Unsigned Letter-- Part 1
She got an unsigned letter from her secret someone
And she fell into the mystery
Words were few and specifically vague
Intrinsic intrigue
But it said everything
When it just read ‘Come to me’
February 14, 2010
Someone called for coffee above the low din of Kelly’s. Elizabeth Webber smiled brightly and made her way over to the customer carrying the coffeepot. At first glance she looked happy, but the people who knew her knew that the light had gone out of her eyes a long time ago. Elizabeth looked up from the customer when she heard the door open. She smiled when she saw her oldest goddaughter running toward her. Virginia squealed, dashed behind Elizabeth, and put her arms tightly around Elizabeth’s waist, using her as a human shield.
“Virginia, what’s going…” But Elizabeth stopped when she saw what must have been the cause of the young girl’s terror. Michael Quartermaine Corinthos stood in the doorway glaring at the figure behind Elizabeth. But the reason Elizabeth could barely hold back a giggle was that Michael was drenched, with his very wet red hair in his eyes, and holding a water balloon, apparently looking for revenge.
“Mikey, Mikey please not in the diner!” Elizabeth cried frantically.
Then Virginia let go of Elizabeth and sprinted for the refuge of the kitchen, with Michael quickly following.
The door opened again and Luke, Sonny, and Carly, holding the two year old Lily, entered. Just then they all heard a large splash and a shriek coming from the direction of the kitchen. Carly groaned and brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.
Elizabeth just shrugged. “Well at least they didn’t get any customers wet this time.” She said trying to hide her giggle. Michael and Virginia had been waging a water balloon war for the past few weeks. Needless to say many innocent people have been caught in the crossfire.
“It’s just a little water.” Luke said shrugging his shoulders.
All three of them, and a few of the previously wet customers, glared at him.
“What are you glaring at me for?” Luke asked trying to look innocent.
“Luke you were the one that put this idea in their heads!” Carly said angrily.
“What did I do?”
“Oh I don’t know ‘Hey kids, you know what is a great inside winter game?’ Nope nothing comes to mind.” Carly said sarcastically.
Luke shrugged and turned to Sonny. “I still think it was worth it to see Johnny get one in the kisser.”
Sonny just laughed and pushed Luke towards the counter.
Michael came out of the kitchen with a self-satisfied grin on his face.
“Mikey, you and Gina go get the mops out of the closet, I’m pretty sure you know where they are by now, and clean up that mess.” Elizabeth said firmly.
“But Lizzie…” Michael whined.
“You heard her.” Carly said in a tone only a mother could make.
Michael turned and went back into the kitchen, looking more like he’d been sent to his doom rather than to just mop up some water.
Carly shifted Lily off of her hip and gave her to Elizabeth. “Here, hold your other goddaughter.” She said tiredly and walked over to where Luke and Sonny were sitting at the counter.
Elizabeth smiled at the toddler in her arms. Where Virginia looked exactly like her mother, long blond hair and fiery brown eyes that made her look like she was always up to something, Lily looked like a tiny replica of Sonny. Curly dark hair, dimples, and soft dark eyes. Oh she had a fierce temper and could scream like a banshee, but when she looked like she did right now, sweet and shy, you could give her just about anything her heart desired.
Elizabeth could remember when she was born. Carly refused to name her Lily; she kept saying that naming her child after her husband’s dead wife was just weird. Of course she had gone through her “typical Carly” tantrums, accusing Sonny of still loving Lily and trying to replace the unborn child he'd lost with her. Sonny had, wisely, just kept his mouth shut and waited for Carly to calm herself down. And that’s exactly what she did, and after talking to the people who knew Lily, including tracking down Miguel Morez which she almost got arrested for, she agreed to the name.
Elizabeth carried Lily behind the counter, sat her on it, and gave her a cookie. Carly looked pointedly at the vase filled with a dozen white roses at the end of the counter. “More today, huh?”
Elizabeth looked over at the roses and let out a sigh. “Yeah there was twelve today.”
Sonny’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Okay what am I missing?” Sonny had been at the island for the past two weeks taking care of some business at the casino, so he had missed out on what was happening.
Elizabeth sighed. “Twelve days ago I got a single white rose, no card, no name. And since then I’ve been getting roses everyday, two the next day and three on the third day and so on up until today.”
“And today was just like the others? No card?” Luke asked.
“Um… Yeah.” Elizabeth kept her voice steady.
Carly narrowed her eyes at Elizabeth. She could tell she was hiding something, but decided to let it go for now.
“Well you haven’t been too nervous about it till today.” Carly commented, noticing her friend’s nervous glances toward the flowers and her twisting the ring on her right hand.
“Well I didn’t really have a reason to before. I mean, there’s only one person that would have a reason to stalk me and Tom Baker’s dead.” She said with a glance toward Sonny.
Sonny put his hands up defensively. “Hey, just because the guy ended up floating in the river shortly after he was accused of stalking you does not mean I had anything to do with it.”
Luke shrugged. “Hey I’m just mad cause you didn’t let me help.”
Carly rolled her eyes. “Okay back to the subject at hand… Why do you have a reason to be nervous now?” She asked turning her attention back to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth sighed nervously. “Think about what today is.”
Carly responded automatically. “It’s Valentines Day…” Then it clicked in her head. “Oh”
“Yeah ‘Oh’ And I got twelve roses today. It’s been twelve years exactly since the rape.” She said, her voice wavering slightly.
“But it could be just a dozen.” Carly reasoned, trying to calm her friend. “It is a pretty common number for roses. It could be just a coincidence.”
Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair tiredly. “Yeah I know, but I think I’ve lived in this town long enough to know that nothing is ‘just a coincidence’.”
“Now darlin’ I’d be the first to agree with you there, but this all could be some secret admirer who thought it would be sweet to send you roses until you ended up with a dozen on V-Day. And since you haven’t gotten a card or a letter or some weird, sick gift I think it might be quite innocent.” Luke said trying to reassure her.
“I could put a guard on you if it would make you feel better. Just to be safe.” Sonny offered.
Elizabeth smiled. “Thanks Sonny, but I think Luke might be right. I don’t think I should be worried.”
Carly narrowed her eyes again. There was something in Elizabeth’s voice that she recognized from years of expert lying.
Michael and Virginia came out of the kitchen. Their clothes and hair were still soaked, but the war seemed to have gone into temporary peace mode.
“Mom, we’re going back to the penthouse and get dry. We’ll take Billy with us.” Michael said.
“Okay sweetie. Could you take Lily and put her down for her nap. Leticia should be there in about 20 minutes.”
“Sure thing Mom.” Virginia said taking Lily from Elizabeth and walking towards the door where Michael was waiting. As Michael opened the door Taggert walked up.
“How ya doing Baldy?” Michael said, slapping Taggert on the arm as he passed him.
Virginia just smirked and followed Michael. But Lily could be heard giggling and repeating “Baldy! Baldy!”
Taggert rolled his eyes. “Just what I needed today. Corinthos: The Next Generation.”
Sonny turned to Luke and put his hand to his heart dramatically. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud.”
Taggert sat down heavily at one of the tables.
“Morning Commissioner.” Elizabeth said with a smile as she walked over and poured him a cup of coffee. “Good morning Elizabeth. Could I have my usual and could you please protect me from them.” He said grinning and jerking his head in the direction of the counter.
Elizabeth gave him a mock salute. “I’ll do my best Commissioner.”
She walked back over to the counter and put his order in.
Sonny turned to Luke. “I have the sudden urge to be someplace else.”
Luke shrugged. “Well, as I always say, follow your instincts.”
“You always say that?” Carly said grinning.
“I’ll have you know that I say that quite often.” Luke said, shaking a finger at her.
“Well I’m getting out of here before he arrests me for loitering or something.” Sonny said jerking his head in
Taggert’s direction. He turned to Luke. “You coming?”
Luke nodded, standing up. “Yeah, whenever they arrest you, they arrest Roy, and then they question me and it’s all a big mess.”
Sonny and Luke had repaired their friendship long ago. Roy was still a partner in the club, but was now acting as Sonny’s right hand man. Luke was still a little apprehensive about Roy being in business with Sonny because of the club and because Roy was married to his sister.
Sonny leaned over and kissed his wife lightly. “I’ll be home for lunch.”
Carly gave him a suggestive smile. “Hope you’re hungry.”
Luke groaned and pulled Sonny away before he could kiss Carly again. “Kelly’s doesn’t rent rooms by the hour and the way you and her are going you’re going to have an after breakfast snack instead of lunch.”
They were all laughing; even Taggert was caught chuckling, as Luke pushed Sonny out of the diner.
Carly turned back to Elizabeth, smiling dreamily.
“Get that grin off or your face before you make all the customers sick.” Elizabeth teased.
“Well there’s someone I want you meet.” Carly said changing the subject abruptly.
“Carly…” Elizabeth warned.
“Now just hear me out…”
“Carly the last guy you set me up with lived with his mother!”
“Okay maybe I should have investigated that one a little more thoroughly.”
“And the one before that?”
“What? He was cute.”
“He looked like he should have been playing football for the Giants! He was at least 7 feet tall and built like a brick house. I looked like a five year old next to him!”
“Okay so you don’t like tall guys. I can understand that.” Carly said dismissing her previous failures. “Now there’s this new accountant that Sonny just hired.” Carly caught Elizabeth’s raised eyebrow. “Now don’t go getting pictures of thick glasses and pocket protectors in your head. He is so good looking. Works out three times a week, does mostly running and swimming and he has a really nice looking butt. And he’s really sweet too, one of those ten real gentlemen left walking around on this planet.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Carly, I’m starting to wonder if you suggest these guys because you want me to go out with them, or because you want to go out with them.” She said laughing.
“I do not want to go out with them, I’m happily married.” Carly said sternly. “I might be physically attracted to them, and being the generous person that I am, I share.”
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. “Carly you need to give up on the whole ‘I need to find Liz a man’ thing. I’m 28 years old, I’m pretty sure I have plenty of time to find Mr. Right.”
“Do you?” Carly said quietly.
“What?”
“I mean, are you even looking?” Carly said, obviously worried about her friend.
“You don’t look for something like love. It just finds you.”
“Believe me I know about that, look who I’m married to, Sonny ‘I don’t like blondes’ Corinthos. But love found you once, that doesn’t mean it can’t find you again.” Carly said gently, knowing that was exactly what Elizabeth was thinking.
“Hey sis.” Lucas said into Carly’s ear, causing her to jump.
“Geez Lucas!” She said swatting him on the arm.
“Sorry Carly, I couldn’t resist.” The 17 year-old said smiling.
Carly quickly threw a glare to Elizabeth who was still laughing behind the counter and then turned to Lucas. “Well despite the heart attack you almost gave me I am glad you came by.” She said smiling sweetly and Lucas groaned. He knew what was coming. “Could you baby-sit tonight?”
“Carly…” Lucas whined.
“Come on Lucas, I gave Leticia the night off and Mikey has a sleepover and Gina has a Valentine’s party.”
“Sorry Carly I have a date with Georgie.” Lucas said smiling dreamily. “It is Valentine’s after all.”
“I know, that’s why Sonny and I want to go out!” Carly grumbled. Her face brightened when she thought of another baby-sitter prospect. “What about Lulu?”
Lucas shook his head. “She has a date with Neil.” He said, his tone indicating his dislike for the boy.
Carly groaned and looked at Lucas thoughtfully. “Mom maybe?”
“Oh please, her and Roy have barely come up for air in the past ten years.” Lucas smirked.
Carly frowned and looked at Elizabeth. “My innocent little brother has a dirty little mind.”
“I’m not so innocent Carly.” Lucas said grinning.
Carly shuddered. “Ew! I don’t need to hear about my little brother’s sex life!”
Lucas smirked. “Yeah well I don’t need to hear about my sister’s sex life either, but I tend to hear about that a lot.”
Carly hit him on the arm again and Lucas rubbed his arm jokingly. Lucas glanced outside and groaned at who was approaching. “Liz, you’re puppy dog is here.”
Elizabeth groaned. “Oh I am not in the mood for this.”
“I’m getting out of here before he asks me to jump out of a plane with him or something!” Lucas said, grabbing a cookie from a tray on the counter and escaping through the kitchen and out the back door.
Carly laughed when she looked over her shoulder and saw Jacob Jacks entering the diner. Jacob had shown up in town a couple of years ago claiming to be Jax’s son. Needless to say Jax was surprised to find out that Miranda had been pregnant when he’d thought she died. When she had come back he had ultimately rejected her and she was angry, so she left town without telling Jax about his son. Jacob was exactly like anyone would picture Jax as a teenager, but it seemed like he had inherited Jerry’s morals. Jacob had had a crush on Elizabeth since the moment he’d seen her, but he had become particularly relentless since he’d turned eighteen.
He strode confidently up to the counter and held out a single red rose to Elizabeth. “Happy Valentine’s Day Liz.”
Carly frowned up at the 18 year-old. “Go away Surfer Boy.”
Elizabeth tried not to laugh and gave Jacob a small smile. “Thank you Jacob, but you didn’t have to.”
“Yeah cause as you can see, she has enough roses.” Carly said pointing to the vase on the end of the counter. And then she scrunched up her face distastefully. “Unless those are from you… those aren’t from you are they?”
“No, white’s not really my style, I’m more of a red kind of guy.” He flashed a grin at Elizabeth. “You know, red symbolizes passion.”
Carly started laughing, but quickly covered it with a coughing fit.
“Yes Jacob, I know.” Elizabeth said fighting to keep her composure.
Carly recovered and looked at Jacob the way someone would look at an annoying bug. “You know, it’s so nice that you and Daddy can bond over the hair color aisle at Wal-Mart.” Carly said indicating his spiky bleached blond hair.
Jacob rolled his eyes and turned back to Elizabeth. “So what do you say Liz, you, me, and a romantic dinner at The Grill. I have it all set up.”
“Wow, that’s… um really nice of you Jacob… but…”Elizabeth stammered.
“She can’t.” Carly jumped in. “She’s baby-sitting Lily tonight.”
“Well I can come over and help. I’ll have dinner delivered.” Jacob said quickly.
“No way, if I let Jasper Jacks’ son baby-sit our daughter, Sonny would kill you. And then Jax would kill Sonny and then I’d have to kill Jax and that’s just a big ol’ mess.” Carly explained smiling sweetly.
“Okay, I’ll take a rain check then.” Jacob said walking towards the door.
“Goodbye Jacob.” Elizabeth said politely as Jacob walked out of the diner just as confidently as he walked in.
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Carly. “Thank you, but I really can’t baby-sit Lily tonight.”
Carly waved her hand dismisively. “Oh I know, I just told Candy Boy Jr. that to get him off your back.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem, now back to that gorgeous accountant…”
Elizabeth groaned and ran her hand through her hair. “Can we please talk about something else?”
Carly shrugged and smiled deviously. “Okay then what was with that look you got on your face when Luke asked you if there was a card with these flowers?”
Elizabeth froze. “What was that guy’s name again?”
“No Elizabeth, don’t try to avoid this. I know you’re holding something back, and who are you going to tell other than me.” She said smiling sweetly.
Elizabeth sighed. She knew Carly wasn’t going to give in and Elizabeth also knew that she didn’t want her to.
Elizabeth dug something out of her pocket and handed it to Carly. “That came with the flowers today.”
Carly took the card and read it.
Elizabeth,
I’ve waited so long for this. But now it’s finally time. It’s finally safe. Come to me.
You have my heart…
“Oh wow.” Carly said softly. “Isn’t that last part…”
“Yeah.” Elizabeth interrupted. “It’s the beginning of the vows Lucky and I said 11 years ago.”
“So does this mean Lucky’s alive?” Carly asked hopefully.
“Oh come on Carly. ‘You have my heart’ is not exactly an uncommon phrase.”
“But Elizabeth, this note plus the fact that it came with twelve white roses on the twelfth anniversary of your rape. There’s only one person that that would have any meaning to other than you.”
“No! It can’t mean he’s alive. He’s dead, Carly. He’s really dead this time. I saw it with my own eyes.” Elizabeth said near tears.
Carly held up the card. “But Eliz…”
“No! Carly I can’t do this again! I didn’t want to do it last time either, but I let my heart believe it and my heart got crushed again.”
Elizabeth wiped angrily at the tears that had started falling.
“But he was alive Liz.”
“Yeah I know, Helena had him. I didn’t want to believe it cause I knew he wasn’t coming home, somehow I knew! And then I finally started to believe it, and I followed Luke and Laura on that crazy chase.” Elizabeth’s eyes glazed over as she remembered that day. “We finally found that stupid boat. I was standing on the dock, not 30 feet from it and he was on the deck of the boat. He saw me and he smiled, and then he turned around real fast, he must have heard the guard behind him. The gunshot sounded more like it was right next to me rather than 30 feet away. I watched him fall to the ground Carly, he wasn’t getting up. I screamed for Luke and Laura and then it felt like a huge earthquake and that was all I remember. Luke said the force from the explosion threw me back and I hit my head. The boat exploded Carly!”
Carly walked quickly around the counter and held Elizabeth tightly. Carly released her when she had stopped sobbing. She knew this was hard for Elizabeth, but Carly had a feeling she had to do this.
Carly tried to lighten her voice. “Well a boat explosion is apparently not the most reliable way to die. I mean, Faison survived twice, and look at Robert and Anna.”
“But he would have come back to me Carly! He wouldn’t have waited 10 years.”
“Well Robert and Anna didn’t come back till almost 10 years after they supposedly died. And hey, maybe he couldn’t contact you till now. The note said ‘It’s finally safe’ maybe that’s what it means. Maybe it’s finally safe for you to be together.” Carly said hopefully, she knew Elizabeth didn’t want to believe it but this was the only possibility.
“Safe from what? Helena’s been dead for almost a decade and Faison’s in jail! Robert and Anna Scorpio put him there eight years ago, when they came back to town.” Elizabeth took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.
“Who else could it be Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth didn’t think, she just said the first name that came to her mind. It didn’t really matter whose name it was, just that it wasn’t Lucky’s. She just couldn’t believe that. “Jason.” At Carly’s doubtful look, she tried to defend her choice. “Maybe he needs me, or maybe he thinks I’m in danger or something.”
Carly shrugged knowing Elizabeth didn’t really consider Jason as a possibility. “Okay, there’s one thing I don’t understand.” She said deciding to move on. “It’s this ‘Come to me’ part. I wonder what he means?”
Elizabeth cast a sheepish glance down at the floor. “Um… I think I know what that means.” She walked over to the cash register, opened it, and took an envelope out. “This came right after the flowers.”
Carly took the envelope, and stared blankly at the plane tickets inside. She took it out and opened it. “Boston?”
Elizabeth nodded and walked around the counter. She sat down at one of the tables and buried her head in her hands. Carly sat down across from her.
“The flight leaves at five tonight.” Elizabeth said lifting her head.
“You’re actually considering going?” Carly said surprised.
“Yeah kinda.”
“Elizabeth, this could be some sicko!”
“Carly, knowing this town, the chances of me being stalked by some random sicko are quite slim.”
Carly chuckled, “That’s true. But I still don’t like you going to some strange city, alone, to meet someone.” Carly said emphatically. “What if I went with you?”
“No, if it is… Jason, he’ll know I’m not coming alone and he won’t show up.”
Carly knew she wanted to say Lucky. “Well at least let me tell Sonny so he can put a guard on you just in case.”
“No, Sonny will tell Luke, and if they see the note they’ll think it’s Lucky. I just can’t let them go through that again.”
“Yeah you’re right.” Carly said thoughtfully.
“I just don’t want to get their hopes up cause it’s probably Jason anyway.” Elizabeth said quickly. She looked at Carly nervously. “It’s probably Jason right?”
Carly looked at her friend sympathetically. She knew there was no way Elizabeth was going to let herself go to Boston unless she could convince herself that it would be Jason waiting for her. The idea that Lucky might be there might have been more scary than a psycho stalker. In her heart Carly knew that it had to be Lucky waiting at that airport, and that it didn’t matter what Elizabeth had to do to convince herself, she had to go.
“Yeah, you’re right, it’s probably Jason.” Carly said quietly.
Elizabeth nodded, got up and walked into the kitchen to retrieve Taggert’s order. Carly sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She made a silent prayer for everything to turn out all right.
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