Laura and Stefan's meeting on the docks

[It’s night. Laura is waiting on the docks.]

Laura: “I’m here.” [She looks around, tense.] “You told me to come and I came. [Pause.] “It’s not fair!” [Someone appears at the top of the stairs; Laura looks up.]
“Stavros?”

Stefan: “Lasha. You call me by your husband’s name, I’ll call you by his name for you.” [He walks down the stairs.]

Laura: [Smiles and sighs in relief.] “I should’ve known.”

Stefan: “Because you think of me so often and so fondly? What do you mean you should have known?” [He reaches her.] “It wasn’t Stavros summoning you from the grave.”

Laura: [She steps back.] “For a moment, in the dark, I -- But you’re nothing like him.”

Stefan: “No. He loved you.”

Laura: “I take it you know what my daughter needs.”

Stefan: “Do you miss him so much, Lasha? Are there other days and nights you see him standing before you?”

Laura: [Softly.] “Stefan, please don’t do this.”

Stefan: “Do you wish he were here now?”

Laura: “No! Your brother can’t help me now. Whatever you thought of me then, whatever it is that you think of me now, I’m -- I’m very grateful that you’re here.”



Laura: “I’ve been trying to reach Helena.”

Stefan: [Nods.] “Yes. Another woman. Another mother.”

Laura: “Please, I -- I need her to know that I would never, ever have broken my promise to her. But now… Does she know that my baby is sick?”

Stefan: “You’re family, Lasha. We care for you.”

Laura: “Did she send you here?”

Stefan: “Send me? Send me?”

Laura: “Uh… I mean -- I mean did she ask you to come here?”

Stefan: “My mother helped you once and what did it cost her? You think she’d be inclined to help you again?”

Laura: “No, hardly. But… you have the power now, don’t you? And you came to me. I’m very grateful to you.”

Stefan: [Sighs.] “You haven’t changed. You still think of me as the gullible one.” [He takes a step up the stairs.]

Laura: “No, that’s not true.” [Stefan stops.] “No, I think of you as someone else who knows what it feels like to serve at their whim.”

Stefan: [He takes a step down.] “These aren’t the old days.”

Laura: “How is he?”

Stefan: “Who?”

Laura: “Is he with you? Can I see him, please?” [Her voice breaks, her eyes are bright with tears. Stefan says nothing. Laura turns around and takes a few steps.] “The test for donor compatibility is a very simple one. But it must be done right now.” [She walks back to him.] “Will you bring him to me?”

Stefan: “Bring him to you?”

Laura: “Or it can be done anywhere else. Anywhere you’d like. I’ll arrange for it.”

Stefan: “I’m sure you can.”

Laura: “Stefan, please, do you understand that you hold my daughter’s life in your hands?”

Stefan: “As you had my brother’s in yours? I think so.”

Laura: “No! I -- You’re better than this. You’re --”

Stefan: “Yes. Tell me, Lasha. How much worthier I am than Stavros and the rest. It used to work on occasion.”

Laura: “Well, then why did you make me come here? What do you want? What do you want from me?? Do you want me to BEG? FINE! I WILL BEG! DO YOU WANT ME TO KNEEL? DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME CRY?”

Stefan: [Scoffs.] What makes you think I would give a damn fro your tears? You destroyed my people. You killed my brother. The Cassadines owe you nothing.”



[Stefan is at the top of the stairs, his back to Laura.]

Laura: “I did not kill Stavros! You know Helena would have said anything, anything!”

Stefan: “Then what did?”

Laura: “His own obsession. You know how he was about anything that he laid claim to.”

Stefan: “Why wouldn’t he think he had a right to claim his own wife?”

Laura: “I was never his wife! Except in his own mind, in his own make-believe world! I was married to someone else!”

Stefan: “More than in his mind, I think, or else you wouldn’t be here, would you?”

Laura: “He kidnapped me! He made me believe that my husband was dead! And that I had nothing to come back to – you know this! Why are you doing this to me? You’re acting as if he was my victim!”

Stefan: [Faraway look.] “‘Remember me. The power does not die with me.’”

Laura: [She remembers. Flashback.]

Stavros: “The power does not die with me. It will go on. You and your Luke--”

Stefan: “‘You will feel my rage long after.’”

Laura: “How can you know that? Nobody else was there.”

Stefan: [Looks at her.] “Do you begin to feel it now, Lasha?”

Laura: “Luke and I were the only ones in that hospital room when Stavros died.”

Stefan: “There was another witness.”

Laura:You? How?”

Stefan: “And the words he left you with became my inheritance, too. I guarded them like you. I heard them in my sleep, like you. And I watched.” [He walks down the stairs.] “Every step you took, I took with you. Your travels. Your separation from Luke. I was very close to you then. But I waited. Lucky’s gambling. Your daughter’s close call in the Ward House fire. I prayed alongside your family that you’d be found innocent of your latest murder. You have prior crimes to answer for.

Laura: “All right. You hate me now. I guess the chance to see me suffer is the only reason you have for living. Your greatest pleasure from your imperial seat is having ME watched! And this is how you’ll take revenge. On a child.”

Stefan: “If you like, I can leave. If my company is so distasteful… And you’ll never see me again. [He walks by her.]

Laura: “No. No, please.” [He stops, turns to face her.] “There aren’t the old days when you were standing in your brother’s shadow. You make the decisions now. And you can do what’s right.”

Stefan: “I am making the decisions now. And I’ll do what I think is right.”

Laura: “Thank you.”

Stefan: “To avenge my brother’s death.”

Laura: “So you’ve slipped into your brother’s shoes. But they don’t quite fit, do they? Cruelty doesn’t come naturally to you.”

Stefan: “I’ve changed.”

Laura: “You want to avenge Stavros’ death. Stavros would never have done this to me.”

Stefan: “Well, he may have been dazzled by you, but I never was.”

Laura: “Think back.”

Stefan: “To what?”

Laura: “You know what. You couldn’t have changed that much.” [She takes a step closer to him.]

Stefan: “Why not? You have.”

Laura: “Please. My daughter will die without your help. Please.”

Stefan: “Did I say I wouldn’t grant your request?”

Laura: “Then you’ll let me see him. Where is he?”

Stefan: [He goes halfway up the stairs, then turns back to look at her.] “Did I say I would?”

Laura: [Follows him.] Please. Please don’t do this to me. Please. Please!” [Stefan closes the gate behind her and walks away.] “How can I find you?”