot her.  "Then, as I visited you more and more, I realized that it 
wasn't guilt that was drawing me to you… I was falling in love."

Katherine thought about what Stefan was telling her.  How they met was almost 
like a fairytale and a nightmare both at the same time.  Was it really possible 
that such a tragedy was fated to happen in order to lead her to this man?  
However, something was bothering Katherine.  It was her conversation with Bobbie 
earlier that afternoon.  She did not relish the idea of being responsible for 
the break-up of Bobbie's marriage to Stefan.  Katherine could hardly believe 
that she had once been "the other woman."  So, she carefully choose her words 
before she asked Stefan if this was true.  "I spoke with Bobbie this afternoon.   
She told me that you own General Hospital, and the two of you were once married… 
Did we have an affair?  Was it our affair that destroyed your marriage to 
Bobbie?"

"No, that is not what happened," Stefan stated emphatically almost before 
Katherine had finished her question.  "We were drawn together while I was 
married to Barbara.  For hours, we would talk.  I told you things about myself 
that I had never told another living person.  I poured my heart and soul out to 
you.  I even made you the director of the public relations department at General 
Hospital so that we could be closer together.  To the rest of the world, I wore 
a facade.  With you, I was able to be myself. Of course you don't remember, but 
the fact is, no one knows me better than you do Katherine."  It saddened Stefan 
to say those last words because the woman who knew him best no longer remembered 
him.

Then, Stefan finally answered Katherine's original question by grasping her 
right hand as he spoke.  "We never had a physical relationship while I was 
married to Barbara.  I would never have shamed or disgraced you like that by 
asking you to have an affair with a married man… I loved you too much."

Katherine had not expected to hear those words.  Here was a man who had put his 
own feelings aside because he wanted what was best for her.  Maybe they really 
had once been in love?  However, if it wasn't an affair that broke-up his 
marriage what was it?  "Bobbie said that you and her brother Luke hate each 
other.  Is that true? Did some sort of Cassadine-Spencer feud destroy your 
marriage or was it us?"

Stefan let go of Katherine's hand.  He stood up and walked around to the back of 
his chair.  He made a mental note to issue orders that Barbara was never to be 
Katherine's nurse again.  His hands gripped into the chair's leather backing.  
"You have to understand my background in order to understand me.  I was brought 
up to believe that a man only marries once.  Divorce is totally unacceptable.  
Even though I soon realized that my marriage to Barbara was a mistake, I would 
never have divorced her, not even for you.  To me, marriage is a lifetime 
commitment.  I had made that commitment to Barbara, and I fully intended to keep 
my wedding vows no matter how I felt about you."

Stefan paused for a moment.  It still angered him when he thought about how 
Barbara had betrayed him.  It wasn't because he regretted their marriage ending.  
In fact, he was glad that Barbara had given him the excuse to divorce her.  He 
was just still furious by how she had deceived him.  Stefan's hands clawed 
deeper and deeper into the back of the chair.  "I admit it.  I hate Luke 
Spencer.  In my war with that man, Barbara aligned herself with her brother 
instead of with her husband.  I could have endured my marriage under any 
circumstance except one, betrayal.  I refused to live my life with a traitor."

"Why?… Why do you hate Luke Spencer so?"  Katherine could hear the disgust in 
Stefan's voice when he merely spoke Luke's name.  Over her lifetime, she had 
disliked many people.  However, she had never really hated anyone.

"Luke Spencer killed my brother.  He killed Stavros.  Laura had married my 
brother only after she had thought Luke had died. Later, Laura discovered that 
Luke was still alive.  Almost immediately, she left Cassadine Island and her 
son, Nikolas, in order to return to her first husband.  My brother followed her 
and fought with Spencer.  In the ensuing battle, he fell down a flight of stairs 
and broke his neck.  Luke Spencer killed my brother and has still to this day 
not paid for his crime."  Stefan let go of the chair.  Where his hands had been, 
permanent cuts were now in the leather due to his fingernails.  He had been so 
furious thinking about that time in his family's life.  

Since her awakening, Katherine had spent much of her time with this man and 
their baby.  However, she had never seen this side of him before.  He was truly 
full of hate by merely talking about Luke Spencer.  "Exactly, what did Bobbie do 
that was so unforgivable?"

Stefan clasped his hands behind his back and looked out the window in order to 
calm himself.  The trees were full of snow and ice.  Winter had not been kind to 
Port Charles.  He wondered if the crystal tree necklace that he had once given 
to Katherine was still among her possessions in storage.  He made another mental 
note to ask Mrs. Lansbury so that a search could be made. "Barbara laced a drink 
of mine with a sedative in order to make me pass out.  Spencer wanted to search 
Wyndemere, and he needed me out of the way.  I have no idea what he thought that 
he was going to find."  Stefan gritted his teeth as he finished the explanation.  
"No matter how deeply I believed in the institution of marriage, I could not 
forgive Barbara's disloyalty."

Katherine had been so angry with Stefan just a mere day ago. Now, she was 
actually feeling sympathy for him.  She knew how it felt to be betrayed.  Her 
father, Avery Stanton, had betrayed her by never acknowledging her existence.  
In fact, every man in her life had betrayed her at some point except for Mac 
Scorpio. "Ending your marriage must have been very difficult for you." Katherine 
longed to walk over to Stefan, but her legs were just not strong enough.

"It was, and it wasn't.  The idea of divorce was totally foreign to me.  
However, I was then free to be with you."  Stefan turned his face away from the 
window and back towards Katherine. "The woman I truly loved."

Katherine didn't know how to respond to these continual declarations of love by 
Stefan.  They were starting to make her feel uncomfortable because she was 
unable to return them.  She looked down at her hands while she spoke.  "If you 
loved me like you say you did, why did you fire me from my public relations 
position?  From the article I read, it was a deeply humiliating experience.  How 
could a man who says he loved me do such a thing?"

"What I did, I did because of my love for you.  I wanted to protect you."  
Stefan was not about to describe the hoax that Alexis had perpetrated.  What 
could Katherine think if she knew that he had once thought her to be his sister?   
"I didn't think that I deserved you.  I convinced myself that I wasn't worthy of 
you."  He was telling the story exactly opposite as it had happened.  In 
reality, Alexis had not thought Katherine worthy of him.  "The harder that I 
tried to push you away, the harder you fought to keep us together.  I was 
totally miserable without you in my life.  In the end, it was you who saved us.  
You saw the good in me, what little there was of it."

Katherine was torn by what Stefan was telling her and by what little she knew of 
her past.  She was having trouble reconciling the two stories.  "Everything that 
you have told me so far makes it sound as though we were meant to be together.  
Like, it was destiny.  If that were the case, why would the police ever think 
that you tried to murder me?  I didn't read all of the newspaper articles, but 
from what I gathered, you were arrested.  I just don't understand."

Stefan didn't hear the last few words that Katherine spoke. Nothing registered 
after she said that she hadn't read all of the newspaper articles.  When he had 
gone back to Wyndemere last night, he had read them himself.  The articles had 
recounted Katherine's shooting, the murder trial, the murder of Lauren Masters, 
and the discovery of Katherine in Greece.  Stefan began to wonder to himself 
exactly how much did Katherine really know? He walked back over to the chair 
across from her and sat down. "How much did you read?"

Katherine felt a bit uneasy answering this question, but she went ahead.  "I 
read about my shooting and my dismissal from General Hospital.  However, I 
stopped with the headline about you being arrested.  I didn't read the entire 
article because I became so upset and angry.  I thought that you had been lying 
to me."

Stefan closed his eyes and gave thanks to the heavens.  She didn't know.  
Katherine didn't know about the murder trial.  For weeks last summer, the Port 
Charles Gazette had written countless articles about the prosecution's strategy.  
They stated that Stefan Cassadine had murdered Katherine Bell in order to 
inherit her money so that he could be with his true love, Laura Spencer. Of 
course, it wasn't true, but Katherine didn't know that.

"You have to understand Katherine.  I am not well liked in Port Charles.  
Actually, that is an understatement.  I am mostly despised.  The residents of 
Port Charles did not take kindly to me when I bought General Hospital even 
though it was in bankruptcy. I am seem simply as a foreigner."

"I know how that feels.  I don't think that I have ever been truly accepted 
either.  Yet, what made the police think that you were responsible?"  Katherine 
waited for an answer.

Quickly, Stefan thought of a response.  Perhaps this time, the truth would be 
the best choice.  "The parapet railing was loosened with a letter opener that 
was found in my desk drawer."

Katherine shook her head and thought to herself that there had to be more of a 
reason than just that.  "It seems like a letter opener in a desk drawer is 
purely circumstantial evidence.  I can hardly believe that the police would jump 
to such a conclusion based on such flimsy evidence."

"They did Katherine.  That is exactly what happened.  I truly believe that I was 
meant to fall off the parapet.  Like I said before, I have made many enemies 
through my business dealings. Anyone of my former or present business rivals 
could have done it… I did not try to murder you Katherine.  I would never harm 
you."

For the first time, Katherine thought that he was being truly sincere.  Perhaps, 
she should give him the benefit of the doubt. "I am sorry that I threw the vase 
of roses at you."

"There is no need to apologize.  I should have been more forthright with you in 
the beginning."  Stefan knew that he had Katherine almost convinced of his 
innocence.  He decided that now was the time to ask.  "I spoke with Dr. Jones 
earlier this afternoon.  He says that you are getting stronger everyday and that 
your release from the hospital is still in affect.  Will you still go back to 
Greece with Samantha and myself?"

Katherine didn't know what to say.  She had hoped to stay in Port Charles in 
order to learn more about the past.  However, if Stefan were a target of his 
enemies, maybe it would be safer for them to go live on his island.  No matter 
how she felt, her first priority had to be Samantha's safety.  So, she answered 
even though she had doubts.  "Yes, if you think that is best, I will go."

"Thank you… Thank you for trusting me enough to take care of you again.  I know 
that I failed you once.  I won't fail you again."  They continued to talk for 
awhile longer mostly about their upcoming departure.  Then, Stefan realized that 
he had to leave.  "It is getting late.  I like to be the one who rocks Samantha 
to sleep at night.  I haven't missed a night once since she was born."

Instant jealously came over Katherine.  She wished that she could be with their 
baby tonight.  In reality, Samantha knew her father better than her mother.  It 
just wasn't fair.  "Do you think we could leave for your island tomorrow?"  
Katherine was willing to go anywhere just so she could be with their baby.

Stefan smiled when he heard her question.  "Of course.  By this time tomorrow, 
we will be heading towards our new home with Samantha."

Katherine liked the sound of "our home."  She had never had a real home.  She 
had always felt like an outsider her entire life. Everything was going to be 
different from now on.

--------------------

Leaving Katherine's hospital room, Stefan's spirits were high. He had seemed to 
calm her fears and regained back her trust.  How could he have known that she 
hadn't read all of those newspaper articles?  Fate was truly on his side.  
However, he was still determined to find the person who had sent those articles 
to Katherine.  He would not let this rest.

On the other hand, Stefan was bothered by the fact that Katherine was not 
wearing his engagement ring.  He had not even approached the subject.  Once he 
had Katherine and their baby back in Greece, he would put the engagement ring 
back on her finger where it belonged.  He had simply not wanted to overwhelm 
her. What Katherine needed was time and demonstrations of his love. Instead of 
kissing her good-bye the way he had longed to do, he had kissed the back of her 
hand.  Katherine had seemed to be touched by the simple Old World gesture.

Stefan opened the door, which connected General Hospital to an attached parking 
garage.  The garage was dark except for the security lights.  He burrowed his 
hands deep into the pockets of his full-length black coat.  The air was so cold 
that he could see his breath.  Greece would be a wonderful change from the 
weather in Port Charles.  As Stefan walked towards his limousine, he noticed 
that the place was deserted except for a black Mercedes Benz with darkened 
windows on the other side of the garage.

When the driver saw Mr. Cassadine approach, he immediately got out of the 
limousine in order to open the passenger door.  "Mr. Cassadine," the driver 
spoke, "you should have telephoned me that you were ready to leave.  I would 
have picked you up at the front door of the hospital."

"It doesn't matter," Stefan replied as he started to climb into the limousine.  
He had simply not wanted to waste any time returning to Wyndemere.  So many 
preparations needed to be made before tomorrow.

"Mr. Cassadine," the driver spoke once more.  "There is someone who would like 
to speak with you."  

Stefan turned around to look at the driver and then shifted his focus to where 
the driver was pointing.  He saw a woman getting out of a grey car.  Stefan had 
not even noticed the car setting in the shadows.  Walking out of those same 
shadows towards him, it was Laura Spencer.  Stefan ordered the driver to get 
back into the limousine.  Quickly, he scanned the parking garage to see if 
anyone was around because he did not want to be seen with her.

"What are you doing her Laura?"  Stefan snapped.

"I… I have to speak with you.  It is about Nikolas."  Her voice was pleading for 
a moment of his time.

Stefan motioned for Laura to get into the limousine.  Then, he got in himself.  
If they had to talk, it was going to be in private.  Stefan closed the privacy 
window and turned on the interior lights.  Then, he waited for Laura to speak.

"I spoke with Nikolas on the phone the other day.  He sounds as though he likes 
Cambridge.  I miss him, but I think it was wonderful for him to have gone away 
to college.  It will be good for him to be on his own."  Stefan was just looking 
at her with impatience.  So, she stopped her rambling.  It had been a lie. She 
had not come to talk about Nikolas.  It had been an excuse. She had wanted to 
see Stefan.  "Nikolas told me that you are going back to Greece with Katherine 
and your baby.  Is that true?… Were you going to leave Port Charles without even 
saying good-bye?"

Stefan rubbed his forehead with his right hand.  "Yes, it is true.  We are 
leaving tomorrow… Is this why you came to see me Laura?  You could have asked 
this on the phone."

"Maybe I would have asked on the phone, but you don't take my calls anymore.  I 
don't know how many messages that I have left with Mrs. Lansbury.  It seems like 
you don't want me in any part of your life."  Laura put her hand on Stefan's 
arm.  "Please, look at me."

Slowly, Stefan turned to face Laura.  He spoke without emotion. "When we last 
saw each other at Wyndemere not long ago, we both agreed to end our 
relationship.  You told me yourself that you were going to try and salvage your 
marriage.  What would be the point of us continuing to have any contact?"

"My marriage to Luke is over," Laura quickly answered.  She had been waiting for 
days to tell Stefan because she wanted him to know.

"What do you mean its over?"

"It means just what I said.  My marriage has come to an end.  My heart is no 
longer with Luke.  My heart belongs to you."  Laura searched Stefan's face to 
see if he was elated with the news.  All last fall, he had urged her to leave 
Luke.  Now, she was prepared to take the step.  However, she did not see joy on 
his face but rather annoyance.

Stefan spoke as he removed his arm from her grasp.  "You don't know what you are 
saying."

"Yes, I do Stefan."  Her voice was full of desperation.  "We belong together.  I 
have never been so happy in my life as I was over Christmas.  When we made love 
on Christmas Eve, I knew then that you were the man that I belonged with.  Then, 
everything changed."

"You are correct.  Everything did change after Christmas." Stefan thought about 
the day he discovered the truth that Nikolas was not his son.  The emotional 
scars still had not healed and probably never would.

"When I came to see you at Wyndemere a few weeks ago, you told me that you never 
loved me.  You said that I was merely an obsession."  Shaking her head, Laura 
continued.  "I don't believe that.  I don't believe that at all.  What we feel 
for each other is real… Stefan, I love you."

For nearly twenty years, Stefan Cassadine had waited to hear those words from 
Laura.  How many times had he dreamed about Laura declaring her love for him?  
Hearing those words from her now, he realized that it didn't even matter.  There 
was only one woman he longed to hear "I love you" from, and that was Katherine.  
Stefan thought about all the years he had spent on his quest to claim Laura for 
his own.  Now, when she finally came to him, he longed for another.  It was 
really quite ironic.  "I never thought that I would hear myself say this Laura… 
Go back to your husband.  Go back to Luke.  It is over between us.  We are 
finished."

"Stefan, I know how deeply you feel for me.  Over Christmas, you told me that 
you loved me.  I know that hasn't changed.  I refuse to believe that your love 
for me was dependent on the fact that we thought we shared a child together.  
Please, don't go back to Greece.  Don't leave me."

"As I told you before Laura, our entire relationship was based entirely on the 
belief that Nikolas was my son.  Over the years, I became so caught up in that 
fantasy that I didn't even know what was reality."  Stefan gritted his teeth as 
he spoke.  "I don't know how many times that I am going to have to tell you this 
Laura.  It is over between us."

Laura was about to continue her plea for Stefan to return to her when he opened 
the limousine door and stepped out.  Then, he motioned for Laura to do the same.  
They stood facing each other for a brief moment.  Stefan expected to say good-
bye to her and then be gone.  However, she caught him totally by surprise by 
what she did next.  Laura reached up, put her arms around his neck, and kissed 
him.  Immediately, Stefan grabbed Laura's arms in order to pull her away.  She 
was breathing heavily as she spoke.  "It will never be over between us Stefan.  
You can runaway to Greece, but it will never be over."  Then, she walked over to 
her car.

Stefan watched her drive off as he wiped his mouth with his hand. Stefan climbed 
back into his limousine and ordered the driver to head for the docks.  As the 
limousine left the parking garage, it drove past the only other car left in the 
place.  Once the Cassadine limousine was out of sight, a man stepped out of the 
black Mercedes Benz.  He was holding a camera in his hands.  The entire scene 
between Stefan and Laura had been captured on film.