Chapter 6 Laura woke up the next morning, to a shooting pain in her stomachs. She was used to the baby kicking by now, but this pain was different. It felt almost like… but no. It was far too soon. It had only been about six months. She involuntarily cried out at another pain. Crawling out of bed and grabbing the housecoat, she started towards the door, but doubled over in pain and ended up on the floor. "Oh my God." she moaned, managing to prop herself up by the bed. "Lucky!" She yelled, as loudly as she could, remembering his room was right next to hers. No one responded for what seemed like forever. She closed her eyes. Before too long she heard the door open. "Did you call me… Mom?!" Lucky ran into the room when he saw her on the floor. "Lucky, I think… oh, God!" She screamed. "What’s wrong, Mom? Is it the baby?" "I think… I going… into… into labor." she gasped. "But it’s too soon." Lucky shook his head. "I know,” Laura cried. "Is there… oh!… is there any way I can… get to the hospital?" "Well it’s stopped snowing. The lights are back on - I don’t think there will be any problems getting there. Do you want Stefan to call Wenders." "Stefan… Where’s Stefan?" She moaned. Just then, Liz entered the room. "She wants Stefan. Go get Stefan, Liz!" Elizabeth ran out the door, and returned a few seconds later with Stefan, who had been close by. "What’s happening, Lucky?" he asked, immediately taking Laura’s hand. "She thinks she’s going into labor. We need to get her to GH." Before the words were out of Lucky’s mouth, Stefan was dialing his cell phone. "Wender? Yes. Have the boat ready as soon as possible. It’s an emergency. Hurry!" He clicked the phone shut. "Stefan?" Laura looked up at him. "Yes, Lasha?" Suddenly, even though by now, everyone was there, suddenly they were the only two people in the room. "It’s too soon. I’m afraid…" "Don’t be. Everything is going to be all right." He picked her up. "I won’t let anything happen to you. Can you put your arms around my neck?" She nodded weakly as they descended the stairs. Lucky, Nikolas, Liz, and Emily followed at a distance. "Should we come?" Nikolas asked. Stefan looked down at Laura, who was shaking her head. "I’ll call when we know something." Stefan assured them, as he grabbed Laura’s coat from the closet and continued out the door. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Rise and shine, Partner!" Luke shook Alexis awake. "Get your hands off of me!" She slapped at his hands then glanced over at the clock. "I don’t have to get up for another hour, you idiot! Get out of my room! Wait a second… what are you doing in my apartment?!" "You go to work on Saturdays? God, you’re even stranger than I thought you were. To answer your question, if we’re gonna to be working together, I’m gonna to be over here quite a bit, darlin." "Oh, that’s just great. That’s just… wait a minute - what are you drinking?" "Wine." "What kind of wine?" She asked through clenched teeth. "I don’t know. Whatever kind of wine you’ve got in your cupboard." "No! Oh, God, what a way to start the day." She was out of bed and running to the kitchen and opening a cupboard. "You would open the only expensive wine I have in here! You’re going to pay for that. I’ll take cash or a check." She turned back to him. "Oh, Natasha, loosen up! Are you always this crabby in the morning?" He took a leisurely sip of her wine. "Only when people wake me up in the middle of night!" she retorted. Just then the telephone rang and Luke picked it up. "Hello?" He covered the phone with his hand. "It’s your little Neddy." Alexis grabbed the phone away from him. "Hello?… Oh, no one, Ned… A janitor? No not exact - ok a janitor." Alexis glanced up at Luke and glared. "I’m sorry don’t think so… No, not today. My schedule is completely filled… Tonight?" Luke shook his head. "You’re busy tonight." He informed her. "…Yeah, Ned. The janitor again… He’s looking at my calendar… Well, he’s over here quite a bit. You know how messy I am… Oh, you don’t? Well I am!… No, Ned. I’m meeting with… a very important…" "Partner." Luke suggested. "…Well, of course you wouldn’t know. I just got this partner, Ned… Who? Oh… umm… you don’t know him." Alexis laughed. "…Oh don’t worry, Ned I won’t fall for him. He’s very old… and he’s bald. Definitely not my type… Ok… kiss, kiss. See you tomorrow." She hung up the phone. "Am I really bald?" Luke asked, looking at his reflection in the microwave. "What do you want, Luke?" "I just wanted to make sure you haven’t changed your mind." "Why did you really come?" "Well… I didn’t want to tell you just yet, but… ok. Helena’s gone." "Do you know where she went?" "Someplace in Europe… Paris I think." "Did you have her followed or something?" Alexis joked. "Well… Sort of." "What?! Who else is in on this?!" Luke covered her mouth. "Will you kindly keep your voice down. You… ouch! God! You didn’t have to bite my hand." "Don’t ever put your hand over my mouth again. I don’t know where it’s been." "Care for me to tell you?" "No. Let’s leave something for tonight." "If you insist. Don’t worry, Natasha. One of Helena’s servants keeps me updated on her movements. Since we keep in touch over the Internet, the servant doesn’t know who I am - and don’t know who the servant is." "Ok. So what do you suggest?" "I suggest that we follow her there." "Are you insane?" "Natasha, what better way to kill her? She won’t know a soul in Paris - only her servants will be there to protect her. It’ll be so easy. Give me one reason why we shouldn’t." "I could give you millions. I’ll narrow it down to three, though. I can’t just leave whenever I want. I have a job! Secondly -" "Do you have any cases as the moment?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "No. But -" "Well number one’s out. Go on. What’s your second reason?" "Well… umm… Ned! I can’t just leave. What would I tell him?" "Tell him you need a vacation!" Luke exclaimed, as if the answer was obvious. "He’ll want to come." "And you don’t think your relationship is obsessive?!" She hit him over the head with the spoon she was using to stir her tea. "You’ve really gotta stop this physical violence thing Alexis. One of these day your gonna kill me!" He laughed. She looked up at him, almost as scared as she had been when they had accidentally killed Katherine. How could he know? It was impossible… he had only been kidding - hadn’t he? She took a deep breath. Of course he had been kidding. If he had said that a few days ago she would have thought nothing of it. What would she have a few days ago in return? "Don’t tempt me, Spencer." She replied, mechanically. "Well, that was a delayed response! Does your brain slow down early in the morning?" "Oh, just shut up and leave! I need to get ready for work!" Alexis led him to the door. "Does that mean you don’t wanna go for number three? "Anything to get you out of here!" "You’re coming?" "Yeah." "We’re leaving tonight. I’ll meet you here around nine-thirty. Kiss, kiss." He called back, as she slammed the door in his face. As soon as he was gone, she ran to her dresser where she had put the envelope from last night. She had decided that if the documents were anywhere near as bad as the pictures, she couldn’t deal with them until morning. She began to open the envelope again, but the very thought turned her stomach, and she ended up not opening it after all.