Wolves-- Chapters 9 & 10
~9
May 9, 2005
Mid-afternoon
Penthouse of Jasper Jacks and V Ardanowski
Nikolas walked into the living room while V shut the door he had just entered.
“I’m glad you could come.”
“Well you called me and said you needed to see me.” Nikolas said.
“I wanted to ask you if you were all right. Are you?” V said giving him and appraising look. He didn’t look like he slept very well, and his hair and clothes were messy, well at least for Nikolas they were.
“You could have asked me that over the phone V.” He said looking at his friend with an amused expression on his face. Him and V had become close friends after he started seeing Liz. She was like an older sister to him she had helped him a lot. Also Liz, V, Carly, and Alexis were all very good friends, much to the objection of Jax, Jason, Sonny and himself. Jax still hated Sonny and Jason, not that Nikolas cared for them all that much, and of course the feeling was mutual for Jason and Sonny. Jax and Nikolas had formed somewhat of a friendship due to their mutual dislike of the two sometimes mobsters.
“But you can’t lie to me when you’re here.” V said smiling.
“Oh, you’re so sure of that are you?”
V just gave him a look that said “You betcha”
Nikolas sunk to the couch and put his head in his hands. V moved quickly to his side and put a comforting arm around his shoulders.
“Liz told you about Lucky right?” Nikolas asked lifting his head.
V just nodded silently.
“He’s my brother. I watched them fall in love when they were 16, I helped him set up Valentines Day for her. How could I have fallen in love with by brothers soul mate?”
Nikolas closed his eyes to guilt he felt.
“This sounds a lot like the conversation we had over a year ago.” V pointed out.
“Yeah but then he was dead, or so we thought.” Nikolas ran a hand through his hair. “Everything is so mixed up right now. I can’t even really get a hold of a single emotion I’m feeling.”
“They’re all jumbled aren’t they.” V said sympathetically. Nikolas nodded. “Joy at having him back. Guilt for having what he had. Fear that it will all be taken away now that he’s back.”
Nikolas looked at V and nodded his head slowly, like he felt guilty.
“Have you talked to Liz about this?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t want to break off the engagement. She still wants to be my wife.” Nikolas said smiling slightly.
“And Lucky, what did he say when he found out?”
Nikolas looked a little confused. “He said he was happy for us and asked when the wedding was.”
“Well it sounds like he’s accepted it.”
“No, the Lucky I know wouldn’t give up that easily. He’s stubborn as hell.”
“Maybe he’s not that Lucky anymore. Six years is a long time, we don’t know what happened to him for that year that he was with Faison or what he’s been doing for the last five years.” V pointed out.
“That’s true, and he did bring someone with him. A woman, they seemed pretty close yesterday.” Nikolas said almost hopefully.
“See, I think both of them have moved on.” V said putting more certainty in that statement than she felt herself.
“You’re right V, thank you.” Nikolas said hugging V. “I better be going, I’m taking Liz to ‘Luke’s’ tonight. I thought it would be good to get her mind off things for a while.”
“Sounds good. Jax and I might meet you there.” V said walking him to the door when the phone rang.
“Hang on a sec Nikolas, let me get this.”
“That’s all right I’ll let myself out.” He said and he walked out the door.
V picked up the phone “Hello… oh hi Carly… no I’m not busy Nikolas just left…Well Nikolas is taking Liz to ‘Luke’s’ tonight so Jax and I will probably go there… Yeah I heard about Lucky. That’s so great for you I know you always regretted not getting to know him…. All right well I’ll see you at ‘Luke’s’ tonight…. OK bye.” V hung up the phone and went to go tell Jax about their plans for tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spencer house
Later that night
“Robbie will you hurry up! We’re going to be…” Lucky stopped short as he looked up the stairs and saw Robbie. She was wearing a beautiful royal blue dress that came just above her knees.
“So, whatcha think?” Robbie said as she stopped and twirled at the bottom of the stairs.
“You look beautiful Robbie.” Lucky said honestly.
“Thank you. We better get going.” Robbie said picking up her purse.
“Are you sure they’re going to be there?” Lucky asked, concerned.
“Yes. I called Carly and she said that she had talked to V and V said that Liz and Nikolas were going to be at ‘Luke’s’ tonight.” Robbie assured him. “I really like Carly, and she’s all for helping us. And considering her past history with scheming she might be a valuable asset.”
“Yeah Caroline thinks she’s the master, but she hasn’t seen you at your worst yet.”
“No she hasn’t has she.” Robbie said smiling proudly.
Lucky laughed and led Robbie out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Luke’s’
Luke looked at the crowd and smiled. The club was packed tonight. The news that Lucky was alive had spread fast, and he was the talk of the town. It was good for business, so Luke wasn’t really complaining.
Elizabeth, Nik, V, and Jax were sitting at a table talking and laughing, Carly and Jason were dancing close and slow in the corner, Alexis and Sonny were sitting at the bar arguing about something like they always did, and Bobbie and Jerry were sitting at a table with Laura.
Luke had asked Lucky and Robbie to come, but they had said that they were tired and wanted to stay home. Laura had told him about Lucky’s reaction to Liz and Nikolas’ engagement and Luke couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. Lucky had never given up on anything in his life and the idea that he would just step aside and let Nikolas have Liz was just so not Lucky. Luke didn’t even consider the possibility that Lucky wasn’t in love with Liz any more. Spencer men loved once and it was forever. As much as he had tried he could never stop loving Laura.
Laura was having the same suspicions, especially since Lucky and Robbie spent the majority of yesterday afternoon wrapped in each other’s arms, looking mighty close. Well not really the majority of the day just the time that Nikolas was there. She might have to talk to Lucky about this.
Just then Lucky and Robbie walked into the club arm in arm. The whole place became silent, even the music stopped. The couple smiled winningly as they walked further into the club, saying hello to various people along the way. They came to Liz and Nikolas’ table and stopped. Laura narrowed her eyes; she would definitely have to talk to Lucky about this.
Lucky smiled brightly, “Hi Elizabeth, Hi Nikolas.”
Liz just sat there stunned.
“Lucky, Robbie.” Nikolas shook his head a little. “It’s still a little unbelievable to see you.”
Lucky nodded, “I know, it’s still a little weird to be back. But it feels good.” He said smiling at Robbie.
Robbie tightened her hold on Lucky’s arm. It was a small gesture, but it was enough to make Liz’s eyes grow wide. Nikolas noticed the gesture but not Liz’s reaction. They looked like the perfect couple, and Nikolas couldn’t have been happier.
“Liz I know things didn’t end to well yesterday, but I was hoping we could be friends.” Lucky said smiling. “And congratulations on your engagement.” It took all Lucky had in him not to choke on his words.
“Yeah, sure. Thanks” Liz’s head was spinning. Yesterday Lucky was saying that they could be together and today he’s here with someone else and congratulating her on her engagement to his brother.
“I don’t think we ever met, but I work with Liz.” V said introducing herself.
“V, right. You co-own the gallery. I’m Lucky and this is Robbie Chase” Lucky finished for her.
“Nice to meet you and this is my fiancée Jax.”
“Aunt Bobbie’s brother-in-law right?” Lucky said shaking Jax’s hand.
“Lucky, we should go say hello to your parents, and then you owe me a dance.” Robbie said.
“You’re right, but I get to pick the song, OK?” Lucky said with a teasing song.
“You always get your way with me.” Robbie complained
“That’s just the way it’s meant to be.” Lucky said smiling that Spencer smile. Then he turned to the others. “We’ll see you guys later.” And with that they walked off.
Liz looked after them. “I didn’t know they were together.”
“Yeah they seemed pretty close at my mother’s house yesterday.” Nikolas said putting his arm around Liz. “They make a cute couple don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” Liz said smiling weakly. V and Jax exchanged a meaningful look.
“I’ll be right back.” Liz said. She kissed Nikolas on the cheek, stood up, and walked to the bathroom.
Lucky and Robbie both saw Liz go into the bathroom. “I’ll be back.” She whispered.
Lucky smiled and nodded his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robbie walked into the ladies bathroom and smiled when she saw Liz leaning on the counter and looking at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t heard Robbie come in.
“What are you doing Lizzie?” She asked herself. “Lucky’s over you and you’re over him. You’ve moved on.”
Robbie rolled her eyes. Liz sounded like she was giving herself a ‘pep talk.’ It wasn’t going to be too easy getting Liz back to Lucky.
Robbie pushed on the door behind her a little so that it made a sound.
“Oh hi Liz.” Robbie said cheerily.
“Robbie, how do you like Port Charles?” Liz asked politely, after she composed herself.
“It’s nice. It’s got a lot of interesting people. I think I met most of them yesterday.” She said laughing. “So many people came to see Lucky.”
“Yeah everyone knows Lucky.” Liz smiled weakly.
“Yeah he’s a great guy. He’s done so much for me.” Robbie said seriously.
Liz couldn’t decide whether to be happy for Lucky or to deck Robbie.
“You and Nikolas look ecstatic. Lucky’s really happy for you.”
That was it, Liz couldn’t listen to any more.
“I have to go.” Liz mumbled as she pushed past Robbie and out the door. Robbie smiled. It was all up to Lucky now.
Lucky looked up from where he sat at the bar and saw Liz hurry out of the club. He glanced back at Nikolas and saw that he didn’t see Liz. Lucky got up and followed Liz.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~10
Robbie came out of the bathroom and sat down at the bar.
“Tequila.” She said quietly to the bartender, who unfortunately was Luke.
“That’s a pretty serious drink.” Luke commented thinking that she didn’t exactly look like the type of person to order straight tequila.
Robbie gave him a level look.
“Your point?” Robbie said having no patience at that moment.
“No point. Just talking to myself as always.” Luke said as he poured the drink.
Robbie rolled her eyes and then downed the drink.
Nikolas came over to the bar and sat next to Robbie.
“Luke have you seen Liz? She went into the rest room about 15 minutes ago and hasn’t come out.”
“Nah, sorry I haven’t seen her.”
“She left.” Robbie said quietly.
“What?” Nikolas asked surprised.
“She ran out right before Lucky left.” Robbie said nonchalantly.
“Lucky left?” Nikolas said sounding worried.
“Yeah ran outta here pretty quickly, probably left the iron on at home.” She said with a slight smile crossing her lips. She pushed her glass towards Luke and indicated for him to fill it again. “I’m sure Liz just didn’t feel well and went home.”
“I should probably go check on her, Luke could you call me if you see her later tonight?” Nikolas asked heading for the door.
“Sure thing.”
Robbie’s smile grew as she watched Nikolas walk out the door.
“What exactly are you up to?” Luke asked skeptically.
“Nothing” She said innocently and drained her glass again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucky caught up with Elizabeth at the docks.
“Elizabeth wait.”
“Why Lucky? What do you care, you have Robbie?” She said bitterly.
“Why do you care if you’re in love with Nikolas?” Lucky shot back.
Elizabeth didn’t have an answer for that one, actually she did, but she wasn’t about to tell Lucky. Even if her heart was screaming at her to tell him.
“Robbie and I are just friends,” He said rubbing the back of his neck. “We just let you and Nikolas believe we were together in a feeble attempt to make you jealous.”
“Why would you do that?”
“It was Robbie’s idea, she wanted to help us get back together. I told her it was a stupid idea, but you can’t tell her no.” He said smiling. Little did Liz know, this was part of Robbie’s plan too.
“Lucky we’re not getting back together.” She said defiantly. “I’m the person I am now, because you died!”
“I was kidnapped!”
“No, after the fire was different. After the fire I couldn’t move on, I couldn’t accept that you had died.” Elizabeth started pacing. “I shut myself off from almost everyone, the only person I could even talk to was Luke. It was like I could still feel you alive, everyone kept telling me that it was just your memory that you were still in my heart. But when you fell off that cliff it was different somehow, I couldn’t feel you. I was finally able to accept it and move on. Don’t you see Lucky, I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t lose you. I’m not the same person I was when we were together.”
“I still haven’t heard you say that you don’t love me anymore.” Lucky said calmly.
She stopped pacing, but again her head wouldn’t let her say anything.
“Do you wanna know the first thing that I remembered?” He paused but decided to continue when she remained silent.
“It came out of the blue, I still don’t know what triggered it.” He said shaking his head. “It came like a flash of lightning. We were at the church on Valentines Day. You looked so beautiful that night. Surrounded by candle light, the light bouncing off your eyes. That night we promised to love each other forever, I haven’t broken that promise and I don’t think you have either.”
Tears pooled in Elizabeth’s eyes and her gaze dropped to the ground.
“Elizabeth I still remember the day. The day I started remembering you and my life in Port Charles. Almost a year ago, May 22, 2004” He said shaking his head, he still remembers the confusion and clarity of that moment.
Elizabeth’s head shot up and her eyes were wild with surprise.
“Elizabeth what is it?”
“That night, May 22, that was the first time Nikolas kissed me.” She whispered.
“Well now I know what triggered it.” Lucky said angrily. He knew he had no right to be angry that she moved on, but he couldn’t help it.
“Why didn’t you come home to me then?” She asked helplessly.
“I can’t tell you that. It’s Robbie’s story to tell.”
“I deserve to know!” she yelled, her voice masked by tears.
Lucky closed his eyes; “Robbie has to tell you that, it’s not my place.”
“The Lucky I knew wouldn’t have left me alone for an extra second!”
“I’m not the same person either Elizabeth, we both changed.”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying!”
“You and I both know that no matter what we’ve been through, no matter how much time had passed one thing will always be true. We will always love each other.” Lucky said fiercely.
Elizabeth turned went to sit on the bench.
“No, don’t run away from this Elizabeth.” He said sitting next to her and putting his hands on her shoulders so she couldn’t turn away from him.
“I love you, I will always love you.” He whispered.
Lucky lowered his head to hers until their lips were almost touching, but Elizabeth bolted and ran for the stairs.
“Elizabeth wait! Stop! Come back” he called.
“Lucky I need time, I need to get this straight in my head.” And with that she ran up the stairs and disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robbie tipped back her fourth drink of the night. Tequila always effected her, but she wasn’t drunk yet. She was only to the point where, if asked a question, she would reply with a completely honest answer. She hated that part.
Lucky walked into the club and walked over to Robbie.
“Did you find her?” Robbie asked.
“Yeah, she said she needed time to think. But I think you’re plan is working.”
“Great.” She said sarcastically, but quickly recovered. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow and tell her why you didn’t come to Port Charles months ago, she’ll go back to you then.”
“Are you all right Robbie?” Lucky asked concerned.
“Fine. Great, why wouldn’t I be?” She picked up her drink and called for it to be filled again, but Lucky grabbed it from her and smelled it.
“Robbie why are you drinking tequila?” he said worried, “I haven’t seen you drink tequila since…” he paused as her remembered when that was. “Since the night I told you about Elizabeth.”
“Oh you mean the night I lost you?” She said bitterly. “No I didn’t lose you did I? I lost Jon. I lost Jon, the love of my life and I got Lucky, my best friend. That’s fair don’t you think.”
“Robbie I thought you were OK with this. If you don’t want to be here…”
“No see that’s the problem.” She said loudly, cutting him off. “I can’t even be mad at you. For some reason all I want is for you to be happy, my own heart be damned.”
“Robbie you know I never meant to hurt you…”
“Yeah I know.” She whispered sadly. A tear rolled down her face and she wiped at it angrily.
“I have to get out of here.” She said quickly as if she just now realized what she had said.
She laid some money on the bar and walked quickly to the door with Lucky a few feet behind her with the intent to follow.
Robbie stopped abruptly but didn’t turn around. “Don’t follow me Lucky.” With that she walked out, leaving Lucky behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robbie walked onto the docks wiping at the tears that refused to stop. She was so angry with herself for lashing out at Lucky like that. He didn’t deserve that. He couldn’t help the memories that came back to him. The memories that took him away from her.
“Roberta Anne, it’s so nice to see you again.” That accented voice sent chills down Robbie’s spine.
“Leave me alone.” Robbie said without even turning around to look at her visitor.
“You owe me”
“Like I said before I owe you nothing!” She turned around to face the man. “My father may have owed you and he may have felt obligated to be loyal to you, but I don’t.”
“You have no loyalty for family?” he said tauntingly.
“You are not my family. You are not my Uncle.” She spat out the word like venom. “Not as far as I’m concerned.”
“I helped your father. He would have amounted to NOTHING if I hadn’t helped him, he owed me and you owe me.” He yelled and grabbed Robbie by the shoulders and shook her.
“He was your brother, he shouldn’t have had to beg for your help!” She cried, his hands were making marks on her arms. “He repaid you, when you asked him to keep Lucky away from Port Charles he did!”
“Then why is Lucky in Port Charles?” He whispered fiercely.
“Because my father is dead and I owe you nothing!” She spat. She finally broke free of his grasp and made a break for the stairs.
A slow, menacing smile broke out on his face and he turned and walked away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth had walked for hours. She finally found herself in the place she always ended up in the end. The Boxcar.
She climbed in and looked at all the faded paintings. Tears pooled her eyes at all that she’d lost. The little voice whispered that she hadn’t lost anything. That she was given a second chance.
But then her head took over and her feelings of anger rose to the surface. She walked over to the refrigerator painted on the wall and traced her fingers lightly over it. She walked on to the painted on chair. She reached out to touch it but stopped and kicked it instead. She kicked it again and screamed in pain at the time she had lost. Sobs took over her body and she fell in a heap where the old car seat had once been. Tears streaked down her face and her body shook so hard it ached. Finally exhaustion set in and she drifted into a dead sleep.
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