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A/N – Thanks for all the support guys. I hope you’re still enjoying this. - Jen

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Common Ground

Chapter Four

Port Charles

Caroline’s House

Hauling the last of the empty boxes out for trash pickup, Caroline wiped the sweat from her brow as she turned to look at the small English red brick cottage. The brick arbor at the entrance and its north and east exterior walls were covered in ivy, allowing it to blend into its heavily forested surroundings. The cobblestone path to the front door was in need of repair and the gardens needed a lot of work, and while she was no gardener, she could certainly pick up the phone and call one of the best landscaping firms she’d ever worked with to remedy it. The new landscaping would breathe life into the exterior of the little house. Just as she already had to the interior. The moment she’d laid eyes on this little neglected house, she knew this would be her new home.

Stefan’s offer to allow her to come and stay at Wyndemere certainly would have made it easier for her to supervise the renovations of his home and she was tempted, but she didn’t think it was wise to take such a step. Especially when she would be sharing the same space with a man that had completely made her lose her ability to think on more than one occasion. Just by being near him. But, his offer made her realize just how much she hated living in the hotel. Twenty-four hour room service was great, and having housekeeping there to clean up after her even better, but she’d missed the solitude. She couldn’t put her ‘stamp’ on the penthouse at the hotel, but here, the moment she stepped across the threshold of the house, she felt at home.

She’d spent two days on the phone with her assistant in New York before coming to the conclusion that with careful planning, she could and would be able to commute back and forth successfully for however long she needed to, until she finally decided what to do about the Spencer’s and whether or not she would like to remain here, permanently. Her staff wasn’t large, only a few people, and she knew the bulk of the contractors she worked with would be just as willing to work with her here as they would in the city.

If she decided to make the move permanent, it was doable. But she wasn’t there yet, she’d yet to actually deal with her reason for coming to Port Charles in the first place. The renovations at Wyndemere had given her time to adjust to her surroundings but it hadn’t helped her decide how to approach Bobbie Jones. And she wondered if anything would or could.

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Luke’s Club

“You hear from Sonny lately?”

“They’re fine. Got Brenda all settled in. Found her a doctor and bunch of other bullshit I didn’t need to know.” Jason grumbled with a sigh.

Luke roared with laughter at the new don’s obvious disgust with Sonny’s new bride and mother-to-be. “Got him wrapped around her little finger, has she?”

“Shit. She had that long before he knocked her up.” Jason shook his head before taking a long draw of his beer. “Never in a million years did I think anyone would have Sonny Corinthos pussy whipped.”

Luke laughed harder, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. “You never know, Morgan. Someday it could be you.”

Jason shook his head, taking another pull from his beer. “Hell no. I’m all for getting laid on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean I have to bring them home with me.”

Luke sighed with a shake of his head, he’d been there once. Had the world by the tail, living life to its fullest. A confirmed bachelor. And then he’d met his Angel. If wanting to go home to her every night made him whipped, then he was all for it. Morgan could think whatever he wanted, he only hoped for the kid’s sake that he was lucky enough someday to have what he had with Laura and his kids.

“You find out anything more on our other project?”

“Carly Roberts’ past is nonexistent.” Jason tossed the latest report he’d gotten from his man on Luke’s search for Bobbie’s daughter onto his desk.

“That’s a little too convenient.”

“Exactly.”

“Has he gone through the adoption records in Florida yet?” Luke flipped through the file on his ‘niece’ knowing full well that someone didn’t want ‘Carly Roberts’ or whoever the hell she really was found. What he couldn’t figure out was why.

“He’s following up on a lead somewhere in southern Florida. Said he’d call when he knew more.”

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General Hospital

Pediatric ICU

The next day

Nikolas stood at the window of his sister’s room, watching her sleep peacefully, hoping that the procedure they had done this morning was successful. He barely knew the raven haired, blue eyed little girl, but he loved her just the same. It was impossible not to. She’d endured more pain in the last few months than any child should have to and still she smiled. Beautifully. And laughed. So sweetly.

He was only able to see her when the Spencer’s weren’t around, which wasn’t often. And more often than not, late at night. His father knew of his comings and goings from the hospital, but Nikolas knew that he would never say anything other than to be careful.

He knew what he was trying to protect him from. Laura. His mother. What was it about being a Cassadine male that meant you had to fear your own mother? Laura was not Helena. Not even close. He knew she would never harm him physically. But her rejection was almost worse. A physical wound heals eventually. But he wasn’t sure that the emotional one’s ever did.

“How is she?”

Nikolas turned his head, not surprised to find his father quietly approaching him. “Stable. No change yet. I guess that’s good.”

Stefan clasped his son’s shoulder as they stood side by side watching little Lulu sleep. He had hated watching his son go into surgery early this morning for his part in the bone marrow transplant. Anything could go wrong. There were no guarantees in any kind of surgery. Even the simplest procedures, he knew could, and sometimes did, go wrong. The thought of losing Nikolas had him pacing throughout the entire procedure until the pediatric oncologist came out to assure him that everything had gone well.

And as soon as his son had been moved into recovery, he had been at his side. Laura had thanked him for allowing Nikolas to donate the marrow and had ever so briefly brushed her hand over his son’s hair, pressing a kiss to his brow as he slept. And as much as he wished that her obvious display of affection toward Nikolas could allow him to push the resentment of her choice so many years ago aside, he couldn’t. His first, his only, priority was Nikolas. Until Nikolas made the choice to be a part of her life, he would remain protective. As much for himself as his son.

“Is she still asleep?” Laura murmured softly as she came up to them in the hall, looking in on her daughter through the window, as she stopped hesitantly beside Stefan.

Stefan fought the immediate instinct to comfort Laura when he heard the faint tremor in her voice. He understood her fear. No parent should go through the pain of losing a child. But that didn’t mean he would take on her pain and open himself up to her inevitable abandonment once again. She would choose Spencer. She always had. And always would.

When neither of them answered her, she forced herself to remain focused on Lulu. As much as she wanted to hold her son, embrace him, make up for the time they had lost, she knew he wasn’t ready for it. Or for her. And Stefan wasn’t going to help her bridge the gap. He’d made it clear that she was on her own.

“Nikolas? Would you like to go in and sit with her? So she’s not alone?”

Nikolas looked briefly from her to Stefan, gauging his reaction, when he nodded briefly, he softly murmured his thanks before disappearing into his sister’s room.

Not wanting to intrude on the trio at her cousin’s door, Caroline paused at the end of the hall, watching as Nikolas went into Lulu Spencer’s room and Laura and Stefan stood silently watching him. The tension surrounding the couple was palpable, even from where she stood several feet away. When Stefan spoke of Laura, there was a mixture of pain and love in his eyes. Some part of him still held out hope for a future with Nikolas’ mother. Even if he didn’t admit it to himself. And as much as she found herself attracted to him, she knew she could never compete against the perfection he had always seen in Laura. Even after all this time, and through all the pain of the past, Stefan still carried a torch for her. So now she had to wonder if that day in her penthouse suite was caused by an attraction to her or an attempt to distract himself from the one woman he couldn’t have. Laura. Deciding she would check on her cousin later, Caroline turned and headed back to the elevators, wondering why her heart ached at the thought of leaving a man she barely knew with a woman that he had claimed to be nothing more to him than Nikolas’ mother.

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Thoughts? Complaints?