Chapter Fourty-One:
One Singular Sensation

Nikolas Cassadine was feeling less than charitable as he made his way through the backstage area. In fact, the faster he tried to move, the more obstacles -- racks of costumes, groups of dancers, towering set pieces -- appeared in his path. He could hear the sound of Lucy Coe calling him in a stage whisper over Alan Quartermaine's voice, echoing from the stage. It was an auditory war easily won -- the moment he'd heard the song start up he'd known that he'd made a grave, grave mistake. Duty be damned, he was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time and he had to find his way out of this makeshift maze as quickly as possible.

Lucy caught up to him -- or to be more accurate, caught up to his coat tail -- just as Nikolas was cut off by an exceptionally large rocking horse being wheeled towards the stage.

"You forgot this!" Lucy was waving an envelope at him. "Nikolas!"

"I have to go," he turned, snatching the paper from her. "I'll read it over at the table." Lucy looked momentarily stunned, and if Nikolas had even a moment to absorb it, he would have felt a twinge of shame at his behavior. But he didn't have time for luxuries like good manners at the moment. He had to get back to his wife.

"You know," Lucy was pouting at him, even as he backed away from her. "Next year we're going to get you up on that stage!"

"God save us," he muttered under his breath as the horse passed out of his path and he caught sight of the curtain he'd been pulled through earlier. Moving across the room like a salmon trying to get upstream, Nikolas managed to dodge a few other obstacles and finally made it through the curtain. He turned and dashed down the concrete stairs. All but ran down the short hallway where yet-more-curtains separated the entrance to the backstage from the ballroom. He could hear the number on stage more clearly now --

"Stop!"

He pushed through the curtains and got caught, momentarily, in the spill over of light from the stage.

"Cause I really love you!"

Momentarily blinded, he retreated into the shadows, practically pushing himself up against the wall.

"Stop!"

He shot a quick look at the stage. Alan was crooning to his wife, who was wearing, among other things, a feather boa, and was draped over a grand piano being played by some guy he'd never laid eyes on before.

"I've been thinkin' of you!"

Oh boy. He squinted into the dark, trying to spot their table, the cold blue of Carly's dress -- anything. He located the area they'd been sitting in and it took him a moment to process why he wasn't finding his table.

"Look in my eyes..."

The table was there.

The table was empty.

Nikolas leaned back against the wall and let his eyes close. He was going to pay for this.

"And let love keep us together..."

The air was damp and cool on Carly's skin as she leaned against the pillar at the far end of the patio. The rain hadn't stopped -- still fell continuously, but without any conviction. No sense of purpose, apart from dragging down spirits. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of clean air, letting the cigarette burn.

Nicotine was sneaky. One deep drag from the cigarette and her whole body had sighed with relief. Reveled in being commanded to relax. Which was all well and good for the first minute or so. It was always around the third drag that it turned on her. The hint of it would linger on her exhalation and by the time she'd smoked a third of the cigarette she'd be in the grips of an overwhelming whirlpool of grief. Fine line, one she hardly ever attempted to walk.

That was why she'd given it up. Maybe it was chemical -- but she had always blamed sense-memory. She'd toyed with smoking until she was seventeen. It was always casual, she was never someone who claimed to need a smoke. But it had been an integral part of her High School Persona. Evened out the horseback riding and gymnastics, the whole Suzy Cheerleader thing her mother wanted her to embrace. And it was something she and Carly had taken up together. Carly's family were rabid anti-smokers, so they'd only do it when they snuck off together to the beach for the day. Spend hours sitting one the sand, using the cigarettes to gesture and pose with more than anything else, while they bitched to each other about their parents, their teachers, their lives in general.

She'd smoked a lot after Carly died... But then, there wasn't a lot she hadn't indulged in after Carly died. Whatever worked, that had been the philosophy. There had to be something that would take the pain away and if she tried hard enough, she'd find it. But nothing had really filled the hole and it had all just left her feeling lonely. Nothing more than the taste of Marlboro Lights.

She could really use ten minutes with Carly right now. It was an errant thought and it surprised her. She hadn't though anything like it in years. Hell, she'd BEEN Carly for years. She shook her head out and took another drag. Four. Heading into the danger zone.

If Carly was here -- the real Carly -- she'd tell her to snap out of it. Say she was being stupid. First of all, it wasn't like Laura Spencer knew a damn thing about her son anyway. And even if she did -- so what? Was she aiming to have a husband who was indifferent about her? And God, Caroline, didn't you already tell the boy you loved him? Suck it up! Finish the cigarette, have a Tictac and go back inside. Let Nikolas hold your hand, and smile at you -- everything will be fine, because he just makes it that way. End of story.

Carly swallowed a lump that was trying to form in her throat. Damn it. She shouldn't have come out here. She really shouldn't ever trust herself to be alone. It was all in such a jumble in her head. The undeniable panic she'd felt when Laura had said that word. The undeniable panic she'd felt when SHE'D said the word. The fact that it hadn't escaped her attention that Nikolas hadn't so much as breathed that word himself since the night they married. And then...

Then.

Then there was every morning when he'd go to work. Leaving after she'd done everything in her power to get him to stay. He'd kiss her good-bye, soft and slow, his hands holding her face. Pull back, smile at her... and she's hold her breath. Why, she didn't want to know, but she'd hold her breath like she was waiting for something. And when it didn't come, it hurt.

She wanted him to love her.

She just didn't want to love him back.

A shaking hand raised the neglected cigarette to her lips. She breathed in so much smoke her lungs barely had room to inhale the air on top of it. She pushed it out impatiently, and felt, for a moment, a little dizzy.

Five. Alarm bells everywhere.

God, she had to be crazy. She had to be. One minute she was swooning and the next she was rigid with fear. She wanted everything and nothing all at once. She didn't know how to hold onto herself anymore. Nikolas made her feel still -- he was the only thing that made her feel quiet. The rest of the time, she felt like her own blood was trying to kick its way out of her. She craved everything she felt -- everything she WAS -- when she was with him. But that person was elusive and always had been. What she knew better -- what she knew would always be with her -- was this. This feeling of being desperate and scared. Of having too many feelings and thoughts all fighting for space inside her head.

This can't happen. That was the one thing that kept coming back to her. He can't, because the only thing she was hanging onto right now was that they were new. They weren't used to each other yet. It was all clouded with lust and excitement and discovery. How do you discern feeling in that? You don't. You can't. You just wait it out and see if there's anything on the other side. And if, on the other side of this, Nikolas claimed to love her... Carly knew she'd be lost. There'd be no fighting it. She'd be his until he didn't want her anymore. And then... God knows what she'd be.

"Since when do you smoke?"

Carly froze as the sound the voice behind her sent her heart careening against her rib cage. Caught -- in more ways than one. Of all the things she needed at the moment... This was as far from it as she could imagine. She kept her eyes, her whole body, turned determinedly forward. Then she calmly lifted the cigarette to her lips and took a deep drag.

"First time was when I was twelve," she pushed the smoke out of her lungs. "Gave it up when I was 19."

"And now you're starting again."

"One isn't going to kill me," she murmured, staring down at the glowing end of the cigarette held between her fingers. Hard to find something like this dangerous when there were so many other sharks in the tank. She turned towards him, one hand on hip, holding the offending item aloft. "See? There are still one or two things you don't know about me, Jase."

Bobbie paused, three steps down the corridor that lead from the dressing rooms back towards the stage and fixed the heel on her shoe. Damned straps. The stupid things would not stay put. She was lucky she didn't trip coming down those stairs during the opening number. Small mercies. The Ball wasn't even half over, and she already felt exhausted. All this and she still hadn't managed to make much of an appearance at the Spencer table, let alone found time to steal away and talk to her daughter. What a mess!

She straightened up, throwing her shoulders back, and started down the hall again. This time she made it a whole five steps before she heard a familiar voice call out "Bobbie."

She stopped and took a breath before turning to face her sister-in-law coming away from the wall by the door to the dressing rooms. Bobbie must have walked right past her without noticing.

"I'm just heading back to the table," Bobbie started, with forced patience. "Laura, if --"

She stopped when she saw the look on the woman's face. One thing about Laura Spencer -- No one ever used the word "poker face" in her presence. If she was feeling it, it was all over her. And right now, she was worried, upset and just a little scared.

Great.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Laura stepped forward, taking Bobbie's arm and pulling her towards the wall. "It's about Carly."

Jason was standing just outside the patio doors, watching her with the same blank look he always wore just when she most wanted to know what he was thinking. He was dressed in yet another tux, wearing yet another tie, but everything else about him was pure Jason. Short hair gelled within an inch of it's life, cold blue eyes studying her like she was on display in a storefront window. She stared back at him, unwilling to say anything else. Her mouth felt, suddenly, dry. Her hands were trembling ever so slightly. But she smiled at him, slyly, trying with everything in her not to betray herself to him. After a moment, he closed the doors behind him and stepped out onto the terrace.

"What went wrong this time?"

Carly stared at her ex-boyfriend, every muscle in her body stiff. She'd been dreading this, as inevitable as it was. Seeing him again, without anyone else around. This tended to end one of three ways, and none of them were going to help her right now.

"I wanted some air."

Jason looked pointedly at the plume of smoke snaking up from her hand.

"Carcinogenic air," Carly took a quick drag. "You have a problem with that?"

He shrugged. Jason could shrug in a way that made her feel like a bug under his shoe. "I don't know. Where are you going to blow that smoke?"

She turned away, tucking one arm under the other, and focusing her attention to the mist shrouded courtyard beyond the covered terrace. "Take your chances."

He came to stand beside her, but she stubbornly refused to look at him. Christ, why had she ever left the table? She just seemed to keep trading up in the uncomfortable situation category.

"Where's your husband?"

She shrugged. "I don't keep him on a leash." She put the cigarette to her lips, unsteadily, only to have Jason snatch it out of her hand and toss it into the dark. Carly watched it's trajectory in shock, until it landed in a puddle and was extinguished. She turned to him, mouth agape. "Hey! I was smoking that."

"You were hurting yourself." It was impassive. Jason in all his "I know best" glory. She fumed.

"Some people would argue that's none of your business," she snapped. He was standing next to her now, closer than they'd been since the morning of his wedding. He raised an eyebrow at her, a gesture that spoke to their history. She wanted to push him away. To hit him for being so damned familiar. "God Damn it, Jason," she breathed. "What do you want?"

Nikolas still had that stupid envelope clutched in his hand when he made it out of the ballroom, the sound of applause fading behind him. No sign of his father, no sign of his aunt, no sign of Kevin Collins. He should have known better -- he DID, in fact, know better. God, when did he get so intent on doing what other people wanted him to do?

Probably sometime around when he lost his title.

Not really the time for self-reflection, Nikolas determined, as he walked through the hotel. His eyes were scanning the crowd as it moved past him, back towards the main attraction. Nothing clears a room like doctors massacring love songs, apparently. There was absolutely no sign of Carly in the melee. He could feel anxiety breeding in his stomach, trying to make it's way up his throat to choke him. He was aware that he was probably overreacting. People didn't stay static at the Nurse's Ball, and it was entirely possible that she had just gone to the bathroom. Or decided to go look at the silent auction, rather than listen to AJ's parents simper at each other. But Nikolas had never done well with not knowing where people were when he wanted them. And as much as he tried to apply logic to the situation, his brain rejected all of it in favor of the beginnings of panic. If he could just find someone who he could at least ask...

His frantic gaze hit on Robin Morgan, standing in front of one of the quilt squares. Her eyes were holding the focus of someone who was in fact looking miles away. In one hand she had several cue cards. Nikolas made himself stop before approaching her. It was habit, more than anything else. There was probably no one else on this earth that Nikolas had made more uncomfortable on more occasions than Robin. Reining himself in whenever in her presence was just reflex now.

"Robin," he spoke softly, coming up behind her. She jumped anyway, and spun around, her eyes wide.

"Nikolas!" she gasped his name, "Hi! I-I was meaning to come by your table tonight and --"

"Tell me about this?" He held up the envelope. She looked at it blankly for a moment, then her face fell.

"Oh no," she lifted her free hand to cover her mouth. "Oh, god, I'm sorry! I meant to tell Lucy to take your name off the list."

Nikolas frowned. Robin wasn't someone he thought of as being high strung, but there was an energy radiating off her that reminded him of animals right before a storm. Not exactly comforting, but in the face of it, he felt more capable of putting his own tension away.

"Robin," he tried to sound patient. "Why didn't you just ask me about this on Wednesday?"

"I don't know," she wagged her head back and forth, "You have a lot going on, and you said all of that stuff about not making Carly insecure --"

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I don't think this qualifies as something that would make Carly feel threatened."

Robin blinked. "You don't?"

"Reading a short testimonial? No."

Nikolas could tell she was biting her tongue and that did nothing to make him feel better about the last ten minutes. He cleared his throat.

"Look, I know I came off a little... Distant. It was my first day back at the hospital, I might have been more defensive than I intended to be."

Robin shook her head. "No, no. You weren't. You made sense. And I'm sorry I brought up Jason -- it's just... Carly and I. Sometimes the history gets the better of me." Her eyes met his for a moment, and Nikolas saw a world of worry in them. He leaned forward, on instinct, trying to read what she wasn't saying. Robin turned away from him quickly "You don't have to read it, I can get --"

"No, I'll do it," he watched her back. "I have it now."

Her shoulders rose as she let out a deep breath. "Thanks. I'm just... I've been really scattered lately. There's a lot going on."

Nikolas nodded, feeling an old stirring inside him. A feeling of duty -- that he should reach out to her. She was upset and he should do something to stop that. He closed his eyes and held his breath a moment. Not yours. Not your problem to solve. You have your own problems to worry about now.

When he opened his eyes, Robin had turned back and was staring at him. Nikolas put on a faint smile and took a step closer to her. "I just need to find Carly and get back to the table -- "

She paled. She actually paled, right in front of him.

"You're looking for Carly?"

"Ah... Yeah." Nikolas felt his heart pick up speed again. "Have you seen her?"

"No," Robin bit her lip. "But I bet I could make a guess who she's with."

When he failed to answer her question, Carly turned away from Jason and started to pace back across the terrace. Her hand felt empty. She might be secretly grateful Jason had trashed the Insanity Stick, but it'd be really useful to play with right now. She turned and looked back at him, a scowl etched into her features. "Are you going to answer me?"

He looked irritatingly confused. "Why are you so mad at me?"

Carly let out a sharp laugh as Jason deflected her question. Well -- it was better than his standard blunt answer.

"I'm not mad at you -- I'm mad at everyone," she put her arms out, inviting inspection. "Don't you recognize this mood? It's one of your favorites."

He didn't answer. Just looked at her like she was some object of endless curiosity.

"What's wrong?"

Carly's face immediately crumbled and she turned away from him quickly. It was stupid. It always had been. One of the primary reasons she could never hate Jason -- Cold, stone-faced Jason. The mobster, the killer, the prodigal son. Everyone always said that Jason didn't care about anything.

But he cared about her. He broke her heart every ten minutes, but he still cared about her. Most of the time. She held her arms around her, feeling the chill in the breeze for the first time since coming out here.

"I feel like I put on someone else's life and it doesn't fit. The sleeves are too long, and I keep tripping on the hem."

She stared hard at the gray stone wall in front of her and listened as he moved towards her. She waited for him to do something he would have done years ago -- touch her shoulders, pull her back towards him. He didn't. And that wasn't unusual, these days. Still -- it always felt wrong.

"You got married."

Matter-of-fact. Always matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did." She turned back to him. "Does that bother you?"

"Why would it bother me?"

Carly felt a sharp pain in her chest and she leaned back against the pillar to prevent herself from stepping towards him. Damn it. That wasn't supposed to hurt.

"I don't know, Jason," she sighed. "It seems to bother everyone else."

He glanced away from her a moment, his eyes darkening. She watched, waited. This was about something. She and Jason had never been much for catching-up conversations. They always tossed their lives at each other full speed.

"Do you like him?" he asked without looking at her, and she nodded, not even giving it real thought. The implication suddenly hit her and she reached out and grabbed his arm, turning him sharply. "What the hell kind of question is that? He's my husband, of course I like him."

A hint of a smile hovered on Jason's features. "I know you, Carly."

"You think I married him to get back at you or something?" Her eyes challenged him for as long as she could hold up the veneer, then she abandoned it. Veneer never worked with him anyway. "All right, so maybe that's not totally outside the realm of possibility. But that's not what happened."

"Glad to hear it."

Carly felt her heart start to pound again. God, the how and why of Nikolas -- that was the last thing she needed to invite a discussion of. "So what about you?" she demanded, grabbing onto the question with both hands. "How is married life treating you?"

"The ring itches."

She waited for more. When nothing was forthcoming, Carly burst out laughing. God, he really didn't change. Which was wonderful and infuriating at the same time.

"That's it?"

"It's pretty much the same as it was before."

Carly leaned her head back, and looked up at the stone covering overhead. "You're such a romantic." She said it fondly. She didn't mean to. Once again, he offered no real response, so she let things fall into silence. Felt the cool air around, the hard stone against her back. She could hear, from across the courtyard, the thin voice of Elizabeth Webber.

"Nobody ever treated me kindly... Daddy left early, Mama was poor...."

"Nikolas is," she spoke softly. Her eyes wandered back to Jason. He was still watching her. "Like a hard-core old fashioned real-honest-to-God romantic."

"Good."

She made a face. "Why?"

"That's what you wanted, right?"

Carly looked at him, wishing the light out there was just a little better. Was he actually happy for her? Did she want him to be? God, this felt weird. Everything about it was easy and hard. Infuriating and comforting. And far too close to what she remembered. Her entire life had changed in the space of a week and this... This remained constant. She and Jason stayed what they were. The fact that she'd never entirely known what that was just made it all the more confusing.

"I wanted attention," her voice quivered and she cleared her throat, hard. "I wanted someone to love me. To actually want to be with me. I'm wacky that way." She didn't wait for him to respond this time because she knew he wouldn't. Instead, she shook her head impatiently. "I hate it when you look at me like that."

He took a step closer, and his voice dropped. "I wanted to call you."

Carly felt the bells going off again. Too close. Too close. Far too dangerous. She gave a quick laugh and turned her face away.

"Jason, you never call me."

"Usually you're pretty easy to find."

"Well. Things change." Her heart was thundering in her chest. She wanted to rip it out. God, she'd do anything -- anything -- to just make him stop effecting her like this. She closed her eyes and pushed out the only words she could think of. "I moved to Spoon Island."

"I figured." Long silence. His eyes watched hers and she tried not to squirm. "There's something I gotta talk to you about."

"Then talk."

"Not here."

She felt goose bumps prickle her skin. No. No, this wasn't fair. This wasn't good. What the hell could he possibly have to say to her that he couldn't say right here and now? She should tell him to go to hell. Best friend or not -- she'd been in love with him for three years and she didn't need any more pain. Not the kind he gave her.

"Then call." They both looked at each other. Carly finally shook her head, hard. "You need my number."

"Yeah."

"You got a pen?"

He shook his head. Carly seized the opportunity and turned her body away from him, opening her evening bag and riffling through it while Jason watched over her shoulder. She finally came up with an eyeliner pencil. "Fine. Give me your arm."

Nikolas was following Robin in silence, feeling like he was watching his life from a distance. Watching her -- her movements, her strange disposition -- like it had nothing to do with him. Like she wasn't mirroring something that was going on inside him -- or something that should be. She was so certain. So undeniably sure that Carly was with Jason. The look on her face suggested this had happened before. And as he followed her, Nikolas told himself that he could handle that. If Carly was with Jason she was, in theory, Ok. And that was what he wanted.

Right?

Right.

So feeling a little short of breath, feeling a little like his head had been disconnected from his body, that wasn't because of any feelings of gathering doom. That was just... anticipation. Excess worry. Because he'd screwed up, he'd left her alone. He should never have left her alone.

Robin stopped dead, a few feet ahead of him, her eyes fixed on a pair of glass doors across the room. Nikolas told himself not to follow -- to turn around and go back inside to wait for her. He didn't want to see this. As much as he tried to convince himself it couldn't possibly be anything, he knew that his brain wasn't going to win that war. He knew himself better than that. But he approached anyway.

Robin was watching them through the glass. They were standing close together -- Jason's back was to them, and Carly had her hand on his, her head bent. He couldn't tell what they were doing, but he could see her smile. She looked up at him and said something -- something he couldn't hear. Her eyes looked bright.

Happy.

He couldn't make her name come out of his mouth. It stuck there, stuck like he was to the spot where he was standing. Like his eyes were stuck on the couple in front of him. But it didn't matter -- someone else had more practice with this. Robin stepped forward quickly, her shoes clicking on the faux marble floor, and pushed the door open.

They looked up, Carly looking far more startled than her companion. Robin stepped out the doors and Nikolas, not even aware that he was moving, came to stand in the doorway. He kept watching, like this wasn't his life. Like it was all happening miles away from him. Robin looked smaller out there. And when she spoke, her voice was tiny.

"Jason?"

Bobbie just didn't know who to be mad at. All right, so Amy Vinning seemed a good bet, but getting mad at Amy for gossiping was like getting mad at a dog for scratching himself. Nevertheless... She was mad at someone. Standing in the hallway, arms crossed, head cocked to one side, she hadn't moved a muscle as her sister-in-law had explained recent events. She'd just taken it all in and thought 'why am I not surprised?' -- Seemed no matter what she did, trouble just trailed after Carly. Bobbie had always seen her daughter through clear eyes, but over the last year, she really had just wanted to tell the entirety of Port Charles to cut the girl a little slack.

Check that. Over the past year she had, in fact, told most of Port Charles to cut the girl some slack.

Laura, to her credit, was upset. More than that, she was nearly apoplectic with worry that Carly not take what Amy had said seriously -- that she realize that Laura hadn't agreed with any of her sister's statements, and wasn't holding anything against her.

The desperation in her voice had been hard to miss. Bobbie had begrudgingly felt for her. Something she was able to do only because, as screwed up as her relationship with Carly occasionally was -- Bobbie had managed to build one with the child she'd given up. Laura hadn't.

Of course, pity aside, it didn't change the fact that no one needed this kind of garbage in what was, already, a high stress night. Bobbie had put a dutiful hand on Laura's arm and told her that Carly was used to hearing things like that. That she'd probably be disappointed if everyone suddenly started singing her praises. Laura hadn't entirely bought it, but she'd let her go anyway. It was no secret that Bobbie planned to make a beeline for the ballroom.

She'd missed the first half of her nephew's number, and as she entered the room, and swore softly under her breath. She never got to sit back and enjoy this. She paused inside the doorway and watched, smiling a little to herself as she watched him singing in his soft tenor to his girlfriend. Little moments like this always got to her -- filled her up with the overwhelming fondness and love she had for her family. They drove her nuts nine times out of ten, but God, did she love them. She knew Carly felt like she existed on the outskirts of this, and that hurt her. It was one of the primary stumbling blocks between her and Carly. Her distance from Luke and his family, the way she refused to let them close to her. Bobbie hated watching the jealousy and pain on Carly's face when the families got together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays. But there was nothing she could do to erase her daughter's insecurities, and there sure as hell wasn't anything she could do to make Luke less threatening. And then... There were things like this night. Like what had happened in the bathroom. It was like they were doomed to keep playing out this game together. As the number ended, Bobbie clapped hard, and tried to ignore the way her chest ached.

Lucy was back on stage, and proclaiming animatedly that things were going wonderfully, that everyone was just brilliant, and that they would be back with more really really soon. Then the curtain swung closed, the lights came up, and Bobbie let her eyes linger on the folds of the dark velvet before she turned her eyes pointedly away from her family's table towards the side of the stage she'd noticed Carly and Nikolas were sitting at.

She saw her ex-husband sitting alone at the table, his eyes still on the stage he'd been watching moments before. God give me strength, she thought, as she started across the room. She wanted go back to her brother and his wife, sit down and keep an eye out for her daughter -- but her instinct told her that would be a mistake. If Carly was feeling isolated by Amy's rant, then it wouldn't do well for her to come in and see Bobbie sitting at the Spencer table. The math wasn't that hard. As much as she hated it, right now she needed to be seen in the company of Cassadines. Even that Cassadine.

He seemed to sense her approach and turned just as she arrived at the table. His eyes were blank, but they grabbed hers. Bobbie felt immediately queasy, but pushed on.

"Stefan," she smiled, gripping the back of the nearest chair "Did you scare everyone away, or are you expecting them back?"

Carly stopped, eye pencil poised over the inside of Jason's forearm, and looked at the intruder. Intruder -- try as she might, she never managed to think of Robin in more charitable terms.

"Jason?"

She was standing on one foot -- mid-stride, her other leg extended behind her. One hand was fisted around what must have been her speech, and the other was holding her collarbone. In her handkerchief gown and sparkles, she looked like she'd just fallen out of a children's pantomime.

Jason had turned his head, sensing her presence before she spoke, and after a moment's suspension, he turned his body towards his wife, leaving his arm in Carly's grasp.

"What is it?"

He sounded concerned. Carly looked back down at his arm, with six of her seven digits written across it.

"I was looking for you."

"You found him," Carly didn't look up. Instead she drew a very careful '7' in 'solar eclipse' on the unblemished skin in front of her. A less than comfortable silence was circling in the air, and she had the distinct impression she was supposed to be the one to break it. She took a quick breath before she lifted her head and glanced over at Robin to Make An Effort. "I was about to go back in anyway," she put the cap back on the pencil. "We're done here."

She looked up, trying to force some less-than-bitter phrase out of her mouth -- wish her good luck, or something -- when her gaze collided with Nikolas. He was standing in the doorway. Looking at her -- not at the scene, but at her. His expression was implacable -- you'd think he was watching ducks in the park. But he didn't blink. He didn't move. Staring back at him, her stomach lurched. She had an urge -- brief, but undeniable -- to grab Jason and pull him in front of her, use him as a shield. Instead, she shook her head out, hard, and stepped away from him. Stood alone.

"I'm going to be on after the next number," Robin was saying in forced calm. "I just wanted to find you before I went backstage."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Nikolas wasn't listening to what was going on around him. He was vaguely aware of movement, words -- but none of it stayed with him. What was staying with him was the look in his wife's eyes. She looked afraid. He didn't know why, and the answers that were coming to him unbidden weren't doing anything to make him feel more at ease. Why was she with Jason? What had they been talking about? What was making her look at him like that?

Carly pulled her eyes away from Nikolas when she felt a hand on her arm. Jason was saying something to her. She blinked, fixing her eyes on him with intense concentration. Her heart was beating in her ears and no matter how hard she looked at him, she was only distantly aware of what he was saying. He was reading numbers as he rolled down the sleeve of his shirt. Phone. Right. She brushed nonexistent hair out of her face and managed to say something about being busy. Call. She told Robin to break a leg. If Robin responded, she wasn't aware of it.

Robin reached out and took Jason's hand, pulling him away from Carly. The moment she did, Carly's back turned and Jason, giving her a final glance, started back into the hotel with his wife. As they passed, Jason gave a cursory greeting.

"Nikolas."

Nikolas just nodded. No words. He moved out of the doorway as the couple walked past him. His eyes were still on his wife. They didn't seem capable of going anywhere else. He stood still and waited for her to say something. He didn't, at this moment, trust himself to speak.

Carly held her hand over her heart, clenched in a fist. She could feel her own pulse racing, and her body felt, suddenly, very cold. Turn around, she told herself. Just turn around and face him -- you didn't do anything wrong and the longer you act like this, the bigger deal this is going to be. Besides, if he didn't want you talking to Jason, he shouldn't have gone running after that stupid testimonial for Robin.

Excellent point. She took in a deep breath, trying to suck in a little righteous indignation. Might have worked, if being caught in the company of Jason was what was spinning her up so tight.

"Did you find your speech?" she asked into the dark. Her voice wavered, refusing to keep steady for her. She heard Nikolas shift behind her.

"You gave him your phone number."

He hadn't meant to say it. Had, in fact, intended to say nearly anything but that. Unfortunately, his mind wasn't processing anything else. Her phone number. The number to the cell phone he'd bought for her a few days earlier. A phone she'd said she didn't want, had only consented to when he'd said no one outside of them had to have the number.

Apparently no one but them and Jason Morgan.

Carly had turned and was looking at him like he'd just accused her something. Maybe he had. He watched her fold her arms across her stomach and wished he could suck the words back into him.

"He wanted it."

Nikolas opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. He wasn't going to do this. It wasn't the place, it wasn't the time, and he wasn't entirely certain he was justified. Not that it stilled the jealousy rushing through his veins. He felt himself move towards her and he tried to persuade himself to say he was sorry for leaving her alone. That he should have known better, with all the Quartermaines around. Of course, she knew that the idea of her and Jason made him crazy. She certainly must have picked up on that much in their brief association. But -- No. No, he wasn't going to think about it. He'd find some way to banish that image he'd caught of them through the glass, if it killed him. Because there was no doubt that if he didn't, it would start eating at him from the inside.

Carly held her ground as her husband walked towards her. She wanted to back away, but she appeared to be frozen to the spot. He reached out to take her hand, but she snatched it away from him. It wasn't a decision. It just happened. Her eyes raised to his and they stared at each other. Something unspoken seemed to pass between them -- just for a moment. A mutual confusion, a thought -- "What are we doing?" Carly shook her head hard and backed away from him. A gust of wind traveled across the courtyard, pushing drops of rain with it. She shivered and Nikolas had to stop himself from moving after her again. Something was really wrong here, and he didn't want to stay out here and investigate what it was, or how deep it ran. He just wanted to drag her back into the light where he could see everything clearly. He extended his hand and prayed she'd just take it.

"Carly," his words flirted with turning into a plea. "Come inside."

"Barbara," Stefan ignored her opening volley, and nodded to the chair she was squeezing the life out of. "Please, join me."

She ignored the invitation. "Where's my daughter?"

"Ah," he cast a quick glance around the ballroom, then returned his eyes to her. "I've done away with her. Nikolas as well, for that matter. It seemed the obvious solution."

Bobbie had to stop herself from laughing out of sheer shock. Instead, she pulled out the chair while shooting him daggers with her eyes.

"I really wish you'd stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Acting like you have sense of humor," she occupied herself with her skirt as she sat. When she looked up, he was wearing an amused expression. "Why are you smiling?"

"Your daughter said something similar to me this morning."

Bobbie shivered at the implication. Carly having morning chats with her ex-husband. Lovely.

"You must be very pleased with yourself," she said, regarding him coldly. "You really did get exactly what you wanted."

His hands folded on the table top. "And that would be?"

"You got them on the island. You got them right under your nose where you can watch their every move."

"And if I had not... Would you not have attempted to move them into your Brownstone?"

Bobbie opened her mouth to answer that, immediately infuriated that the two could possibly be compared, when the lights dimmed again. Stefan gave a smile that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with being right. He stood, moving his chair around the table to sit closer to hers -- a position easier to see the stage from. "Perhaps we should continue this after the performance."

"Oh," Bobbie spoke through clenched teeth. "Lets."

Lucy was in the spotlight on stage again, enthusiastically introducing Emily Quartermaine, Ned Ashton and Dara Jensen. Bobbie sat back in her chair, arms crossed, and glowered at the unwelcome diversion on the stage. The curtain lifted to reveal an exaggerated child's nursery -- with oversized alphabet blocks, a rocking horse, and stuffed animals. Emily was sitting sidesaddle on the horse, dressed in a big frilly little-girl dress. Bobbie gave a slight smile as the music started. Slow and mournful, Emily rocked gently on the horse before starting to sing.

"Sometimes people leave you... Halfway through the wood.
Do not let it grieve you, No one leaves for good."

Ned, inexplicably dressed in a top hat and tails, from behind one of the stuffed animals. "You are not alone..."

Dara appeared on top of the blocks in a full ballgown, holding a wand in one hand. Fairy Godmother. "No one is alone."

All three started to sing together.

"Careful the things you say, Children will listen."

Carly stared at his hand, and told herself to take it. She didn't want to stay out here. It was cold and wet and generally unpleasant. She felt raw and unprotected. And if she could just reach out and take his hand, he'd change that. Take her back inside, where all sorts of people she hated were drawing even more conclusions about her. She loves, him she loves him not... She stared into his upturned palm and suddenly hated him. Hated that she'd let him bring her here. That he'd left her alone. That he had a mother who was so damned talkative and... She looked back up at him sharply. Searched his face for an answer to the question that had been lodged in her throat since he'd appeared in the doorway.

Do you love me? Is that what's happening here? She wanted to ask. More than anything she wanted to look up into those cold dark eyes and pull the answer out of them. And as much as it terrified her, she wanted the answer to be 'yes'.

"I want to stay out here," she wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stifle a shiver. It wasn't very convincing, but she knew if they went back inside, Nikolas wasn't going to confess a thing. He was going to play the Duty bound Prince. A role he'd lost and was still trying to hold onto. God, how was it she hadn't noticed that before?

Nikolas dropped his hand. He didn't feel up to much more of this. It was taking a lot of self-discipline to stand here like everything was fine. Like he wasn't bursting to ask her what was going on. Why she had given Jason the means to get in immediate touch with her. After everything that had happened between her and that man, why did she want to give him anything? And after everything that had happened between the two of them in the last week...

He shook his head, hard. This wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"You're cold," he opted for logic. She was shivering and the rain was starting to slant towards them. It was idiocy to stay out here.

"I'm fine," Carly tipped her chin up defiantly.

Nikolas resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead pulling off his jacket. He held it out to her. "Put it on."

Carly hunched her shoulders. "No."

"You're shivering, you're going to contract pneumonia."

Carly shrugged and clamped her jaw shut, trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

"Look," Nikolas's voice finally took on some of the frustration he was feeling. "If you're mad at me, we'll discuss it later. Right now, we're going to go back inside and get through the rest of this night."

Carly shifted her weight, cocking her head to one side. "You know, I'm noticing you get to make all the rules here."

"Carly."

"He asked for my number," her voice was shaking. "I gave it to him. I don't think I violated any wedding vows."

Nikolas opened his mouth to respond, then stopped. She looked rigid with anger and mistrust and Nikolas hated himself for it. It wasn't her fault and he knew that. The way he was feeling right now, it was a product of seeing something. Or seeing something and understanding, in his gut, what it meant. Intellectual turns physical. He knew now. Knew in a way he hadn't before. She still loved him. He wanted to say it out loud, but he thought the words would choke him. I love you and you still love him. And I knew that. I fell anyway. There was no going back. There was no stepping away from her now. But he could step away from this. Making her feel bad just because he was sick with jealousy wasn't going to make anything better. If it took every bit of self-restraint he had, he wouldn't let himself lose his temper. He wouldn't take it out on her. He wouldn't be the one to make her look the way she did right now.

"We..." he cleared his throat. "We should go back inside. I have to be at the table for the testimonial, we should go back inside."

Carly felt the words shoot right though her. Right. The precious testimonial. He comes out here and looks at her like she's doing something wrong -- like phone numbers are state secrets, and then she's supposed to trot back inside with him so that he can fulfill his duty to his ex-girlfriend?

Nuh-uh.

"She thanked you profusely for doing that, I hope." she could taste the bile on her own words. "Or does she even have to?"

Nikolas flinched and Carly felt hollow in victory. Well. A reaction. On look-what-topic.

Nikolas bowed his head. This was going to be hard. Unbelievably hard. "Why..." he took a breath, trying to keep his voice steady. "Why are you so determined to turn this into a fight?"

"Careful the things you do, Children will see.
And learn.

Children may not obey, But children will listen."

"I don't want to fight with you," Bobbie was leaning her elbows on the table, a frown making deep creases in her brow. "Believe it or not."

"Barbara," Stefan had lowered his head and was speaking in hushed tones. The attempt to stay silent through the song was entirely for naught. Bobbie just couldn't sit at this table and not engage her ex-husband in a browbeating. "You've made it very evident that you don't trust me. Which places us firmly on opposite sides of the table."

"There are reasons for that," she murmured. "I have compelling reasons for that."

"You really think me a devil, don't you?" His eyes narrowed and he studied her, as if looking for any signs that he wasn't speaking the truth of her feelings towards him. "But I'm a devil you once took to your bed, and I must point out -- you've lived to tell the tale."

Bobbie sat back and smirked at him. The edited, carefully controlled version of her time with Stefan Cassadine. Half made of what she'd discovered about him after the fact, and half built out of what he'd designed for her to know. She was certain he was weaving a similar spell around her daughter. Perhaps not using the same weapons (Ye Gods!), but it would be, no doubt, just as dangerous.

"Stefan," Bobbie leaned over, her breath brushing his neck as she whispered to him. "You hurt her, and there won't be anyone left to tell our story."

"Children will look to you For which way to turn,
To learn what to be.
Careful before you say, "Listen to me."
Children will listen."

Robin stood in the wings and watched the show before her. Everyone on stage seemed to be moving through liquid, in blue light, with white star points appearing slowly behind them. Quiet. Dreamlike. Sad.

She took a deep breath and leaned back against Jason. His arm came around her waist and hugged her against him. She let her eyes close and felt his warmth, his affection. As much as she hated seeing Carly with him, hated that conspiratorial glow she seemed to get around Jason, he still loved her. My husband loves me, she repeated to herself. I'm the one he's with. I'm the one he chose.

And Carly is still a huge part of the picture.

She snapped her eyes open and stared at the wall.

"You're going to tell her?" she spoke quietly. Jason lowered his head to speak against her ear.

"Next week."

Robin blinked a few times. All right. Next week. It'd be over next week.

"We should have told her sooner," she murmured. Behind her, Jason shook his head.

"You know we couldn't."

She nodded before he'd finished his words. She knew and she knew and she knew. Well covered territory. And hadn't she set herself up for this by putting Carly in the wedding? Hadn't that just made everything more difficult for all of them? Grand gestures were highly overrated.

"Do you have to meet with her to do it?" Robin hated herself for asking the question as she felt Jason stiffen behind her.

"I have to do this my way."

"I know," Robin stood up, pulling herself out of his arms. "Believe me, I know."

"Careful the wish you make, Wishes are children.
Careful the path they take, Wishes come true,"

Bobbie kept her eyes trained on the stage. She refused to look back at Stefan, to let herself absorb his cool and practiced posture, his insistence at finding everything she said -- even threats to do him bodily harm -- mildly amusing.

God did she hate this man.

Hadn't always been that way, she thought, as she watched the singers on stage flit around the set. She'd loved this man. That was something she'd tried to forget. But she'd loved him. And there had been reasons. He was careful, he was controlled -- but he'd given her reason to love him. Reason to feel safe with him. He had a strong heart. That was what she'd felt back then. Strong and passionate, he'd felt things intensely, making his outward stoicism all the more remarkable. And he'd loved Nikolas... Well. Like his own. He'd loved him with a selflessness that moved her deeply.

Sympathy for the devil. Maybe. The fact was, she still didn't know.

Nikolas, of course, had turned out to be his son. She knew the story now. She'd heard it from Laura directly. And that... That had hurt. More than she'd ever let anyone know. Divorced and out of his life, knowing that he had harbored feelings for her brother's wife. That Laura had been a larger part of his life, and therefore a larger part of their marriage... She wasn't going to forgive him for hiding that part of him from her. Faberge eggs and dalliances with gun shot victims... In the end it was what he never let her see that made her wary of him. It was the wealth of what he didn't let her know.

She hadn't found the words to describe what being a Cassadine had been like for Carly. Seeing the ardor in Nikolas had weakened her ability to be the voice of reason. But as much as she saw that in him -- that open, up front love and affection for her daughter -- she also saw the flip side. What he'd learned from Stefan. He could be just as closed off and stoic as his father when it suited him. And she hoped to God Carly would be able to handle that.

Years out of her marriage, she still wasn't sure she could.

"Careful the spell you cast, Not just on children.
Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see
And turn against you..."

Carly's stomach lurched at Nikolas's question. There were too many answers inside of her, and every one of them made her look crazy. Fighting was safer. It hurt less than just trying to pretend things weren't screwed up. Because at least, when someone was angry, you had a chance of getting some truth out of them. Because she didn't know any other way to deal with how she was feeling.

"Do you --" she stopped, feeling her throat constrict. Shaking her head, she turned away from him. God, she hated this stupid Ball. She hated the people, she hated how they made her feel. How completely out of place and wrong they could make her feel. In her thoughts, her feelings, her marriage. Hell, in her own damned body. She blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to push back the tears threatening. She put a hand to her face and let her eyes close. She just wanted all of this to stop.

Nikolas watched Carly's head bow and her shoulders droop. That was it. He couldn't stand this -- right now, he could barely stand himself. He didn't care what happened with Jason, he didn't care where he was supposed to be, or what he was supposed to be doing. He just couldn't stand looking at her like this. He couldn't let her keep this up.

He moved forward, bringing up his jacket again, and placing it over her shoulders. Carly straightened up, feeling firm hands on her shoulders. Nikolas ran his hands down her arms, pulling the material around her. She started to lean back against him, an automatic response to his touch, but instead her body turned on her heel and she threw herself against his chest. It was both sudden and expected -- utterly mutual. Nikolas's arms closed around her, crushing her against his chest. Carly pressed her forehead against him, then pushed herself up on her toes, her arms moving around his neck. He gathered her more firmly against her, lifting her off the ground, and buried his face in the bend of her neck. Nikolas, Nikolas, Nikolas, her brain chanted to her. My husband. My lover. My friend. She hung onto him for dear life. Didn't matter why, didn't matter how. Right at that moment, she didn't care about anything else. She just wanted to feel warm. She wanted to feel close to something. Someone. Him.

"I don't want to fight," she whispered against his ear.

Nikolas tightened his arms around her. He held onto her like if he let go, even for a second, she'd be gone. The pain of it was circling through him. How could something that felt this solid be so intangible at the same time? He pushed the thought out of his head. It didn't matter right now. All that mattered was getting through this in one piece. He took a deep breath, filling his senses with her perfume, her skin. Letting it resolve him. Then he loosened his arms and let her slid along his body down to the ground again.

Carly lifted her head and looked up at him. They stared at each other a long moment, neither having much of anything to say. Finally Nikolas lowered his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

"We can leave."

It said more than anything else he could have uttered to her. Pushed away every other topic at hand. She let out a long sigh feeling herself calm a little.

"Your reading."

"I'll give it to my father."

She wanted to say yes. She wanted to leave and go some place where he was the only thing she had to deal with. Instead she pulled back and looked up at him. She didn't want to feel like a basket case tonight. She didn't want to disappoint him.

"No way," she said firmly, forcing a smile. "They're not chasing me out of here."

"Careful the tale you tell.
That is the spell.
Children will listen.."

It was that time again.

The song had ended, the set had been cleared, and the spotlight had gone up center stage as Nikolas and Carly made it to the door of the ballroom. A hush had gone over the crowd, and Nikolas pulled back on Carly's hand, signaling her to stop, rather than cross the floor and try to find their table in the dark. He pulled her with him, towards the wall, just as Lucy Coe appeared and started the introduction. And it was here. The centerpiece of the Ball -- Robin Scorpio.

Carly made a face, grateful for the darkened and silent room that kept her secret. She could stick out her tongue if she wanted, no one would know. She felt Nikolas's arms around her and she let her body rest against his. A couple of minutes alone can go along way. There was still a great big knot of doom in her stomach, but she felt better in his arms than out of them.

There was a huge round of applause when Robin walked out on the stage. Carly noted, to her surprise, that Nikolas's hands didn't move from her waist. She clapped unenthusiastically, and wondered what it meant that Nikolas wasn't. She glanced towards the light that was streaming in from the door. Of all the things to come back for... She'd rather stick pins in her eyes.

On the stage, Robin stared out at a room she couldn't see, and realized that she had nothing to say. The lights were blinding, just like always. There was no place quite as lonely as a spotlight. Her uncle was out there some place. So were her friends. In theory at least. Jason was standing at the wings, ready to jump if anything went wrong. She'd done this a million times -- it felt like that. And she'd be doing it a million more. Hell, she'd just taken a job that would involve talking to kids in high schools. Telling them her story. Why did this feel so false? So utterly pointless?

"I've been living with HIV for over five years now," she started. "I look at that, and I'm amazed. I'm amazed that..." she stopped, mid sentence, and stared into space a moment. "I'm amazed."

The words sounded funny to her. Wrong. She wasn't amazed. She was scared. She was sad. She wasn't sure who she was or what she was doing anymore. And she was standing here in front of a room of people who loved her, saying things they already knew. Trying to be inspiring. She shot a sidelong glance towards the wings. There was Jason, frowning at her. Lucy with a big smile on her face trying to mask what looked like the beginnings of a panic attack. She turned back to the audience and tried again. "I'm amazed..."

No. It wasn't working. It didn't even sound like her voice. She looked down at the mic, and caught a flash of light as her hand moved. Her rings. She stared at them a moment, thinking about how incredibly happy she'd been when they had each been placed on her hand. Both in the last year. Both since the last time she'd made this speech.

"It's hard," she said quietly. "You find out that you've contracted something like HIV and you think this is it: you're going to be defined by it for the rest of your life. Everything you do, everything you think, everything you are is going to be about what's in your bloodstream."

She looked up. "But it's not like that."

"You're still living a life. You still laugh, you still cry, you still get hurt. You still..." she frowned. "You still make mistakes."

There was a rustle in the crowd. She was making them nervous. Robin shook her head, hard. Right. She was supposed to be beyond this. No more break downs at the Ball.

Across the room, Carly shifted and half turned her head towards Nikolas. "What..."

He frowned, unseen behind her. "I don't know."

"AIDS kills," Robin blurted out in a desperate attempt to get back on track. After all, that was the heart of the point. "Not just here, where we have drugs and education. It ravages the third world. We aren't fighting a local battle. Sometimes when I realize the size of it, it just knocks me over. Because it already feels so big in my own life. The idea that..."

Momentum abandoned her. She stopped, clearing her throat. "It's hard not to be overwhelmed. It's hard not to wonder if we can really make a difference."

We can make a difference. We can change the world. Rah rah, siss boom bah.

"I don't know who I'd be if this hadn't happened to me," she laughed, quickly. Well. That wasn't on her cue cards. "If I hadn't loved someone who died of AIDS. If hadn't contracted HIV from him. It's changed the way I saw the world. The way I saw myself. Over the past few years I've had hope, and I've lost hope. I've tried to find faith wherever it was left for me. You get something good, you know? You hear they've made progress, and then you turn around and their finding out something that takes that progress away, and you just feel so incredibly angry. I can't even describe how incredibly ANGRY..."

"She's losing it," Carly murmured under her breath. She'd never seen this before. And she'd seen the dark side of Robin Scorpio. She pulled Nikolas's hands from around her waist and took a step forward. It was hard to explain, but... Something in her just knew what was happening.

Robin was unravelling.

Her head was bowed. She was holding the mic in her hand so tightly that her knuckles were white. From Carly's position -- far far right, she could see a rustling behind the curtain. Jason. She knew he'd be there. And he was probably having something close to a heart attack right now.

"I don't live my life like I'm going to die," Robin lifted her head suddenly. She looked out at the crowd and wondered just what they were thinking right now. Were they shocked? Did they think she was going crazy? Had she broken the rules? Weird. Weird that now, she'd suddenly feel rebellious. "I got married this year." She blinked. She felt her heart swell a little, and smiled. "I didn't think, when I was diagnosed, that I'd ever get married. That anyone would want me. But I know now that isn't true. HIV changes the way you see your life, but it doesn't change the fact that you still have one."

She closed her eyes. Ok. That was better. That was more like it. Focus on the good. No need to have a mental breakdown on stage.

"I have a husband. And..." She stopped. Took a breath. "I have a husband, and..." Don't do it. "We have a future together." She smiled. The crowd, in the darkness, seemed pleased. Relieved, probably.

"We've made plans," Robin continued. "We've made a life."

In the dark, Carly folded her arms across her chest. Robin sounded like a skipping record, fighting to get to the next part of the song.

"And I feel..." her voice wavered a little on the last word. "I feel... Full. Of... Hope." It was like watching a car accident, Robin thought, listening to her own voice. "Because..." No. No, it was like driving the car. "Next month..." I was like driving your own car off a cliff. "My husband and I are adopting a child."

Robin looked down at her hand again. The gold. The diamond. They sparkled. She wondered if she'd really just said that out loud.

"I'm going to be a mother."

Carly's brain tried to reject what she was hearing. Circled back, repeated it to her, and then tried to toss it away. She took a step backwards and collided with someone. Nikolas. She felt his hands on her and suddenly, she couldn't breathe.

"No..."

She mouthed the word, but no sound came out. Her body felt hot, her mouth dry, and then she lost all sense of ground. Her knees gave out and she realized she was falling when Nikolas caught her and hauled her back up to her feet. She stared at the stage. At the tiny woman in the pink dress saying words Carly couldn't hear anymore.

"Nikolas..." she choked, unable to take her eyes from the stage.

"I'm here," his voice was empty. Carly felt like a dead weight in his arms. Her eyes trained forward, her voice high in pitch... This couldn't be happening. There was no way Robin could possibly be this cruel... He was snapped back into the moment when he felt his wife's body jerk violently against him. He hugged her closer, lowered his head to her shoulder. "It's Ok," he whispered to her.

Carly shook her head. It wasn't Ok. It really really wasn't Ok.

"Get me out of here."

Nikolas was already moving, his body turning hers from the stage. Carly let herself be led. She saw the door. The light. And with Nikolas's hand on the small of her back she allowed herself to be propelled forward. One foot in front of the other, walking on ground she couldn't feel.

Bobbie Spencer had been on her feet the moment the words had come out of Robin's mouth. In the dark, she'd been gripping the table cloth in her fist thinking over and over again that there was just no way

She had to find Carly. She had to find her daughter now and tell her this before she and Nikolas came back. She heard Stefan call her name as she got up from the table, but she didn't even stop to look back. She'd gotten halfway across the room when she saw her. Or rather, she saw Nikolas escorting her daughter from the room. Bobbie froze, mid-stride.

"Oh, God," she breathed. She started forward again, pushing chairs out of her way, maneuvering around people without apology. She had to get out. She had to fix this!

Luke collided with his sister at the door. "Barbara," his hand closed around her upper arm, but Bobbie pulled free of him as if she hadn't even noticed he was there, following after her daughter. Luke kept close on her heels, even as she broke into a run, a cry erupted from her gut.

"Carly!"

Carly stopped dead at the sound of her mother's voice. She felt Nikolas's hand press against her back. Nikolas, who's walk was the only thing keeping her afloat. She turned, pivoted, really, under her husband's direction. She felt his hands on her upper arms. Holding her up, holding her still. Holding her together.

Bobbie ran down the carpeted hall as fast as her shoes would allow her. She could see it -- that look. It was there, it was living in her daughter's eyes. That empty stunned look she hadn't ever wanted to see again. It ripped at her like nothing else. "Oh, God, Carly," she gasped, catching up to them.

"Did you know?" Carly's voice was thin, her eyes huge. Her mother didn't answer, and that was all the information she needed. Carly choked on a laugh that turned, in her throat, into a sob. "You knew. You knew and you didn't..."

She could feel Nikolas's hands on her and at that moment she wanted to throw everything she'd said to him about not wanting to be picked up away. She wanted him to carry her out of here. Rescue me. Rescue me. Make this all go away. Make it all stop.

"We're going to go," Nikolas was pulling her backwards, walking away slowly from Bobbie who was looking at her in absolute devastation. She took a few unsteady steps towards her.

"Baby..."

Carly just shook her head. "I can't." The truth of her words hit her in the gut and she nearly doubled over. "I can't." She turned, grabbing Nikolas's hand in hers and finding her own reservoir of strength. She started to walk, and he came with her.

Bobbie took a step forward, trying to follow, but felt firm arms grab her shoulder. "Let her go," her brother growled in her ear. "She'll be back, Barbara."

Bobbie nodded. Bit her lip, and then turned and buried herself against her brother's chest. "Oh, God, Luke," she whispered. "What the hell am I going to do?"

Songs are: The Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Suddenly Seymour" from "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods.