Victim of the Game-- Chapter 8
They looked at her with pity on their faces and anger rose up inside her. “I’m not crazy! Where’s Lucky?”
Laura stroked her hair gently. “Honey, Lucky’s gone.”
Liz looked to Jason for help. “Jason tell them, he’s not dead.”
All eyes turned to the back of the room where Jason stood silently. “I saw him too, in the flesh.”
Laura gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. Stefan reached over and rubbed her back soothingly. Luke looked like he couldn’t breathe.
Laura recovered slowly and looked at Liz with hopeful eyes. “Did he say anything? How is it that he’s alive? Where has he been?” She asked frantically.
Liz shook her head. “I don’t know. I slapped him and that’s about when I lost consciousness.” She said wryly.
Luke broke out of his trance and smirked. “That was some welcome home.”
Somewhere in her head Elizabeth knew that Luke was just joking in his usual way of doing so when the room was filled with tension. But she wasn’t thinking too clearly at the moment. "Well excuse me if I don't have as much experience with people coming back from the dead as you do." She said bitterly.
Jason recognized the signs and went to Elizabeth's side, trying to calm her. "Elizabeth…"
"Jason don't you dare try to calm me down." She said with a glare at Jason then she turned back to the rest of them. "I don't need any of you judging me or telling me how I should have reacted to my supposed soul mate coming back to town apparently not so dead!" by the time she ended her tirade she was practically yelling.
"Darlin' you know we're not judging you." Luke said quietly, knowing Elizabeth long enough to know not to take offense at anything she said right now.
Laura was practically on the verge of tears, but not from Elizabeth's words, but because she had seen how this young woman looked and acted when she was in love, before her world had come crashing down around her ears.
But Stefan saw Laura's tears and misunderstood the cause. "Elizabeth I don't think taking your anger out on any of us will do any good."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Go away Stuffy."
But Stefan wouldn't give up. "Elizabeth look what you've done to Laura. She's crying."
"Stefan don't." Laura said imploringly.
"No Laura, she has no right to take her anger out on you." Stefan said angrily, he had never really understood Laura's connection to Elizabeth.
“Stefan.” Came a warning voice from behind Stefan and when he turned he saw Alexis behind him looking very much like a mother lioness. She walked up to him and said imploringly. “She’s your niece for goodness sakes, you could at least pretend to show some compassion.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes as her mother came up to her. Alexis saw the expression on Elizabeth’s face and knew not to just rush up to her and hug her, even if that’s what she wanted to do most. Alexis just brushed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled sympathetically.
“Are you all right?”
Elizabeth sighed deeply. “Yeah, I’m OK.”
Alexis nodded and turned around and looked at Luke. She just walked up and hugged him.
“I can’t believe it Natasha.” Luke mumbled into her hair.
“I know Luke.” Alexis said soothingly. She had gotten very close to Luke with the discovery that Elizabeth was her daughter. He had helped her a lot and she promised herself that she’d do everything she could do for him now.
Laura glared at the pair before her.
Alexis broke away from Luke and turned back to her daughter. She smiled sadly and stroked her hair. “I was so worried about you.”
It took everything inside of Elizabeth not to roll her eyes at her and bat her hand away. She knew Alexis was being sincere, but right now all she wanted to do was lash out at someone.
Jason, seeing that this was some kind of family moment, slipped out of the exam room. Almost before he could walk five steps he was being hugged with force. He smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around Carly tightly as she mumbled something about being worried about him. He released her and smiled down at her. “I’m fine.”
“Good. Now Jason…”
Thinking that she was going to pitch a fit about him staying with Elizabeth he cut her off. “Carly, Elizabeth has been through a lot tonight and I need to stay here.”
Carly rolled her eyes at him. “Well if you would have let me speak for myself you would have heard me say that I just wanted to see if you were OK and now I’m going home to my kids.” She smiled smugly when he looked a little surprised. “I might not be Lizzie’s greatest fan, and we all know she’s not mine, but right now she probably needs someone sane in her corner and I don’t think those four are cutting it.” She said pointing to the door where
Jason could see the four adults arguing.
He turned back to Carly and smiled. “Thank you, I’ll stop by before I go home.”
Carly reached up and kissed him lightly. “See you later.” And with that she walked away.
Jason smiled at her retreating back, thankful that they had found their way back to each other.
~*~
Lucky paced nervously in front of the door to Robert’s room. Even now he couldn’t stand hospitals, they reminded him way too much of the sterile room Faison had him locked up in. He shivered involuntarily as his mind drifted to his time there, but he automatically shoved those thoughts out of his mind. He chuckled to himself Good ol’ government psychiatrists.
Frisco came out of the room and smiled at Lucky. “He’s gonna be fine. Tony wants to keep him here overnight to make sure there’s no residual damage from the concussion.” Frisco paused and laughed softly to himself. “Rob’s a bit grumpy cause they won’t let him sleep yet.”
Lucky laughed along with him. “Robert, grumpy? Never would have thought.”
They both heard the door open and close behind them and turned to find Tony exiting Robert’s room.
Tony paused and smiled as he looked at Lucky. “Now we might have more people coming back from the dead than any normal town, but I think two in one day is a record, even for us.”
“Nice to see you too Uncle Tony.” Lucky said with a laugh.
“You too Lucky. I bet there are a whole bunch of people down in emergency who would love to see you.” Tony said with a smile.
Lucky looked down, almost guiltily. “How is Elizabeth?”
Tony smiled sympathetically. “Last I heard she was fine. She only fainted and she’s awake now. They might keep her overnight because of the blow to the head she received when the warehouse blew.”
Lucky nodded; glad she was all right.
“Thanks Bro.” Frisco said smiling.
“No problem, I’m heading down there right now, so I’m hoping that I’ll see you there.” Tony said with a sidelong look at Lucky.
Lucky only nodded.
Tony walked away and Frisco turned back to Lucky with a serious look on his face. “We don’t have too long before that meeting.”
“But what about Robert?” Lucky asked worriedly, not liking the idea of leaving Robert so vulnerable.
“Rob will be fine. I’ve two agents on their way up to guard the door, so he’ll be just fine.”
Lucky nodded, still slightly uncomfortable about it. Lucky looked down the hallway as if it lead to his doom.
Frisco caught his look and patted him on the back. “It won’t be so bad. I’ll stay with you if you want.”
“Thanks Jones.”
~*~
“I don’t need to stay overnight!” Elizabeth protested loudly as the orderly wheeled her towards the elevators, followed closely by Alexis.
Tony followed Elizabeth out of the exam room and looked at the crowd gathered. “We’re just keeping her overnight for observation. She did hit her head, and I don’t think anything’s wrong, but I want to keep her here just in case.”
The crowd nodded in acceptance. Tony looked towards the elevator in alarm when he heard Elizabeth arguing with the orderly. “I better go keep an eye on her.” He said and walked away.
Jason rubbed his hand tiredly over his face. “I better go up and make sure she doesn’t kill Tony or Alexis, well maybe she can kill Tony.” He said with a weak smile and then followed in the direction Liz was wheeled.
Stefan leaned down and kissed his fiancée. “I have some paperwork to attend to, but I’ll meet you back at Wyndemere?”
Laura nodded. “Yeah, I’m heading back now, I’m pretty tired.”
Stefan nodded and left without a glance to Luke. Luke rolled his eyes and made a colorful gesture at Stefan’s retreating back. Laura laughed slightly, but still managed to glare at him. Luke was about to suggest they go find a closet somewhere when he heard slow measured footsteps coming down the corridor. Luke raised his head and saw a sight that made his breath catch in his throat. It was his son, but also it wasn’t. Somehow in the back of his mind he expected to see him dressed in flannel and jeans and wearing that goofy smile, but instead he was wearing a dark suit, a long black overcoat, and a serious expression. Not only that, he wasn’t alone.
Lucky didn’t stop walking until he was face to face with his parents. He knew if he paused just once he would just turn and walk away. His mother was just about to burst into tears and his father looked like he was trying to breathe. Lucky was suddenly thankful for Frisco’s presence.
“Oh Lucky.” Laura exclaimed tearfully as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. Lucky smiled, same old Mom.
“Looking good Cowboy. Nice threads.” Luke said dryly, smiling at his son as he pulled away from Laura. Lucky smiled in response.
“Lucky where have you been, what happened to you?”
“It’s a long story Mom, but the basics are that Faison kidnapped me and faked my death and the WSB rescued me.”
Luke’s gaze shifted to Frisco. “So I guess that’s where you come in, eh Secret Agent Man?”
Frisco nodded. “Lucky’s been a WSB agent and my partner for five years.”
Luke raised his eyebrows in surprised. “I guess that explains the threads, huh?”
Lucky nodded and then returned his attention to his mother. “You have to know that I would have come home if it was safe.”
“We know that Lucky, I just wish there could have been a way for you to have let us know, especially Elizabeth.”
“How is she?”
“She’s been through hell.” Luke answered, knowing that he didn’t mean her present physical condition.
“I know. And I wish he could have been there.”
Luke resisted every urge in him to scream Then why weren’t you? But he really didn’t think this was the best time to yell at his son.
“So why is the WSB showing up in Port Charles all of a sudden?” Luke asked, with a suspicious glance at Frisco.
“Nothing you need to know Spencer.” Frisco said coolly and then turned to Lucky. “We have a meeting to get to.”
Lucky nodded and started to follow Frisco out of the hospital. “I’ll be around.”
Laura choked back a sob as she watched her son walk away. Luke wrapped his arms around her from behind, not really caring who saw them. No one would think it weird that he was comforting her now. Neither of them saw Sly walked silently away from where he had watched the entire scene.
~*~
Sly walked into Faison’s office with news that he didn’t think Faison was going to like very much. He had just come from the hospital.
“What do you want Sylvester?” Faison asked evenly. He could tell by the hesitant way Sly was entering that he had unpleasant news.
“Lucky Spencer is alive.” Sly said bluntly, knowing from experience not to beat around the bush with Faison.
Faison just nodded slowly. He figured Lucky was alive somewhere, he just hadn’t known when he was going to show up.
Seeing Faison’s silence Sly continued. “From what I could gather he was rescued by the WSB and that’s where he’s been all this time. He was with Frisco Jones.”
“Well we might have to pay Jones a visit soon, or even better, send him a message.” Faison said more to himself than Sly. He raised his head to look at Sly. “Are you prepared for tonight’s meeting with Corinthos?”
“Yes of course, but he’ll recognize me. He’s been around Kelly’s this week and Luke introduced us.”
Faison nodded. “I planed for this.” And then the door behind Sly opened and a man entered. “Sylvester, you remember Cole don’t you?”
Sly narrowed his eyes at the man. He had dark hair, a goatee and mustache and cool dark eyes. Sly had never trusted Cole, but then again he didn’t trust Faison either.
“Oh stop glowering Eckert.” Cole said, his British accent making him sound even more bored than he was. Cole sauntered up to Sly, grinning wickedly. “Faison tells me you had an attack of conscience, how unprofessional of you.”
“At least I’m not a spineless wimp like some people I know.”
Cole took a menacing step towards Sly and was about to teach him a lesson when Faison intervened.
“Stop bickering boys. Cole will make the deal to Corinthos, but Sly I still want you there in case something happens. Just stay out of sight, I want you to get information out of the Spencers for as long as we can manage.”
Sly nodded obediently. “Is that all boss?”
“Yes, and try not to rip each other’s throats out.” Faison said with a slight smile playing on his lips.
“I’m not making any promises.” Cole shot as he strode out the door followed by Sly.
~*~
Lucky and Frisco stood in the shadows, flanking Sonny as they waited. A man with dark hair and appeared from out of what seemed like thin air. There was someone in the shadows behind him but Lucky couldn’t make him out.
“Corinthos, it’s good to see that you had the good sense to come. I take it this means that you will accept my employer’s offer?” He said in his thick British accent.
“All I came here to do was to warn your boss to stay away from my business. I don’t work with people who threaten me.” Sonny said coldly.
Cole quickly put his hands up in defense. “Mr. Corinthos I think you have me mistaken. My employer has no intention of threatening you.”
Sonny looked as if he was considering. “What kind of deal?”
“We just want you to transport some rather sensitive material across the Atlantic.” Cole said evenly.
“I don’t deal in drugs.” Sonny said firmly.
“No of course not.” Cole said wryly. “Our cargo is slightly more precious.”
“Tell your employer that I want to meet with him personally before we cut a deal.”
“He doesn’t see anyone.”
“Then tell him no deal.”
“I wish you would have been more cooperative.” Cole said sharply reaching behind his back for his gun.
Lucky wasn’t really sure who fired first, he suspected it was Francis or Johnny cause he thought the shot had come from behind him, but all of a sudden the night erupted in gunfire.
It couldn’t have lasted more than 30 seconds, but Lucky was out of breath and sweating by the time it was over. Cole had slinked out of the alley but there was a body lying on the ground.
“Everyone OK?” Frisco asked, also out of breath.
There were mumbled affirmatives from Sonny and his bodyguards. Lucky crept slowly towards the body on the ground, not letting his guard down. As he neared the body he could see that the man was unconscious, but still alive. His breath caught in his throat as the light caught the man’s face. “Sly?”
~*~
Lucky walked out of Sly’s hospital room and nodded to the agents stationed at the door. He looked up to see Frisco standing there. “I don’t know why he was there Frisco.”
Frisco nodded. “Well there are only two possibilities, one: He was just taking a walk in the alleyways and was shot by accident.”
Lucky shock his head. “No I would have seen him come up. There were only two guys there and the other one took off.”
“Right, so that only leaves one conclusion, Sly must be working for Faison.”
~*~
Cole walked into Faison’s office with what he knew would be bad news. But he was surprised to find that Faison was not alone. The man in the chair opposite Faison’s desk didn’t turn around so Cole couldn’t see his face.
“News Cole? That was a quick meeting.” Faison said his voice sounding like ice.
“Corinthos wouldn’t deal and things got a bit messy.” Cole said keeping his voice even.
“And Sylvester?” Faison said noting the young man’s absence.
“He was shot. Spencer and Jones took him to that hospital.”
Faison nodded slowly taking in the information. Cole had expected an explosion, but he kept his surprise in check. “Sylvester could be a problem sir.” Cole said pointedly.
“You’re right. I take it you’ll handle this problem?”
Cole only nodded in response. He quickly fled the room but as just as he was shutting the door he heard Faison say, “Now where were we Mr. Cassadine?”
~*~
There's a ship out, on the ocean
At the mercy of the sea
It's been tossed about, lost and broken
Wandering aimlessly
And God somehow you know that ship is me
'Cause there's a lighthouse, in the harbor
Shining faithfully
Pouring its light out, across the water
For this sinking soul to see
That someone out there still believes in me
Lucky dragged himself tiredly into Elizabeth’s hospital room and looked down at her sleeping face. Suddenly his eyes didn’t ache so much anymore; as if just looking at her face could cure something inside of him. That could have been entirely true. Especially when she was like this. Peaceful, calm, and most importantly not looking at him with hate in her eyes. He didn’t actually know if there would be hate in her eyes when she looked at him, but he was scared to take the chance. She had gone through so much and he wasn’t there. There was no guarantee that he could have done anything to help her if he had been there but the most important thing was that he could have been there and he wasn’t. It wouldn’t matter how much he told her that he had to do it, or how much he had fought the WSB on their decision, even escaped a few times, it would only matter that he hadn’t come to her. And Lucky understood that.
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I'm reaching out 'til we reach the circle's end
When you come back to me again
There's a moment we all come to
In our own time and our own space
Where all that we've done, we can undo
If our heart's in the right place
Elizabeth could hear him. Her whole body could feel him even. All she had to do was open her eyes. But still she found herself laying still on the bed and breathing deep and even. She was surprised how hard it was to keep her breathing steady when he was in the room. But she really shouldn’t be surprised, should she? He had always had that affect on her, even when she didn’t want him to.
She could just open her eyes and hold him until morning, but that little voice in the back of her mind stopped her. She still didn’t know where he had been or why he hadn’t come to her. She could tell everyone else knew by now, but it seemed like they had all made a silent agreement not to tell her. To let Lucky tell her. But he didn’t seem too talkative.
Maybe because he thinks you’re asleep. A quiet voice in the back of her brain whispered.
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I'm reaching out 'til we reach the circle's end
When you come back to me again
And again I see my yesterday's in front of me
Unfolding like a mystery
You're changing all that is and used to be
He could just wake her up, but he didn’t want to disturb her. Or if he was really honest with himself he didn’t want to see the hate in her eyes. He didn’t know if he could handle that. Even now it was tearing him up inside because he wasn’t there when she needed him. Or maybe she didn’t need him. She had killed Tom Baker all by herself; she had survived the loss of a child, the death of her grandmother and all without him by her side. He always knew she was strong, but the things she had been through would have broken an ordinary person. She’s not ordinary. He reminded himself. No she was special. Way too special for him. Ever since that summer in 1998 he knew she was too special for him, he didn’t deserve her then and he didn’t deserve her now. She had clawed her way back into the light and all he was, was a shadow. A shadow that she should didn’t need in her life. He gazed at her longingly one more time and walked slowly out the door.
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I'm reaching out 'til we reach the circle's end
When you come back to me again
Elizabeth could hardly hold back the tears when she heard the door swing shut behind him. She waited a few seconds and cautiously opened her eyes. All she saw was an empty room. All of a sudden she was flooded with a familiar sensation: anger. How dare he just come in here and watch her and just slink out. He’s a coward that’s why. That’s why he couldn’t come to me then and that’s why he can’t now. Coward. But wasn’t she just as much of a coward as he was. She hadn’t opened her eyes, she could have confronted him, but she didn’t. She guessed that she would have plenty of time for answers later and then she had to concede that he was probably thinking the same thing. He would come back, and if not she’d just have to go to him.
When you come back to me again
“When You Come Back To Me Again” Written by: Garth Brooks, Jenny Yates Performed by: Garth Brooks
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