Victim of the Game-- Chapter 5
~5
The dark surrounded her. Almost like a physical being rather than just the absence of light. She tried to rub her eyes to make sure they were open thinking that somehow it wasn’t really dark and she just had her eyes closed and didn’t know it. But her hands wouldn’t move. Not only wouldn’t they move but they were tied. She could feel the course rope dig into her skin. She could feel the individual strands of the slightly frayed rope, each one acting like a needle against her skin. She took a deep gasping breath and felt the incredible urge to gag. A myriad of smells invaded her nose, but the one that stood out was that horrible gagging spicy cologne smell that she would know anywhere. And then that raspy voice in her ear.
“Not a word.”
“No!” Elizabeth screamed as she shot up in her bed. She tried in vain to get enough air into her lungs. She could smell that smell and hear that voice, but when she looked around her all she could see was the familiar dim surroundings of her bedroom. She rubbed her wrists to make sure they weren’t bound anymore and quickly got out of bed. It was only 4 am but she knew she couldn’t sleep any more. She walked quickly into the bathroom to take a very hot shower.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky sat at the window of the apartment he was sharing with Frisco. It was early but something was keeping him from going back to sleep. He had managed to stall facing any of his family or friends all week, but it was time to meet with Sonny again and after that he wouldn’t have anymore excuses. He could tell himself that he didn’t want to tell them because Faison was still out there and they were in danger, but really he was just scared. He was scared that they wouldn’t understand his reasons for staying away. Sometimes even he would doubt his reasons, but then he would think about the things Faison was capable of and his doubts would go away. The only people who knew better than he did what kind of things Faison could do to destroy a life, were Robert and Frisco. Robert had lost his wife and Frisco had lost so much time with his daughters, not to mention he had to stand by while his wife married someone else.
Lucky would always be grateful to the WSB for rescuing him, but they had also been the ones that kept him away from his family even if he understood the reasons. He knew he wouldn’t feel as guilty as he did if Elizabeth hadn’t been through the hell she had been. He was grateful for the ways the WSB let him help her, but it still wasn’t the same. He still couldn’t stop it and she still got hurt. He had helped her as much as he could from the sidelines over the years, gotten her the money for art school, helped her anyway he could. It still wasn’t the same; he should have been there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth made her way down the stairs at 8:30 that morning. After being woken up by her nightmare she had started painting and had gotten caught up in it until now. She had her gallery showing tonight and she really needed to sell something. She knew the only reason she had a roof over her head was because she was a friend of the Spencers. Most landlords would have kicked her out by now. As she stepped off the stairs she saw Jason sitting at the counter. She had been avoiding him all week. Well not really avoiding him, she just hadn’t talked to him and he knew she was mad so he’d given her space. He always knew when she needed to cool herself down. He was the best possible friend she could have.
She walked up to where he was sitting and stood there until he looked up. “Hey”
He just nodded silently.
“Are we okay?”
He nodded again.
“Okay if you don’t stop with the nodding thing I’m going to have to hurt you.” She said impatiently.
He smiled and stood up. “Sorry.” He reached out and hugged her.
“Are you coming tonight?” She asked almost timidly when he released her.
“Yeah, Sonny and Alexis wanted to come too.”
Liz groaned and rolled her eyes. “Do they have to?”
“She’s your mother, she wants to come.” Jason said gently.
“But they’ll buy something.”
Jason laughed. “Isn’t that kind of the point?”
“Yeah, but if they buy something they’re just buying it cause it’s mine and they want to be nice. And that’s just like taking their money. If they want a painting of mine, I’ll paint them one, but I don’t want their money.” Liz said emphatically.
“Okay I’ll make Sonny promise not to let Alexis buy any.” Jason said reassuringly. He glanced at the floor in what appeared to be nervousness, but Liz couldn’t remember Jason ever being nervous. “Maybe I’ll bring Carly.” He mumbled quietly. He quickly tried to cover up his embarrassment. “You know she won’t buy anything of yours unless she really likes it.”
Liz smiled in amusement at his embarrassment. “So would this be a date?”
Jason shrugged. “She’ll think it is.”
Elizabeth smirked. “And you probably won’t do anything to convince her otherwise.”
“Probably not.” He mumbled.
Elizabeth smiled. “As much as I am not Carly’s biggest fan, I’m glad you two are finally working things out.”
Jason laughed. “Took us long enough.”
“Yeah, but a lot has happened. And surprising as it may be not all of it was her fault.”
Jason’s eyes drifted to the floor. “Yeah a lot of things were my fault.”
~~*~~
Early January 2000
Elizabeth sat in her studio, on the couch, with her knees pulled up to her chest, hugging herself. Tears were streaming down her face, as all the pain of never pleasing her parents and never living up to their expectations came back to her. And knowing that it didn’t have to be that way made it all worse. Somehow, maybe if Helena hadn’t been alive, or if Alexis hadn’t been a Cassadine, or if Alexis had just run away when she found out she was pregnant, or if Lucky weren’t dead maybe things would be different. She might as well be wishing that the world was flat, it would do her about as much good as this would.
She could almost feel Lucky’s arms wrapping around her. His hand gently brushing the tears from her face. His fingers lingering lightly on her lips. Elizabeth turned her head to look into the azure eyes of her dream Lucky; instead she saw the steely blue of Jason’s eyes looking back at her. Somehow she still saw a little bit of Lucky in Jason’s painfilled eyes. She could tell that he had heard about what happen, Luke must have told him about Alexis. She also knew that he had just seen Carly, cause only Carly could put that much pain in her eyes. And Elizabeth knew why, he loved Carly. Only someone you loved could cause pain like that.
Elizabeth brought her hand to Jason’s face and traced his jaw line. She knew it was Jason, but somehow all she saw was Lucky. Suddenly Elizabeth pressed her lips to his and kissed him in what was almost desperation. To her complete surprise Jason didn’t pull away and tell her that she shouldn’t do that. Instead he wrapped his arms around her tighter and pulled her closer to him. She buried her fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck, and deepened the kiss. It was a kiss of pure need, a need not to be alone. Elizabeth broke the kiss only long enough to pull Jason’s T-shirt over his head. She let her hands roam over his smooth, hard chest as she resumed the kiss. She knew this was Jason, Jason’s fingers tangled in her hair, Jason’s hand running up and down her back. But still she was half imagining Lucky, Lucky’s hands, Lucky’s lips. She knew in her heart that Jason was imagining Carly too.
Jason gently pulled away and leaned his forehead against Elizabeth’s. Both of them were breathing heavily.
“Liz…”
“Shh.” She cut him off by putting her fingers to his lips. Then she whispered almost inaudibly. “We both need this.”
Jason barely nodded, kissed her softly, and then drew her shirt over her head. Elizabeth shifted to lie on the couch and pulled him down on top of her. Jason buried his face in her neck, his tongue and lips wreaking havoc on her burning skin.
Tears came to Elizabeth’s eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall down her face.
This was supposed to have been with Lucky. Her heart screamed. Since the fire she’d been telling herself that there was a reason Lucky had been taken away from her, that God always had a reason. But now, for the first time since the fire, she felt truly cheated.
~~*~~
“Stop it Jason. It takes two people to make a baby, and I seem to remember I had as much of a choice in what happened as you did.” Elizabeth said firmly.
“I shouldn’t have let it happen. All it did was cause you more pain.” Jason said shaking his head.
“Me? Jason, losing our baby hurt you just as much as it hurt me, so don’t go making me out to be the victim in all of this. And stop blaming your self!” Elizabeth said, her voice rising as she went. “The baby wasn’t your fault, me losing the baby wasn’t your fault and neither was… none of it was your fault Jason!” She turned and ran out of the diner before Jason could see her cry, even though he knew she was.
As soon as she was out of the diner she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Never in her life had she ever thought she’d hate crying as much as she’d come to hate it now. She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths and quickly buried the tears deep within her, something that had become routine for her. When she opened her eyes again everything was normal, or as normal as it could be. She tugged her leather jacket tighter around her and headed for the docks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth walked out onto the docks and took a second to out at the water. She had to go to the gallery and make sure everything was perfect for the opening tonight. V was nice enough to use Elizabeth’s paintings for her gallery’s opening, and Elizabeth was very thankful. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted someone coming out of the alley next to Sonny and Jason’s warehouse.
“Hey who’s there?” She demanded.
“It’s okay Liz, it’s just me.” Sly said stepping out of the shadow of the alley.
“Sly, what are you doing back there?” Elizabeth said narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Oh, I was just taking a walk.” Sly said easily. “You all ready for the big night tonight?”
“Yeah, I just have to go over there and make sure everything’s set up right.” Elizabeth said making a move to leave.
“You know Elizabeth, you’ve been avoiding me all week, why?” Sly said looking at her thoughtfully.
“Sly, it doesn’t really matter, okay?” Elizabeth said avoiding the question.
“No, I want to know.”
“You want to know? Fine,” Elizabeth said angrily, “I don’t know you, you show up in town as this long lost cousin I’ve heard about for years, but have never actually seen. You didn’t show up for your cousin’s funeral, so why do you all of a sudden show up now? Sue, me if I’m a little suspicious.” Elizabeth turned and ran up the stairs without another word.
Sly’s face hardened as he watched her leave. He almost jumped out of his skin when his cell phone rang.
“Eckert.” He said shortly.
“Yeah Boss, it’s done…. Believe me he’ll be ripe for the picking after tonight… Don’t worry, the news coverage won’t be a problem… all right, I’ll handle it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonny walked down the stairs and started when he saw Lucky lounging on the couch.
“Geez Lucky, you’re gonna give me a heart attack.” Sonny said holding his hand over his chest.
“Oh relax Sonny. It’s just me.” Lucky said grinning.
“Well, sorry I’m not used to finding WSB agents in my living room. By the way, how’d you do that?” Sonny said frowning
“A magician never reveals his secrets.” Lucky stood and walked over to the window, his expression turning serious. “Have you heard anything from Faison?”
“No I haven’t, but another shipment of mine was destroyed two days ago.” Sonny said quietly.
“Well it wasn’t Sorel.” Lucky said rubbing the back of his neck.
“How do you know that?” Sonny asked skeptically.
“My partner planted a bug in Sorel’s office, and he’s just as puzzled by these new threats as you are.”
“Did your partner get any other information on Sorel?” Sonny said with a sly grin spread across his face.
“Nothing that I’m going to tell you. Just cause I’m not going to arrest you doesn’t mean I’m going to help you either.” Lucky said grinning.
Sonny shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt to try.”
“Sonny, who’s there?” Alexis called as she padded lightly down the stairs, putting on her earrings as she went. When she saw Lucky, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You haven’t told her have you?”
“Good morning Alexis, how are you?” Lucky said grinning.
“You were supposed to tell her.” Alexis said quietly, ignoring his attempt at avoiding the subject.
“And I will, I just have to make sure things are safe first. It will be soon.” Lucky said quietly. “And from the looks of things Faison will be making Sonny an offer soon.”
Alexis sighed. “If I wasn’t late I’d kidnap you and take you to Elizabeth right now.” She said as she put on her overcoat and picked up her briefcase.
“You have a meeting?” Sonny asked.
“Uh-huh, I’m meeting Jax at Kelly’s” She explained as she walked over to Sonny and kissed him lightly. “Stop frowning, I love you. And you,” she said pointing to Lucky. “Please tell my daughter you’re not dead anymore.” And then she left, laughing at how strange that sentence sounded.
Sonny looked amusedly at the door his wife had just exited. “Don’t mind her, she’s always like that when she’s thinking about a case.”
Lucky nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, reminds me of Elizabeth.”
“I’ve noticed that.” Sonny said smiling. “She has a gallery showing tonight.” Sonny said softly, knowing it was eating Lucky up inside not seeing her.
Lucky nodded. “Yeah, I saw a flyer on the docks. She’s very talented.” He said thinking of the painting he had in his apartment in Washington D.C.
“You sure know a lot for a guy that’s been dead for five years.” Sonny commented.
“Like I said before, I have my ways.” Lucky said smiling.
“You better leave, Carly’s going to be here soon to drop Virginia off.”
Lucky handed Sonny a business card. “That’s my pager number, call it when Faison contacts you. And he will.”
“All right.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth walked to the edge of the dock and looked down into the water. For some reason looking down into the never-ending blackness of the water seemed to calm her. It was almost hypnotizing. Pulling her in and making her mind almost as calm and still as the water. A chill of fear ran up her spine and pulled her away from her momentary calm.
She didn’t want to turn around, but she couldn’t stop herself. Somehow she knew who was behind her.
“Nikolas, what are you doing here?” She asked, trying not to let the fear into her voice.
“I thought it was time for me to come back.” He said a malicious grin crossing his face. The grin she saw sometimes in her nightmares.
~~*~~
May 2000
Elizabeth was wiping down a table at Kelly’s when someone tapped her on her shoulder. When she was turned around she was faced with Nikolas’ angry eyes.
“Nikolas, what are you doing here? I told you to stay away from me.” Elizabeth said with a force she didn’t honestly feel. To tell the truth the only emotion Nikolas invoked in her was fear.
“This is a public diner Elizabeth. I’m here to eat.” He said smiling innocently.
“Nikolas, I don’t think you’ve actually come to eat here in months.” Elizabeth said rolling her eyes. “Why are you here?”
“Uncle said he saw you at the hospital and I wanted to know if everything was OK.” There wasn’t just concern in his voice, for some reason Elizabeth heard an accusation in there somewhere.
“Nikolas, there are lots of reasons I would go to the hospital.”
“What reason would you have to go there? Your Grandmother’s dead, and I know you didn’t have an appointment with Gail.”
Elizabeth flinched at the mention of Audrey, something that was still an open wound. “How do you know that? Nikolas, will you stop this weird obsession of yours. I’m your cousin for goodness sakes!” Elizabeth shrieked. It was now that she first realized that she was alone in the diner. She desperately hoped Tammy would come back soon.
Nikolas apparently ignored the obsession accusation and continued. “Not true actually. You are Alexis’ daughter and Alexis was Mykkos’ daughter. I’m Stavros’ son and he wasn’t Mykkos’ son.” Nikolas laughed humorlessly. “Ironic isn’t it? All my life I wished I was Stefan’s son so I could not be the Prince, and now if I was his son I would be the Prince. All my life I tried to live down being Stavros’ son when what I should have been doing was embracing it.” Nikolas took a menacing step towards her and Elizabeth stepped back involuntarily. Part of her would have liked to believe that Nikolas would never hurt her, but she couldn’t believe that anymore.
“Nikolas I think you should leave.” She said trying unsuccessfully to keep the shake out of her voice.
“Why did you go to the hospital Elizabeth?” He asked, his voice hardening. “Was it for a pre-natal check-up?”
“What?!? How did you know? Did you follow me Nikolas?” She asked horrified that he was actually resorting to stalking.
“You know when I saw you walking into the obstetricians office I had to wonder why in the world you would go there. But then I got to thinking; Jason leaves town, breaking all ties with you and the rest of this town, only to return suddenly and start doting all over you. Then it hits me ‘Morgan got her pregnant’ but what I can’t understand Elizabeth is that you told me you weren’t sleeping with him.”
“I wasn’t. It was one night.” Elizabeth took a shaky breath and suddenly the fear was replaced by anger. “I don’t have to explain anything to you. I don’t answer to you, I don’t answer to anyone!”
“So you’re pregnant with Morgan’s child.” It wasn’t a question, and the tone in his voice chilled Elizabeth. “He doesn’t deserve this Elizabeth. He wasn’t the one that was with you after Lucky died. I was the one you should have moved on with, I’m the one that deserved you.”
“Deserved me? I’m not a prize.” She shook her head and stared backing towards the stairs. “You’re not mad that I slept with Jason, you’re mad that it wasn’t you!”
“Yes! I’m the one you should be with!!” Nikolas yelled.
“You can’t replace Lucky, no one can!” She yelled as she turned and ran up the stairs. She could hear the thumping of footsteps behind her. When she got to the top of the stairs Nikolas had caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and whirled her around roughly.
“You’re a slut and everybody knows it!” He yelled, his face inches from hers. “Maybe what I’ve been doing wrong all along was not paying you.”
He grabbed the back of her head and crushed his lips to hers. Her scream was muffled by his mouth. Elizabeth struggled against his strong grip. She finally wrenched her arms free and pushed him off of her. She tried to dash towards the stairs, but he grabbed her and roughly pushed her into the wall with such force that she hit her head. Her hands went to her head in an effort to stop the throbbing that had suddenly started. She saw Nikolas coming towards her and she tried again to make it to the stairs. He grabbed her again and spun her so she was facing him, with the stairs directly behind her.
“Let go of me Nikolas.” She said weakly. Her head was pounding like elephants were running around inside, and her vision was starting to blur.
“You are going to be mine Elizabeth.” He spat.
Elizabeth used the last of her energy and yanked hard on the arm that Nikolas was holding. She managed to free herself, but that pull also knocked her off balance and she was tilting backwards. She grabbed wildly at Nikolas’ shirtfront in an effort to save herself, but Nikolas looked at her disdainfully and stepped out of her reach. Her last conscious thought was two words “The Baby.”
~~*~~
“You weren’t supposed to come back, ever.” She said coldly.
“Things change.” Nikolas said shrugging his shoulders.
“The deal was that you leave the country and I don’t press charges. I kept my end of the bargain Nikolas, why didn’t you keep yours?” She said through gritted teeth, all the anger she felt for him coming back in a rush. He took away the only thing that had made her look to the future since Lucky’s death.
Nikolas took a few steps towards her and she felt trapped. She never thought she would ever feel trapped in broad daylight and outside.
“You should be thanking me Elizabeth. I rid you of the horrible burden of carrying the mobster legacy.” He spat.
All the anger Elizabeth had inside her spilled over and she ran at Nikolas. She caught him off guard and knocked him off balance leaving him on his back. She took advantage of his compromised position and kneeled down and put her hand right on the base of his neck and gripped, hard.
“I am not afraid of you Nikolas. The only emotion I feel towards you at all is hatred. You made a big mistake…” Her words were cut off when Nikolas brought his leg around and swept her feet out from under her. While Nikolas struggled to get air into his lungs Elizabeth quickly got to her feet.
“So, you’re not afraid of me anymore, right Elizabeth?” He sneered as he got to his feet.
“I’m not, believe me I’ve lived through a worse hell then you.”
Nikolas smiled as one would to a small child. “Oh yes, I read about what happened in the papers. You came out quite the hero, didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t a hero, but dammit, I lived through it! And compared to that buddy, you are a walk in the park.” Elizabeth said forcefully.
“Funny choice of words.” Nikolas said snidely.
“Nikolas get away from her.” Alexis said from behind him. Nikolas turned around to look at her and Alexis couldn’t believe this was the man that she had such high hopes for.
“Well if it isn’t my dear aunt, oh wait, you’re not really my aunt are you?” He said sarcastically. “Hello Natasha, long time no see.”
All of a sudden he looked very much like Stavros to Alexis, the man who had terrorized her her entire childhood.
“Leave her alone Nikolas or Francis here will have to convince you.” Alexis said gesturing to the well-muscled man behind her.
“Using your powerful husband to protect you? That’s so old Alexis, come up with something original.” He said looking bored.
“Leave Nikolas.” Alexis said firmly as Francis took a menacing step towards Nikolas.
“Okay, okay, I can tell when I’m not wanted.” Nikolas said grinning as he backed away. “You can’t hide behind your mother forever Elizabeth.” He offered as he slipped into an alleyway.
Elizabeth looked at Alexis and frowned. “I had that under control.”
“Yes you did.” Alexis said smiling. “But it never hurts to have a little muscle to back up your threats.”
Elizabeth chuckled. “So it kinda pays to have a mobster as a husband.”
Alexis smiled and put her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders as she walked them towards the stairs. “Well it certainly does come in handy sometimes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frisco was walking through the park slowly, not really going anywhere just enjoying the day. Lucky had disappeared from the apartment before Frisco had woken up and Frisco hadn’t seen him all day. He knew this whole thing was really hard on the kid, but he was going to have to push him to show himself to his family soon. He knew Lucky long enough to know that he needed to do things in his own time, but Faison was going to make his move soon and time was running out. When the WSB told Lucky that he could go back to his family when they caught Faison Lucky had been a man on a mission. He was self possessed to find Faison and nearly drove himself to insanity doing it.
Frisco sighed, Lucky and Robert were the only people close to family that he had had over the last few years and truth be told they had become almost as important to him as Felicia and the girls. Frisco had dropped by the hospital a few days ago and Tony was surprised to see him to say the least. Tony was understanding and accepting as he always was. Frisco knew that however crazy his life got Tony would always be there, and he was. There were certain things about his life Tony would never understand, but somehow that had never really mattered to Tony.
"Daddy!" A voice called.
Frisco didn't think the voice was calling to him for a second, it had been so long since anyone had called him that, but then he saw the beautiful blond ten year old running in his direction.
"Hey there princess!" He said picking her up and swinging her around. He put her down and pretended to rub his back in pain. "You're getting way too big for me to pick you up anymore."
"Georgie, come on we have to go." Maxie said sternly.
"Maxie, it's okay, it 's daddy." Georgie said like that fact should explain everything.
"Mac is our Dad Georgie, this is the man that left us." Maxie said grabbing Georgie’s hand and started to pull her away.
Georgie wrenched her hand out of Maxie’s grasp. “He would have been here if he could, but he was doing important things, Mommy said.” Georgie insisted as tears came to her eyes. “Right Daddy?” She said turning to Frisco.
“Of course I would have been with you guys if I could.” Frisco said passionately. “I know you guys don’t really understand, but I was protecting you and watching out for you both every minute I was gone. And I never stopped thinking about you, and I never stopped loving you.”
Frisco reached out and Georgie came into his arms willingly. Maxie stood back apprehensively, and Frisco looked at her with pleading eyes. Tears came to Maxie’s eyes and she wrapped her arms around her father.
Frisco’s heart almost leaped out of his chest when he heard her whispered. “I love you Daddy.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky walked casually through the crowd of people milling around the art gallery. Elizabeth was standing across the room surrounded by his father and mother, Alexis and Sonny, Jason with a frowning Carly, and at least five or six reporters with cameras.. Lucky pulled his hat down further over his face and disappeared further into the crowd. He didn't really know why he came, but something had drawn him. He just had to see her. He was about to head out when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was one of Elizabeth's paintings. He smiled when he recognized the person in the painting. It was Lulu; she was sitting at a window looking out at a night sky. She was turned so you could only see half of her face, but you could see her eyes. Her eyes were so sad and it looked like she was about to cry. Lucky was so engrossed in this painting he didn't even notice someone was standing next to him.
"That's me." A small voice chirped from beside him.
He turned automatically. "What?"
The young girl smiled at him and repeated her statement. "That's me in that painting. 'Lisbeth painted it at my last birthday party."
Lucky smiled down at his sister, surprised at how much she'd grown in just five years and thankful that she didn't recognize him. "If it was at your birthday party why do you look so sad?"
Lulu's eyes darkened. "I was thinking about my brother, the one that died when I was five."
"Lulu!" Someone called for her from across the room. Lulu turned around to see who was calling her and Lucky took that opportunity to disappear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth froze as she watched the stranger. She had seen him talking to Lulu and had gone over to see who he was. She couldn't see his face cause the hat he was wearing was concealing it, but for some reason he looked familiar. The way he walked, the way he was with Lulu, something was nagging at her, but she didn’t know what.
She had looked away for a second and then he was gone.
“Elizabeth everything looks great.” Alexis said coming up next to her.
“Well V did all the work, all I did was show up with some paintings.” Elizabeth said putting on a polite smile.
V walked up smiling brightly. “Well it’s official! Tonight is a huge success. We’ve sold six of your paintings and I think we still have a few interested people out there.”
“Really?” Elizabeth said still disbelieving that someone had actually bought one of her paintings let alone six.
“Really.” V said excitedly.
“V you’ve really done an amazing job with this place. Who would think that this was a warehouse just two months ago.” Laura said looking in awe at her surroundings.
“Yeah, and I know I’ve never had a better neighbor, even if you are married to Candy Boy.” Sonny said flashing his dimples, but his expression changed to a wince when Alexis elbowed him in the side.
Luke nudged Sly in the side as Sly looked at his watch for what seemed like hundredth time that night. “You got a hot date or something Slyster?”
“Something like that.” Sly said smiling.
“Who is she? I know all the beautiful ladies in good ol’ Port Chuckles.” Luke said eliciting a glare from Laura.
“No one you would know Luke.” Sly said smiling. “Well, I really have to get going. Everything looks great Elizabeth, you’re really talented.” And with that he was out the door.
“Well he’s acting strange.” Laura commented.
“Nah, he’s just acting like a Spencer. But you probably don’t remember what that looks like.” Luke said grinning nastily.
V jumped in in an attempt to avoid witnessing one of Luke and Laura’s now famous fights. “Laura, it was really nice of you to come tonight.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it.” Laura said still glaring at Luke. “Stefan wanted to come but he had a meeting at the hospital.”
“Yeah that’s why my parents couldn’t be here.” Emily said in a rush, cutting off whatever Luke was about to say.
“Well I know I really wanted to see Steffin.” Carly said sarcastically. She smiled deviously at Laura. “You know I haven’t seen much of him since your engagement party, what was that, almost two years ago? I’ve heard of long engagements, but don’t you think you’re pushing it here.”
Before Laura could retaliate Jason started pulling Carly away from the group. “Carly, look they have punch over there, let’s go get some.” He said through gritted teeth.
Luke smiled at Carly letting her know he appreciated the help. He had his own theories as to why Laura hadn't tied the knot with the Stiff yet.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Carly’s antics, even though she was inclined to defend Luke too. She sighed and surveyed the room. She caught sight of that man she had seen Lulu talking to earlier; he was walking toward the exit with another man. He turned his head to look back and Elizabeth caught a glimpse of his face. "Lucky?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For someone who doesn't want his family to find out he's alive, you sure do hang around them a lot." Robert whispered in Lucky's ear, nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Geez Robert!" Lucky hissed trying to catch his breath. "Yeah, I know I shouldn't be here but you didn't have to scare me to death! And it's not that I don't want them to find out, I just don't think this is the place to tell them."
"And I agree, but that still raises the question, what are you doing here?"
Lucky sighed, and looked toward where his family was standing. "I had to see them Robert."
Robert nodded. He knew exactly what that was like.
"Look at them Robert. Mom and Dad trying to ignore that the other is even in the room. Bobbie and Roy barely know anyone else is in the room. Carly looks like she's trying to decide between glaring at Elizabeth and my mom and smiling at Jason. And Sly just flew out of here like a bat out of h*ll. And Elizabeth, G-d she looks so beautiful, but she doesn't light up like she used to, she has so much pain inside her."
Robert put his arm around Lucky's shoulders and led him out the exit. "You'll be back with them soon enough Lucky." Robert said trying to reassure the young man.
"Yeah I know, but it's not as easy as it sounds. How am I supposed to tell them that I've been running around the world playing 'secret agent man' for the past five years."
As the two stepped out of the gallery the docks were rocked by an explosion. Everyone inside the gallery dove for cover as the windows sprayed broken glass all over the room and the building shook causing some debris to fall from the roof. They could all feel the heat as the warehouse next door went up in flames.
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