Chapter 4: Waging War

Nikolas picked up the paper and looked at the date.  February 1st. He opened the 
instantly took out the section on available apartments and tried to sneak back 
to his room, but Henry spotted him. 

Henry: Hey, Nikolas.

Nikolas: Hi.

Henry noticed which section of the paper it was.

Henry: You're moving?!

Nikolas: I will pay you $500 not to say anything to your father.

Henry: I wasn’t going to say anything anyway, but if you insist…

Nikolas: It's just… I have lived surrounded by servants and Uncle so long, I 
just want to live on my own.

Henry: Nikolas, you don't have to explain it to me, I get it.  I plan to bail 
here when I graduate from high school myself…  It's just father you have to 
convince.

Nikolas: Right…  Well, I'm going to read over this now, see if I can find 
anything.

Henry: Good luck…  Oh, before I forget, I got something for you.

Henry held out a tape.

Henry: It was with the mail, with your name on it.  I assume it's for you.

Nikolas: Oh, thanks.

Nikolas looked at it, wondering what it was.  He took the tape out and saw "The 
Truth" written on it.  What could this be?

Nikolas: Huh…  I'm gonna have to watch this later.

Henry: Well, I'm going to Audrey's house.

Nikolas: Is Lizzie back in town?

Henry: Yep.  She and her family got in town last night.  I just thought I'd stop 
by and see how she's doing…  Well, later.

Nikolas: Bye.

~^~

"No!" Laura yelled to Stefan, "We have put this off for a month, Stefan, we 
can't do it any longer."

Stefan: It has been a month… The truth has not come out yet, maybe she was 
bluffing…

Laura: Stefan, you of all people know Helena does not bluff.  I know you don't 
want to do this, but we have to.  If Nikolas knows, it has to be by us.

Stefan: All right… We will tell him…  Not tonight, though. Quinn, Miranda, 
Alexis and Ned are having dinner at Wyndemere tonight, I would like this to be a 
nice occasion.  One last meal before the execution, I guess you could say.

Laura: All right…  I'll give you tonight, but that's it.  First thing tomorrow, 
I'm telling him with or without you…  I have to go now, I need to go to drop 
Lulu off at Felicia's and then head over to the school to get Lulu
registered for kindergarten next year.

Stefan: I shall leave you now, then.  Good bye.

Stefan left Laura's house and Laura closed her eyes.  How much more of this 
could she take?  All of these lies were just becoming too much.  She meant what 
she told Stefan, with or without him, she would tell Nikolas tomorrow morning.  
Then she could finally tell Luke and Lucky and all of this will be over. She 
went into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and then she got ready to head to 
Felicia's.

~^~

Alexis left the bathroom after taking a hot shower and looked at herself in the 
mirror.  She put her hands on her stomach and smiled.  She could not wait to 
tell the rest of the family the news. Suddenly, the phone rang.

Alexis: Alexis Ashton, who is speaking?

Cirtus: Hello, Alexis, I need your services.  I would like to sue Stefan 
Cassadine for my money.

Alexis: *confused* Who is this?

Cirtus: Cirtus Cassadine, and I want the money that is rightfully mine…