CHAPTERS 48 & 49     CHAPTER 48: PERMANENT SEPARATION In the Wyndemere living room, Lucky and Lisa tell the finishing touches of their plan to Laura, Stefan, Nikolas and Gina. "I just hope that this works," Laura says. Stefan squeezes her shoulder, "Of course it will, Lasha." It has to, he thinks to himself. Lu walks in, with Georgie following close behind. Lisa turns around to face her and Lu is alarmed by the bruises and burns on her face and arms. "What happened to you? Are you okay?!?" Lisa starts laughing and turns to Lucky, "See, told ya." She turns back to Lu, "Yeah, I'm fine, this is just make up." Lu comes closer and examines the job, "Wow." Then she gets a quizzical look on her face, "Why?" "To get your niece back," Lisa says plainly. She then holds out a hand to Lu, "I'm Lisa, by the way." "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm Lu." Lu shakes Lisa's hand lightly, regarding her very carefully. Lucky turns to Lisa, "We'd better get going." She nods, "Yep, no time to be dragging tail now." She glances around the room at all the expectant faces, "Wish us luck," she says as she and Lucky head out the door, fully intent on retrieving Staci. After Lisa and Lucky are gone, Lu sighs, "She looks like a Spencer," she says quietly. Laura nods, "Well, she doesn't look like her mother, that's for sure. And she seems nice enough." Lu looks back at her mother, "Looks can be deceiving, Mom. I wonder what she really wants." Laura goes over and gives Lu a hug, "Don't worry sweetie, Lucky will take care of Staci." Nikolas agrees, "Lucky is very suspicious of Lisa, so he'll be watching her very carefully. He says that she's helping him to get in his good graces." Gina thinks of the picture of Lisa's son. "No one should ever be separated from their child," she says cryptically before walking quickly out of the room. Dr. Emma Goldstein meets Tommy and Emily in the ER. "What happened?" she asks quickly, as they roll Emily to a trauma room. "She went into labor on the plane. We flew back here as soon as she realized what was happening," Tommy says, just as fast. Emily is near tears, "Just tell me my baby's okay." Emma takes her hand, "Just relax for me, Emily, we're gonna get you all hooked up to the fetal monitors and find out what's going on." "Are Em and the baby gonna be okay?" Tommy asks worriedly. Emma shrugs, "I don't know, Tommy, we'll do everything we can." Veronica Bowles stands by as the police near the house where they think Staci is being held. Veronica has her cameras rolling. As the police break the door down to the empty house, she continues her play by play. "Now the authorities are assuming that this is where Anastacia Cassadine is being held. And you're seeing it all live! Right here on Around Port Charles!" Harris slams the TV off. "Damn her!" He wheels around to where Derek is sitting, both of them having just seen the news broadcast. "That's where we were the other day. How long before they find us here?" Derek shakes his head, "I think I should find us another place tomorrow morning. Obviously the cops are a couple of days behind us." Harris glares, "We should just collect our money, and kill the girl!" Derek tries to calm him down, "Don't worry, you'll get your money." Harris goes up and grabs Derek by the shirt collar, slamming him against the wall, "You'll get it tomorrow, or I kill the girl anyway. And you too, just for good measure!" Derek just nods quickly. Jason sits in the back seat of his limo and watches the recent news report on Staci. He is not happy. "So far, so good," he says quietly. "Now's your chance to get Staci back Lucky." He picks up the phone and growls into it, "Mark, get that Bowles woman out of Spencer's way. The last thing he needs is her blundering things up and making a bad situation worse." Tommy sits next to Emily's bed with his head in his hands. Just as fast as it started, it was over. Emily slept quietly, with the lines from her tears still streaking her face. She stirs and reaches out to touch his hand, saying despondently, "I'm sorry, Tommy." He takes her hand in his, "It's not your fault, Em. I still love you." She nods slowly. "Did you call Mom and Dad?" He nods this time, "They're on their way." She starts to cry again, "I still don't understand how it happened. One minute, the baby is fine, the next, he's gone. I mean I know what Doctor Goldstein said, but it's just not fair." Tommy wraps his arms around her carefully, "I know it's not fair, Em. But I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Anything you need, just name it." "I want my baby back." Lucky adds the final smoke bomb to Lisa's "wrecked" car. She gets out of it and looks around. "So far, so good," she says. Lucky nods, "This is it. Let the games begin."   CHAPTER 49: STACI'S DILEMMA Staci blinks rapidly as light streams into the dark room from the open door. Harris walks in and noticing her squinting, taunts her, "Awww, Princess, does the light hurt your eyes?" He reaches over and flips on the main light and laughs cruelly as Staci tries to hide her eyes from the bright light. He allows her eyes to adjust for a minute, then turns off the light and shuts the door, plunging the room in total darkness yet again. Staci links away tears. She hates that jerk. She's hungry, tired and most of all, wants to go home. She sometimes wonders whether she'll ever make it to her eleventh birthday. She closes her eyes and thinks more about her family... Lucky has Lu by the neck and has her nearly pinned to the ground when Staci comes around the corner. "Uncle Lucky!" she exclaims in alarm, "What are you doing?" Surprised by her presence, Lucky spins towards her, "Huh?" The distraction is all Lu needs. She uses Lucky's weight as a lever and breaks his grip, flipping him over her head. Looking down and seeing that he's all right, she busts out laughing. "Ugh," Lucky mumbles. "No fair, Lulu, you cheated." Lu smiles smugly, "You said be ready for anything. Take your own advice next time, big brother." She turns to Staci then glances at her watch, "Hey Staci, how'd you get away from your tutors so early?" "Mrs. Lansbury thought I'd like a milk and cookies break. She said you were out here, so I thought I'd see if you wanted some too." Lu smiles, "No thanks, but I might pop in later for a snack." Staci walks over to Lucky, who's still laying on the ground with his eyes closed, "What were you doing with Aunt Lu, Uncle Lucky?" Lucky is silent for a moment, then suddenly reaches up and grabs her, tickling her until she falls to her knees, "Hey short stuff." Lucky stops and lets her catch her breath, "Actually, I was teaching Lu some self defense, so she can take care of herself." "I wanna learn too," she wheedles, "Please, Uncle Lucky." Lucky smiles, "Your old man would have a cow if I started teaching that stuff to you. Better ask him first." Staci puts her hands on her hips, "You know he's gonna say no." "I know, just ask him." After a pause and a wink at Lu, Lucky adds, "Then I'll start teaching you." Coming back to the present, Staci sighs. Her dad was pretty ticked off when he found out that Lucky had taught her anyway. But maybe, she could use some of it now. It would be better than lying helpless on the floor. She knew she'd be able to get away from these goons, if only she could get her hands untied. Remembering what both Lucky and Lu taught her about untying her hands, she pulls herself to her feet and feels around for something to help loosen her bonds. She trips over something in the floor and hits her head. Ignoring the pain, she rolls around and feels for what she hit her head on. She gasps as something sharp slices her hand. The edge of the bedframe. After several minutes of trying frantically to loosen the ropes around her hand using the frame, she exhausts herself. It doesn't take long before she's asleep in the floor, her hands still tightly bound. Harris and Derek sit in the main room of the cottage, watching TV. Harris turns to Derek, "Did you hear something? Is that brat flopping around in there?" Derek raises an eyebrow, "Would you blame her if she is?" Harris grunts, then thinks for a minute, "We need to get that money delivered ASAP! No more waiting around. We're sitting ducks out here! When's the money gonna be delivered?" "We've set up a drop for tomorrow," Derek says, "Relax." They both look to the TV in unison as a special report comes on. "This is Veronica Bowles of WVPC. We are coming to you live from where we believe the young heiress, Anastacia Cassadine is being held hostage." Veronica and her cameraman hustle over to where Garcia is anxiously talking on the phone, "Commissioner Garcia, do you have any comment on the Cassadine kidnapping case?" she demands harrassingly. Garcia glares at her and finishes his phone call, "Thank you, your honor." He closes the phone and turns to Veronica, "Look Ms. Bowles, I'm going to have to ask you and your entourage to leave. I just acquired an injunction keeping you away from any officers involved in this investigation." She bounces back smiling, "You can't do that, Commissioner. Freedom of the press and all that. You're stuck with me." Damn, Garcia thinks. He was hoping his bluff would fool that annoying excuse for a reporter. Bowles thinks quickly, knowing that she's still on live, "Commissioner, WVPC is in possession of some information that might lead you to the location of the young Miss Cassadine. Our sources have lead us to believe that this kidnapping is somehow connected with the mafia influence right here in Port Charles, lead by none other than Jason Morgan." Before she can continue any further, Garcia gives a nod to one of his detectives, who quickly cuts the power cord of the camera. Harris nearly growls, not believing what he sees. "They're on to us! That's our old hideout! You have to do something about this, Barrington! How long will it be before they find this one?!?" Derek shrugs, "What do you want me to do? Sue that reporter? The cops AREN'T beating down our door. Don't worry about it. We'll stay ahead of the cops. I've left plenty of clues that will lead them in the wrong directions." Harris glares at him, "If Morgan has gotten his organization involved, YOU are in deep." Derek looks incredulously at him, "ME? What about YOU?" Harris smiles, "I can disappear and never be seen again." His look turns deadly serious as he gets right up in Derek's face, "Your body will be found floating the next day in the Port Charles River, along with the little brat's. You'll be tied together and I'll make it look like you were the biggest pervert that ever lived. Don't push me." As Harris stalks off, Derek sighs, wondering how he's ever going to get out of this mess. Garcia gets in Veronica's face, "You are damn lucky that the Cassadines haven't slapped you with so many lawsuits that you're head's spinning. You are stepping in places where you shouldn't be and are quite possibly putting that girl's life in danger." Threateningly he adds, "Could you live with yourself if that child dies because you upset the assholes that have her? I couldn't live with that on MY conscience." Flustered, Veronica starts to leave, but Garcia has one more thing to add and calls out to her, "Ms. Bowles, if anything does happen to the Cassadine girl, I'll make sure the DA brings YOU up on charges of being an accessory." Silently, Veronica stalks off. Staci wakes up with a groan, moving her wrists slightly. With her muscles completely relaxed from sleeping, she's able to barely move them. Squeezing her eyes shut, she concentrates on getting her hands free. She's able to pull through just one loop of the rope, but it's enough give so that she can get the rest of her wrists free. She quickly pulls the gag off her mouth and moves her jaw back and forth to stretch her muscles. She shakes her hands for a second, then jumps up and heads for the window. She wants to scream as she frantically tries to move the window and finds it locked. Instead, she bites her lip and tries to keep from crying in despair. Staci knows that she can't turn on the light, because it might draw attention to her. Seeing movement outside the window, she ducks, just in case it might be her kidnappers. After a minute, she stands up and sees the back of a blonde head standing by the window. Lucky and Lisa arrive near the cottage with two of Jason's men. Lucky turns to the guys, "Thanks for helping us get that car in place." He notices movement by the cottage and recognizes who it is. "What the hell is that woman doing here?" Lisa notices her and frowns, "Causing trouble for us." Carlson, the first of Jason's men, turns to Lisa, "You want us to get her out of here?" Lisa nods, "Yes, just be EXTREMELY quiet about it. We're walking on thin ice as it is." Lucky adds, "We're gonna have to work quickly and carefully. That witch has caused a LOT of trouble for us." Staci taps lightly on the window, praying it's enough to get the blonde's attention. The woman turns around and motions to the man behind her. Suddenly the light from the camera beams into the window, nearly blinding Staci. She can't help but look like a deer caught in the headlights. Harris glances back towards the door of the room where Staci is and can't help but notice the strong beam of light that escapes from underneath the door. He heads for the door quickly, "What the hell?!?" Veronica is shocked as her cameraman just disappears into the bushes and the camera falls to the ground. She's not even able to scream as she quickly is grabbed from behind and dragged away. Harris bursts into Staci's room and flips on the light. "What do you think you're doing?!?" he yells. Staci quickly backs away from the window, "I just..." "Very impressive, getting the ropes off your wrists. Didn't think you had that much fight in you." Noting her squirming, he taunts, "Did you think you could get away, Princess?" Staci squares her shoulders and glares at him. "Yeah, as a matter of fact." Harris walks towards her and she prepares to use her self defense tactics. She grabs him and tries to use his weight against him. But he's expecting it, and easily handles her. She beats her fists fiercely against him and tries to kick him. "Let me go! I hate you!" Staci screams at the top of her lungs, stopping only as Harris slaps her across the face and quickly restrains her. He grabs fresh ropes out of his pocket and ties her hands back up. He also ties up her legs and takes a third rope and fastens her arms and legs together. He regags her, picks her up and flops her on the bed. "You won't be crawling around now, you little brat." He walks over to the window and double checks the lock. By some stroke of luck, he doesn't notice the camera laying discarded on the ground. He turns back to Staci, "This game is getting old fast. And don't get any funny ideas about trying to escape again or you'll be dead before you can say, 'I want my Daddy'." Staci glares at him as he turns his back and leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind him. She starts to shake and cry as the reality of what's happening hits her.