GH2017.34 Payback

The game room at Wyndemere: only Stefan, Nik, Georgie and Jerry remain.

Stefan: Who is going to watch Carida while you are away?
Jerry: She is going to murder me; she just got here and I have to go
haring off.
Nik: She can stay here at Wyndemere.
Georgie: Oh she will love that. Vacationing under armed guard... the
Cassadine version of the country club prison.
Jerry: Georgie! Cari is Cassadine on her mom's side. This is family; you
are talking about!
Georgie: Sorry, just saying what she'll be thinking-- if she has any brains
what so ever.
Jerry: Don't you have to pack? Or come up for with a story for your
roommates? You know, something productive?
Georgie: ( As if to self) No one would believe a vacation in Kuwait . . .
Bahrain maybe or . . . Greece! (Louder) You know we could always take her
with us.
Nik: Are you NUTS?
Georgie: Why is it nuts? It is the way I learned. How do you think I
learned all those languages- - Berlitz? Well there was some of that too,
but I learned to speak the languages where Daddy was working.
Stefan: So that is how you learned to swear like a dockworker from Minsk.
Georgie: You heard that? Oh Stefan, I am so sorry . . . it is just that
HE (glaring at Nik) made me so mad.
Stefan: You are both adults. If you had used such language when you were
playing with Leslie Lu as a child, I would have washed your mouth with
soap AND her ears! ( Nik and Jerry move away so that Stefan can talk
privately to Georgie) Georgie, I have watched you grow up into the
beautiful woman you are today; but forgive me, if I remember the little
firecracker who would barely hold still when I was pulling her from a suit
of armor that she was stuck in. The television station does not have to be a
burden to you. We acted in haste in purchasing it, but I do not regret the
decision. Bowles was being allowed to turn that station into the worst of
supermarket rags.
Georgie: ( trying to lighten the mood) What do you know about the
supermarket? Or for that matter the tabloids?
Stefan: Mrs. Lansbury reads them or used to; she is hopelessly addicted.
It would never have happened back on the island in Greece. Once she came
to Port Charles, she discovered supermarkets and check out lines. The
rest, as they say, is history. Now that her eyesight is failing, Laura
reads them to her. But don't try to distract me; it doesn't work! You
are like a daughter to me, almost as dear as my Leslie Lu. The station is
a gift. The only thing you cannot do is sell it, but that is to protect
Anna. How you use the gift, is yours to decide. The dividends can be saved
or given away; if you want me to invest them for you-- I will. You will
never have to see the money unless you want it. If you want to become a
social butterfly and flit from country to country doing your work with
Jerry, no one would question you. If you say you are reporting a story; no
one will question your credentials. No one is controlling you, dear one.
This is another way for you to be free.
Georgie: ( with a hint of suspicion in her voice) What about Nik?
Stefan: Nikolas is Nikolas. His mother is right; he seldom waits for an
invitation to help. Lasha would tell you that is something he learned from
me. ( he places his hands on her shoulders and pulls her close giving her a
chaste kiss on the forehead) But I have seen that you can hold your own
with Nikolas. Georgie, do you understand that you ask too much of me if you
tell me that I cannot know what you are doing. It will give me ulcers,
maybe even a heart attack, the not knowing. I promise to try not to
interfere, unless you ask.
Georgie: So many qualifiers on the promise. Okay, but you have to try
really hard. ( In Russian) Interfering old man! (Stefan begins to laugh
and kisses her on both cheeks.)
Stefan: I need to tell Lasha that we will be having company tomorrow. ( he
leaves)
Georgie: (To herself) Not if I can help it, Stefan; You are not getting
everything your way. Nik isn't the only one with whom I can hold my own.
Jerry, shouldn't we be getting back to the apartment?

An hour later, Georgie has called a meeting of the roommates at the
apartment. Lu, Brooke and Georgie are sitting around the kitchen table.
Georgie: So that is the whole story. Everything is hitting the fan now. I
wasn't back from China for even a day before the Saunders mess. He is going
to plead guilty but not before Veronica Bowles could connect me to the story.
Lu: But that is done now. Daddy bought the station.
Brooke : That was fast. I heard him talking about it last week!
Georgie: That's the other element of the problem. Lu, I love you dearly
but your family is driving me nuts. I can't turn around without tripping
over your brother. Your father bought a television station and put MY NAME
down as one of the new owners.
Brooke: Why don't you just sell it?
Georgie: The whole thing is in a trust because the other two owners are
still minors. It will be managed by Timoria Communications until all the
conditions of the trust are fulfilled. I will receive a healthy income but
no worries.
Lu: They called it Timoria Communications?
Georgie: Yeah. Why?
Lu: Timoria is one of those multipurpose Greek words; it can mean
atonement, revenge, aid, payback. I can see how Daddy would think that this
is a tidy package: revenge on Bowles, aid and payback for you, atonement to
Stone and Anna. The Cassadine are really big on responsibility.
Georgie: Well, I am not their responsibility.
Brooke: Not that I know what I am talking about, but I don't think we are
the ones you have to convince.
Georgie: True! I have had it up to my ears with this. The last straw was
when Stefan had me pulled from the work schedule. If I don't have to work,
I am going on vacation. I haven' t had one in years. The friend I was
staying with this weekend has promised me a trip to the sun-- away from all
of this snow and cold. I am taking him up on it. There is just one
problem and this is where I need your help.
Brooke: Sure, anything.
Georgie: Jerry has a sixteen-year old daughter. I was hoping you wouldn't
mind her staying in my room while I am gone. She seems okay. Lu, I don't
know if you know her? She evidently related to the Cassadine on her
mother's side . . . Cari Jacks?
Lu: You realize there will be payback for this . . . when Staci wants to
stay or when one of Brooke's sisters wants to visit. And who is Jerry? Why
haven't I met this guy?
Georgie: (laughing) That is the kind of payback I understand. You have met
Jerry-- just not through me. He has been Stefan's chess partner lately.
Lu: He was the guy who took you out of the club!
Georgie: Bingo!
Lu: Ahh Georgie, isn't he awfully . . . old?
Georgie: He doesn't try to smother me, unlike the men around here. It is a
refreshing change, and (shrugging) I trust him. So is it a go? You don't
have to say yes. She could stay out on the island but I thought my escaping
Cassadine interference should not have to be at her expense. (Lu and Brooke
exchange glances)
Brooke: When do we get to meet her?
Georgie: Let me go tell them. Why don't you order a pizza or two and I'll
have them back in time for Jerry to pay for it. You guys are the best.

Nearby in Jerry's apartment.

Cari: I can't believe you are going on assignment. YOU WERE JUST SHOT! I
just arrived.
Jerry: I know honey, but things are getting complicated. Georgie and I are
just going to get some info and come back. wouldn't be any longer than a
vacation. Three weeks max!
Cari: (pouting her arms crossed) I don't know why I bother to visit.
Jerry: Be fair. At least this time, there's other family to visit. You
have aunts, uncles and other relatives that you haven't seen in ages. (The
doorbell rings) That will be Georgie. (He goes to the door to let her in)
Cari: Great! I'll be under house arrest at the Cassadine's, and you're
running off to Timbucktu with your new partner.
Georgie: Not entirely accurate. I have never been to Timbucktu and I just
finished talking to my roommates. They said you can stay there as long as
you act at least as normal as they do. And before you say no; I think you
need to meet them. The only condition is that no one knows about the work I
do with your dad. As far as anyone is concerned, I met him at GH where I
am a nurse and he was my patient.
Jerry: Georgie, I don't think this is a good idea. Stefan and Nik have
already volunteered to put Cari up at Wyndemere.
Georgie: Having had the dubious gift title of "Cassadine Responsibility"
lately, I can honestly tell you that Nik and Stefan can watch her just fine
at the apartment. There she will at least have the illusion of privacy.
Cari: (making a rapid decision) We were going to meet your roommates? ( She
opens the door and waits for her father and Georgie.) If you just met Dad
at the hospital, and now he is taking you on holiday . . . Doesn't that
make you a slut?
Georgie: Yes, we are going to meet the roommates; and no, it doesn't make
me a slut. It makes me . . . (In an overly dramatic voice) on the rebound
from a horrible situation and your father, a white knight coming to my
rescue. (Cari laughs) But we need to get to the apartment, the pizza
should be delivered any time now and your father is buying.
Jerry: First you gave away my car and now my money. Georgie, you just got
a piece of a television station. You should buy dinner.
Georgie: You hated that car. And I think that Nik is going to make me pay
for that vase so don't count on any dividend checks from me. ( The door
closes behind them as they continue to spar as they go down the hall to
Georgie's apartment)

Spoon Island: Laura and Stefan 's room. The room is softly lit by a single
lamp and the fireplace. Laura is brushing her hair at the vanity while
Stefan sits by the fire in a comfortable chair watching his wife, as he has
for years. He speaks to her reflection.
Stefan: I think that I should call Kevin and tell him we wont be meeting
him and Lucy in Arizona. There is too much upheaval to leave now. Jerry
said that Carida is visiting.
Laura: (abruptly swinging around to face him) Cari is here, and you are
just telling me now? But wait . . . he is leaving for Kuwait tomorrow.
She has to stay here with us.
Stefan: If she is anything like her mother, she will do as she likes.
Jerry asked us to keep an eye on her and would get back to us about her
staying on the island. Alexis is feeling lonely without a teenager eating
her out of house and home; she will try to lure Carida into staying with her.
Laura: But Cari would have people her own age here: Staci and Stone. I
know, I know; it is up to her father.
Stefan: There is too much chaos for us to be leaving now; I haven't
finished Brooke's portrait.
Laura: You mean you haven't finished laying her out like bait in front of
Nik. Do you really think she can make him happy? He is so guarded. The
wall around his heart is tall and thick.
Stefan : As was mine, but that didn't stop you from finding my heart and
announcing you had permission to be there. ( He draws her close) Even
though I didn't think that anyone could find my heart that no one knew where
it was. ( He begins to kiss her . . . gentle kisses around the jaw and
tilting her head back down her throat. Kisses that follow the heat his hand
generates as it trails from the pulse at her throat to the beating of her
heart . . . as her breathing grows rapid, he rises and moves toward the
bed. She switchs off the lamp and allows the light of the fireplace to
guide their way....)