Chapters 9-11 Fanfiction HomepageChapter 6
In the kitchen
"Luke was always like an uncle to me. He'd show up on the doorstep unannounced, with a few gifts and a few great stories. Usually the next day he'd be gone. He visited a few times a year, but I haven't seen him in five and a half years." Faithe took a sip of her coffee. She was surprised at how easy it was for her to talk to Laura and Liz.
"Luke said he wrote letters to Frank." Laura said "I know we got letters from Frank."
"Yeah he did, they were like, four or five pages long, and they came like once a month. Dad was always amazed at how much Luke could write." Faithe said smiling at the memory.
"It was the same thing with the letters Frank sent us, Luke never let me see the letters, I never really asked, but I could always tell when he got one. He would pick up the mail and get this old smile on his face like he was remembering something, then he'd fix himself a shot of whiskey and go outside to read the letter. Everytime, when he came back in, the whiskey was still in the glass. I never understood why he did that." Laura said thoughtfully.
"My Dad did the same thing, but then he'd come inside and read me the letter, almost like he was proud of Luke. The letters mostly contained stories of the fabulous Spencers. I know all about the adventures of the last five years, well Luke's version anyway." All three women laughed. "The last we got was last November, Luke said he sorta kidnapped Lucky and got stuck in a wolf trap. Did that actually happen?" Faithe asks skeptical.
"Oh, yeah that happened." Liz said with an annoyed but amused look on her face, "I still haven't completely forgiven Luke for scaring me like that!"
Laura laughed a little at Liz's protectiveness of Lucky. "I'm going upstairs to check on LuLu, I'll back soon."
"Okay" Faithe said as Laura exited the kitchen.
"So you probably had a similar childhood as Lucky's, right?" Liz asked trying to find out more about Faithe.
"Yeah, I guess I have, but at least Lucky has had a real home for the last five years. But we weren't on the run from the mob, so my life was a little less action-packed than Lucky's." Faithe smiled
"Who were you running from? If you don't mind me asking." Liz said suddenly realizing she might not want to talk about it.
"No, no it's all right, the Cassadines, mostly and their associates." Faithe said swallowing hard at the memories.
"Helena?" Liz said with a twinge of fright.
"No, a man named Chrystos Cassadine, I don't know how exactly he's related to Helena and Nikolas, but he's trouble." Faithe said with a sigh.
Suddenly there was a knock on the front door and the girls went into the living room to investigate just as Laura came down the stairs. Standing in the doorway was Sonny Corinthos.
"I just wanted you to put a guard on Faithe here, you didn't have to come over." Luke said with a slight smirk to his friend.
"I know, but I was in the neighborhood and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about." Sonny smiled and walked over to the new girl.
"Sonny Corinthos" Sonny reach out took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
Faithe laughed. "Faithe Reynolds" He sure knows how to ease the tension she thought.
Laura went into the kitchen to get coffee and most everyone sat down in the living room.
"Lucky could I see you outside?" Sonny whispered. Lucky nodded his head and followed Sonny outside. Liz looked after them with a puzzled look on her face. About ten minutes passed and Lucky was still outside with Sonny, so Liz decided to go and see what was up. Lucky and Sonny were on the far end of the porch. Liz saw Sonny hand Lucky a cell phone and say that he would be contacted.
Liz walked briskly up to the two and said in her cheeriest of voices, "Hi guys, Sonny coffee's ready if you want some."
"Thanks Liz, I think I will." Sonny smiled and left.
Liz sat down on the porch swing, "So what was that all about?"
Lucky sighed and sat next to her, "Okay, in the last week or so I've made a couple deliveries for Sonny, nothing too important. That's why I didn't tell you, I was just doing it as a favor to Sonny. Well, tonight Sonny asked me to do more stuff, kinda like I been doin', just more often, and I think I want to. Are you all right with this?" Lucky asked hesitantly, figuring Liz would hate this.
"Well, Lucky that's sort of a stupid question. Working for Sonny is dangerous and I don't like anything that puts you in danger. But I also happen to love you and I know you want to do this. It's your decision Lucky, but I'm glad you asked me." Liz smiled at him.
"Elizabeth I love you, and if you don't want me to do this I won't."
Liz smiled and took his hand in her's, "I know Lucky, but let's face it, if you didn't have at least a little danger in your life, you'd go nuts."
"You know me too well." Lucky said with that grin of his.
"I think I know you just right." Liz said and brought him down for a kiss.
When pulled away Liz snuggled next to Lucky and looked out at the sky. By now it was afternoon and a light summer breeze was blowing.
"You sure you're okay with this?"
"I'm fine Lucky, if you worked for Sonny or not you'd probably get into some other kind of trouble. You're a Spencer; it's like you're a danger magnet. And you love it!" She said amused.
Lucky laughed. "Yeah I guess you're right."
"I just don't envy you telling your parents."
"Oh man, Dad might be okay with it but Mom's gonna freak!" Liz laughed.
Later that night---Inside
Sonny had just left and said that a guard would be put on Faithe. They were all sitting in the living room. Luke needed some information from Faithe that he knew she wouldn't feel like giving.
"Skeeter, I need you to tell me something." Luke asked slowly and cautiously.
"Okay" Faithe knew she wasn't going to like this by the tone of Luke's voice.
"I need you to give me the details of your mother's death."
Faithe closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself. She knew Luke would want to know sooner or later, she had just hoped it would be later.
"Dad and I came home one night and the house was on fire, it was engulfed in flames," Faithe started slowly.
She stared at a cup on the coffee table, like she needed something concrete to focus on, and continued, "We got there just in time to see her stumble out of the house, coughing. She was running across the street to us when a gunshot came from behind us and she fell. We checked and she was dead. We got out of there as fast as we could. Dad thought they were trying to make him suffer by taking his life away, a piece at a time. So, he got extra protective of me. Luke, it doesn't make sense, why would they kill HER." Faithe finished and looked at Luke, her eyes dark.
"I don't know Skeet. Why didn't he tell me your mother died?"
"Well when Mom died, he knew you would want to come, but that was when LuLu had just gotten sick. He said he would tell you once she got better, but then Stefan and Nikolas came to town. He told me that he had told you, but I think it just got harder for him as time went on." Faithe sighed and decided to change the subject, "So, we should probably be getting back to Nikolas', I'm a little drained, I think I'm just gonna go to bed."
Nik nodded "Yeah it has been a long day."
Okay, but when you're not at Nikolas' apartment, or here, I want Nikolas or Lucky to be with you, got it!" Luke warned.
Lucky and Nik both nodded. Lucky, Nikolas, and Laura were all silently surprised that Luke had almost admitted, in his own way, that he trusted Nikolas.
"Yes Luke!" Faithe said sarcastically and laughed.
"I'm gonna walk Elizabeth home. You can take Faithe home, right?" Lucky asked Nik.
"Of course" Nik said and Faithe frowned a little.
"Well let's get going, I'm beat." Faithe said and walked to the front door without waiting for Nikolas. Nik rolled his eyes obviously a little annoyed.
"Shake a leg Nikki boy!!" Faithe shouted from the porch.
"She's going to drive me clinically insane." Nik whispered loudly to Lucky, but everyone heard.
"See you guys tomorrow. Don't call me that!!" Nik called as he walked out of the house.
Lucky, Liz, Luke, and Laura all laughed. Liz and Lucky said their good byes and left quickly.
"You feel responsible for her don't you." Laura said looking at Luke thoughtfully.
"Her dad was more like a big brother to me than a friend, and Skeet, well she's just like family."
"I can tell, she'll be fine Luke." Laura said reassuringly.
"She will," Luke said almost trying to convince himself.
Outside
Faithe and Nik were just about to get in his car when Lucky and Liz walked up.
"Hey Faithe I wanted to ask you something about your name." Lucky asked
"You're treading on thin ice Spencer." Faithe said rolling her eyes, hating the subject of her name.
"I just wanted to know why you hate your name." Lucky asked looking innocent.
"Why do you hate yours? Look my father's name was Frank, short for Francis, and my mother's name was Anna Marie, so they gave me my father's first name and my mother's middle name, that's how I got stuck with Francine Marie. Luckily they realized no kid should have that name and called me Faithe."
"Why Faithe?" Lucky asked laughing a little.
"Probably the same reason your parents called you Lucky. Your parents needed luck and mine needed faith." Faithe said
Lucky smiled "Why does Dad call you 'Skeeter'?"
Faithe sighed "Who knows, Luke has nick names for everyone."
"True, well, see you two tomorrow." Lucky said starting to walk away.
"Bye Lucky Bye Liz," Nik and Faithe both said.
"Bye" Liz called
About an hour later At the Spencer house
Lucky walked into the house to find his father sitting in his chair staring at a shot of whiskey sitting on the coffee table.
"Hey Dad" Lucky said as he sat down on the couch.
"Hey Cowboy, what are you doing back here so soon?" Luke said not taking his eyes off the shot glass.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing?"
Luke looked at his son with a look that told Lucky he didn't buy it. "Okay, There's another reason. Do you know what the connection is between Faithe's family and the Cassadines?"
"Yes" Luke said settling his gaze back onto the shot glass.
"I want to know." Lucky said simply
"Well, since you asked." Luke smiled without humor; "You have to promise me you won't tell Nik or your mother."
"Okay, but I'll probably tell Elizabeth."
"Which is why I didn't ask you not to tell her" Lucky smiled.
Luke leaned his head back against the chair. "Faithe's father treated me like a brother, we grew up in the same neighborhood. I trusted him, so when Laura, Robert and I were trying to stop the Cassadines from freezing the world I asked him to track down the other Cassadines and keep an eye on them. Mykos' third brother was Kostas and he apparently hated Mykos and his other brothers. Kostas and his wife Dimitria, had a son and a daughter, Chrystos and Anna."
"Faithe's mother, Anna?!" Lucky interrupted.
Luke nodded "Frank had enough luck to fall hopelessly in love with her, but she wouldn't leave her family. She was too loyal."
"So that means Nikolas and Faithe are cousins of some kind right?" Lucky asked.
"Not exactly, Anna trusted her family completely. Then she found out that she was stolen as a baby, and that Chrystos knew about it. Dimitria couldn't have any more children and she wanted a little girl, so Kostas made it happen. He had the mother and father of the baby killed and stole the child. When Anna found out this little piece of info she disowned her family and ran away with Frank. Chrystos vowed to make Frank pay and get his sister back."
Lucky thought for a moment, digesting all this information. "If Anna was his sister then why would he have her killed?"
"That I honestly don't know. I knew Chrystos was a sadistic S.O.B. but I never actually thought he'd kill his own sister." Luke said staring at the shot glass again.
" I can see why you wouldn't want Nikolas to know, you probably think he'd tell Stefan about Faithe." Luke caught the undertone that Lucky obviously disagreed.
"But why not tell Mom?"
"Faithe made that decision. She didn't want anyone told. Since it's her past I'll go by her wishes."
"But you told me."
Luke made a noise that sounded like a half snort half laugh. "You asked, do you really think that after last year I would make that mistake again. And if Laura asks I will tell her. Faithe knows that."
"Thank you Dad" Lucky said surprised and happy that their truce was working.
"No problem Cowboy."
Chapter 7
One Week Later
Faithe has been staying at Nik's apartment and they've been civil to each other but they still don't talk more than necessary. Faithe and Liz have become good friends. Liz told Faithe the whole story about the rape. No one has come looking for Faithe and everyone, except Faithe has started to relax and think she's safe.
Nik's apartment 3am
Nik is lying on the couch wide-awake. For some reason, tonight, he couldn't sleep. He passed the time by watching Faithe sleep. 'She might be beautiful, but she is so aggravating, and stubborn, and skeptical. Why do I like these things about her?! She's driving me nuts!' Nik's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door unlocking and opening. Nik was remained still because it could be Lucky checking in. The figure walked directly to Faithe and took out of his pocket what looked to Nik like a syringe. Nik quickly got up and lunged at the figure, who'd obviously not seen Nik on the couch in the corner. Nik knocked the syringe from the man's hand and they both landed with a 'thud' on the floor beside the bed. The man pulled a gun from his belt as he hit the floor. Faithe woke up instantly when Nik and the man hit the floor. She saw the man pull his gun and aim at Nik, and she screamed. Luckily her scream had startled the man and gave Nik enough time to get out of the way of the silenced gunshot. Nik lunged at the man again and they wrestled for the gun. About ten seconds after Faithe screamed Lucky burst into Nik's apartment to see his brother fighting with a man on the floor and Faithe staring at the fight frozen in terror. Just as Lucky was about to help he heard a silenced gun go off and both men on the floor were still.
"Nikolas?!" Lucky and Faithe cried in unison. Nik rolled off the body and sighed.
"I'm all right." Nik said out of breath.
"Are you sure?" Lucky asked helping Nik get up and pointing out his bloody shirt.
"It's not my blood, Faithe are you all right?" Nik said with concern.
Faithe shook herself out of her terror and looked up to Lucky and Nik with no fear in her eyes. A look that she's perfected over the past 18 years.
"I'm fine, thanks Nikolas. Faithe nodded at Nik.
"No problem. Is he dead Lucky?" Nik asked Lucky, who leaning over the body.
Lucky's mind went into 'Luke-mode' "Yeah he's dead, and he doesn't have any I.D. on him. You should get her outa here." Lucky said gesturing to Faithe.
"Go to Mom's, I'll call Luke to tell him you're on the way, then I'll call Sonny, see if he can get this mess taken care of." Lucky pointed to the body then went to the phone.
"Come on Nikolas let's go." Faithe said putting on her shoes then grabbed Nik's key off the table.
"I'll pick up Liz and meet you there in a while." Lucky then began his first call as Nik followed Faithe out the door.
Later at the Spencer house
Lucky walked in with Liz. Nik and Faithe were sitting on the couch silently sipping coffee. Luke and Sonny were on the other side of the room discussing their 'options.' Lucky went to join them and Liz went over to Faithe and put an arm around her.
"Faithe, are you all right?" Liz asked obviously concerned for her friend.
"I'm fine Liz. I'm used to it."
"What about you Nikolas, are you all right?" Liz asked. But Nik was staring intently at his coffee cup.
"Nikolas?"
"Huh?"
"Are you all right?"
"Oh....yeah, I'm....um.....fine." Nik said not really paying attention. Liz looked worriedly at Faithe.
"He'll be fine Liz. You think I could talk to him alone?" Faithe whispered to Liz. A slightly surprised Liz nodded and went into the kitchen to find Laura.
Chapter 8
Across the room
Lucky walked over to Sonny and Luke.
"Hey Sonny, you didn't have to come down here man." Lucky said. "Well from what you said on the phone it sounded like you might need my help."
"Yeah I think we might, I think I'll have to take Faithe on the run for a little while." Luke said receiving astonished looks from both Lucky and Sonny.
Back on the Couch
Faithe looked at Nik thoughtfully, she still didn't trust him, 18 years of hearing and seeing the worst of the Cassadines couldn't be erased in a week, but she knew what he was going though. She knew what it was like to kill someone, even if it was in self-defense.
"Nikolas?"
"What?" He said almost coldly. He didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to forget.
"You had no choice. He would have killed you and me and then probably Lucky. It was self-defense, you did what you had to do to protect us."
Faithe said softly, knowing it was what he needed to hear. Nik looked at her visibly relaxed, "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that, you know from someone other than myself."
"I know, believe me I know what you're going though." Faithe let a small smile sneak onto her face Nik nodded. He wanted to know more about her experience, but decided he could ask her later.
Across the room
"Dad, you can't, you know that. Mom and LuLu need you." Lucky said raising his voice slightly.
"I know Cowboy, but what am I supposed to do, have you take her!?" Luke said frustrated.
"Why not?" Lucky cried.
"You're almost 17! That's why!"
"I was on the run for the first 11 years of my life and Faithe has been on the run for all 18 years of her life, so between the two of us I think we have more than enough!" Lucky said gesturing wildly with his hands.
Faithe and Nik came to stand next to him.
"I can go alone." Faithe stated mater-of-factly.
"NO!" Luke, Lucky and Nik all shouted in unison. Faithe frowned and opened her mouth to say something independent, but shut when she saw she was outnumbered. Sonny smiled in amusement at the exchange. Liz and Laura entered and stood in the kitchen door, but no one saw them.
Luke looked at Lucky and sighed loudly.
"Okay Cowboy, you and Skeet leave in the morning."
"I'm going with you." Liz stated from the doorway. Everyone looked at her surprised, except Lucky, he was not surprised. She had that determined look in her eyes. He loved that look, except when it was directed at him.
"Elizabeth, you can't..."
"Where I go you go" Liz stated, cutting him off.
"But Liz it's..."
"Dangerous? I don't care!" Liz went to him, took his hands in hers, and looked into his eyes. "Lucky, I'd follow you anywhere. And besides, you're stuck with me Spencer, so deal with it!" Liz said with that determined look of hers.
Luke went over to Laura and put an arm around her and whispered. "A little deja vu?"
"Uh-huh" Laura nodded and leaned against her husband and smiled.
Lucky laughed slightly and hung his head in defeat and grumbled, "Okay, you're coming." He raised his head and looked at her. "I thought you were going to teach me how to win an argument with you." Liz smiled at that.
"I'm coming too." Nik stated.
Lucky looked at him, wide-eyed with frustration.
"Hey you need someone to back you up, and who better than your big brother." Nik smiled.
Luke winced involuntarily and Laura elbowed him half playfully.
Lucky threw up his hands in frustration and cried, "Does anyone else want to come?!"
Liz laughed and said, "No, I think that's it for now." Everyone laughed.
"Now that we know 'when' and 'who' all we need is where'." Luke said walking over and taking a map out of a stack of papers.
"Well, I have an idea about that." Sonny said from the corner.
Everyone looked at Sonny waiting for him to continue. "I know this guy, who runs this cruise line, and he owes me." Sonny finished.
"Everyone owes you." Luke said with a good-natured smirk. Sonny smiled proudly.
"Well, this cruise goes from Virginia Beach to Puerto Rico and back, and I have people in Puerto Rico who can make you disappear for a while." Sonny said with a small look of apprehension that only Luke caught.
"So what's the problem?" Luke said bluntly.
"Well it's a good thing you guys are going in pairs, kind of. Cause it's a couples cruise, you know, romance, flowers the whole bit." Sonny said hastily knowing that Faithe wasn't going to like it.
"You've got to be kidding me, I have to stay in his apartment, now I have to be his girlfriend?!" Faithe cried agitated.
"Well not girlfriend exactly, wife." Sonny said slowly.
"Oh come on! There has to be somewhere else we can go!" Faithe exclaimed.
"Skeeter, this is the best way.' Luke said surprising everyone.
"No Luke. Not with Him!" Faithe screamed.
"Faithe, Nikolas saved your life! Hasn't he earned your trust by now?" Lucky exclaimed defending his brother even though he understood why she couldn't trust a Cassadine. Faithe looked at Lucky shocked.
"You can't ask me to trust him. Not after what his family did to mine!" Faithe cried.
"Nikolas had nothing to do with that and you know it!" Lucky screamed.
Faithe turned around to Luke, she was angry but mostly at the fact that she was being asked to trust Nik. She now knew that Luke had told Lucky about her mother but she had already guessed that. "Luke how can you possibly agree with this?"
"Because this is the best way to get you safe, and if I can't be there I do want Lucky to have some back up, even if it is Nikolas." Luke said.
"Fine, when do we leave?" Faithe said through gritted teeth, knowing she was outnumbered.
"It'll take me a few hours to get the fake I.D.'s but then you're off to Virginia. I'll create a paper trail that'll lead anyone who wants to follow you to think you're headed west towards L.A." Sonny said taking out his cell phone.
They all started discussing the plans when the Spencer's phone rang and Lucky answered it.
"Aunt Bobbie hi...yeah thanks for rushing it...What?!...you sure?...yeah thanks bye..." Lucky hung up the phone and turned around slowly, his face confused and thoughtful.
"What is it Cowboy?"
"On my way here I stopped by GH, I knew Aunt Bobbie was on call tonight, and I asked her to run a test on that syringe the guy had, to see what was in it," he paused, "It was a sedative."
"What?" Luke hissed
"He was going to kidnap you Faithe." Lucky said still trying to figure this out.
Faithe looked shocked and worried. "Why would they want to kidnap me?" She said looking to Luke for an answer, but he was staring in the direction of the phone, the wheels in his head spinning almost visibly.
Faithe started to panic, "The only reason I can think of is to make my father suffer, but he's dead." Faithe blurted in a frantic rush, she continued to talk without really breathing; she started pacing waving her arms in exaggerated gestures along playing with her necklace nervously. She was babbling now and that wasn't like her. "I mean killing me I can understand, my family has done a lot to them, the Cassadines I mean. But what could they possibly gain by kidnapping me, I mean there's no one left to hurt..."
Just then Liz stepped in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder interrupting her ramblings. She looked at Liz almost startled that she was standing there, like she hadn't seen her.
"We won't let anything happen to you." Liz said softly but with a force that made it believed.
She pulled Faithe into a hug, and Faithe let out a long sigh and relaxed a bit and smiled sadly and said simply, "Thanks"
"Well, all I know is we need to get you guys outta here ASAP." Luke said coming out of his mini-trance, and looking at Lucky.
"Well why don't we go pack some things while Sonny gets the I.D.'s taken care of." Lucky said.
Faithe had pulled herself together and was standing next to Liz once again the face of composure. "Yeah, I'll go with Liz to her house while you and Nikolas go to the bike shop." Faithe said in a more up-beat tone than she felt.
"Not alone" Lucky exclaimed
Faithe put her hands up in defense, "Liz and I will stick together, and whoever sent that guy won't know he failed for a least a couple of hours, if not longer, so relax."
"Fine, but if you're not back in an hour we're coming after you." Luke said warningly
"Okay, okay." Faithe said and then turned to Nik, "Could you just pick up my bag beside the bed, all my stuff's in there anyway." Nik nodded.
"Should I leave a note for Gram?" Liz said a bit worried.
"No honey I'll call her... and Stefan later this morning." Laura said looking at Nikolas.
Nik looked uncomfortable and said quietly, "Well, we should get going."
"Yeah, see you back here." Faithe called as she and Liz headed out of the house, and Lucky and Nik followed.
Chapters 9-11
Fanfiction
Homepage
© 1997 bre555@hotmail.com
Get your own Free Home Page