| Subject: Entropy Chapter 10 |
Author:
Becca
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Date Posted: 14:24:57 05/11/02 Sat
In reply to:
HeyBecca
's message, "Entropy" on 19:23:01 02/10/02 Sun
Entropy 10
It Falls to Pieces
I've been living in a sea of anarchy. I've been living on coffee and nicotine. I've been wondering if all the things I've seen were ever real, were ever really happening.
--“Everyday is a Winding Road” Sheryl Crow
“ . . . and we ended up sleeping together,” Elizabeth finished, searching Lucky’s blue eyes for anything. “It only happened that one time and, to be honest, I haven’t thought about it since. It was a moment in time, we both needed it, but I just . . . I thought you should know.”
“Oh . . . oh,” Lucky said calmly then took a swig of his beer. “You and Sly had sex . . . this was four months ago? Right?”
“Yeah,” she confirmed nervously. “I was in LA and so was he and . . .”
“You don’t have to tell the story again, I listened the first time,” he told her. Elizabeth was a bit unnerved by the lack of emotion he was showing. He didn’t seem mad or upset, he seemed like he didn’t care.
“Oh—if you’re mad, I understand.”
“Why would you understand? God, Elizabeth, why should I be mad?” Lucky asked honestly. “Am I jealous? Yes, but not for the reasons you think.”
“Would you . . . tell me those reasons?”
“I don’t have any reason to be angry, you understand this. Right? I gave up my rights to be angry and jealous when I left Port Charles. I have no claims on you, Elizabeth. And to be totally honest, Sly is a great guy. I love him like a brother, I respect him. But I am jealous that he was there for you when I wasn’t. That he could comfort you in a way I’ve never been able to. But I’m not mad, or even upset,” Lucky admitted sincerely. He reached out and touched her face gently. “All I want to know is were you happy? Did he make you smile? Because, Elizabeth, in my heart all I have ever wanted was to see you smile.”
“Sly can make anyone smile,” Elizabeth said softly, closing her eyes at Lucky’s gentle touch.
Lucky laughed lightly. “I should talk to him.”
“No!” Elizabeth said quickly. “You can’t, Lucky. We promised it was a one-time thing that was only between us. I swore I’d never tell anyone.”
Lucky nodded, thinking about it. “I suppose I have no reason to talk to him about it. It didn’t happen to me, it’s not my business,” Lucky said with a sigh. He looked into Elizabeth’s eyes seriously. “You didn’t have to tell me.”
“I just—if we’re going to be friends we shouldn’t keep any secrets.”
Lucky leaned back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “You have a point.”
“Secrets and lies destroy, someone smart told me that once.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Oh gosh,” he ran his hand over his face. “In the spirit of openness and confessing our sexual dalliances--.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” Elizabeth wondered.
“I have no idea,” came his confession. “I know you---I lost . . . the first person I slept with was--.”
“Natalie?” Elizabeth asked, wincing slightly.
“Maxie Jones,” Lucky finished. “Natalie? No, Elizabeth, we’ve never been together. It’s been tempting, she’s wanted to but . . . I care about her and I would hate to hurt her. Sleeping with her knowing I am not in love with her would hurt her.”
“Maxie?!?” Elizabeth repeated in shock, nearly ignoring what Lucky had to say about Natalie. But in the back of her mind, she felt relieved. “Maxie Jones? I thought her crush was on him—not you.”
“Apparently she likes anyone with the name Lucky,” he mused. “I was drunk, she was willing . . . god, it was not what I had dreamt my first time would be like.”
Lucky got up and went to the kitchen, grabbing two more beers. “It was awkward and bumbling. I could barely walk straight but there I was having sex with Maxie. The dumbest thing I ever did.”
“I’m sorry.” Elizabeth’s voice was soft and distant.
“For what? You didn’t serve me the alcohol or send me home with Maxie.”
“No, Lucky, I’m sorry we . . . we didn’t have our first times together,” Elizabeth said tearfully. “He took me to a cabin. There were candles and there was music and I wanted to be with you so much . . . god, Lucky, I thought he was you. I thought he was you.”
As Elizabeth cried over the past, Lucky sat in silence. He didn’t know what to do. What to feel.
Elizabeth sleeping with Sly, talking about it, didn’t hurt him. Neither did the knowledge that she was with Aiden. But with Steve, the impostor, his replacement . . . it killed him.
“I’m so sorry, Lucky. I can never take that back, I can never change it—I hate myself for it,” Elizabeth cried, finally letting it all out.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered, moving closer to her, holding her to his chest. She was reopening old wounds, but they had to be opened if they could ever heal correctly. “I hate the bastard. And for a long time I hated you. But I can’t hate you, I love you, Elizabeth. I always have, I never stopped, I always will. We just have to figure out how to get past this.”
A silence fell over them, their breathing the only sound in the room until Lucky kissed her head and said, “But we’re friends, and friends work through problems, together.”
**
“Window or aisle seat?”
Sly stood at a ticket window at JFK, his credit card in his hand as he peered at the woman through his sunglasses. It was nearly midnight, and he was slightly drunk, wearing sunglasses indoors.
“Window . . . seat . . . please,” Sly answered slowly. “Will there be—drinks?”
“Yes there will be, sir. Am I mistaken in assuming you want first class?”
“Not mistaken,” Sly said with a laugh. “Do I look like the kind of guy who flies to London coach or business class? No WAY! I’m Sly Eckert. Star of soaps, stage, and film. I’m a celebrity. I was at the coolest party in the world last night. Why would I travel coach? Huh? ANSWER ME!”
“There is no logical reason, sir.”
“None!”
“Here’s your ticket,” the woman said, handing Sly the ticket, praying he’d just leave.
Sly snatched it out of her hand and said, “Thank you, kindly. And don’t tell anyone,” he lowered his sunglasses, “that I was here.”
“Not a problem.”
“London, baby,” Sly drawled as he headed towards his gate. “Till next time, New York!”
**
A tense Lucky and Elizabeth walked into office of the warehouse. They spent the entire night talking, eventually passing out on the couch only to be woken up by Carly calling them to a meeting. They found the room virtually empty, save for a plethora of new furniture.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where the hell is Carly?”
“What about Kristina? How does a woman tied to a chair disappear?”
“She didn’t disappear,” Natalie announced as she ascended into the room, with an armful of coffees from Starbucks. “She’s in the next room, locked away . . . the lovebirds should be in there.”
“Lovebirds?” Lucky mouthed to Elizabeth, wondering what he missed out on.
“The Prince and the lawyer,” Natalie grumbled as she handed Lucky a coffee. “One sugar, black, right?”
He smiled and took the cup, “Thanks.”
“Are there any extras?” Elizabeth wondered, desperately in need of coffee. She glanced at Lucky; “Did you know about Nikolas and Emily?”
“Vaguely.”
Natalie handed Elizabeth a coffee. “There is some sugar and creamer over on the table. Sorry, didn’t know how you fixed your coffee.”
“That’s all right, I drink black, no sugar,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“So does Nat,” Lucky added with an amused laugh. The two women looked at Lucky and rolled their eyes. Feeling the sudden tension, Lucky took the briefcase he had been carrying and headed into the room where Nikolas and Emily had moved Natalie. “I’ll be in there, fill them in on what we figured out, or rather . . .”
Elizabeth and Natalie waited for Lucky to finish his sentence, but he simply walked into the room without completing his thought.
“I HATE that,” Natalie grumbled. “He does that to me all the time.”
“You too? Gosh, when we were together, he’d drive me up a wall doing that, he didn’t do it all the time but . . . If what he was saying wasn’t completely important he sometimes wouldn’t finish a thought,” Elizabeth recalled fondly. “I think it is because he always has so much on his mind that it is easier to linger on than explain something tedious.”
“You think you know him pretty well, don’t you?” Natalie asked. She winced, realizing she sounded much bitchier than she intended.
“I once did. But time and . . . everything has changed him, it’s changed me. I’d like to know him better than anyone, but I doubt I do. I bet you do.”
Natalie shrugged and sat down on the couch Carly had shipped over first thing in the morning. “I don’t know if anyone really knows Lucky Spencer. No, Carly probably does. They are so much alike, it isn’t even funny. The way they look right into your eyes when they speak, their obsessive-compulsive nature, their tempers . . . But I don’t think it is important to know someone so much as it is important to understand them. There should always be some mystery, you know? Lucky has a way of surprising me, yet I completely understand where he is coming from and why he’s doing it. Like last night.”
Elizabeth looked up. “Last night?”
“Yeah, Lucky told me that he loved me but he couldn’t love me the way I want him to. I didn’t know it was coming, I didn’t want it to come, but I understood it. Don’t get me wrong, personally I don’t get it. No offense, Liz, but all the shit you two have been through, all the pain you two caused each other makes little sense to me. Why either of you would hold on so long and so tightly is beyond me. But I understand Lucky, and I know he doesn’t give up on anyone.”
As if a light had suddenly been turned on, Elizabeth looked at Natalie in a way she had never done before.
“You really do care about him.”
“Yeah,” Natalie shook it off as if it was a given. “Which is why I will claw your eyes out if you cause him any more pain. He is the most wonderful man I’ve met, and he is still completely in love with you. If you think I’m going to stand by and passively let you have him, you’re insane. He’s yours, I won’t stand in the way of that, but I’ll be watching you.”
“I think that is a threat, but I appreciate it,” Elizabeth told the only rival for Lucky’s affection she’d ever known. “I’d do the same.”
“Wow! Can you feel the tension in this room?” Carly said with a chuckle as she walked in with Jax, Gia and Zander tagging behind her. “Where is my cousin?”
“Filling Emily and Nikolas in on our big fat goose egg,” Elizabeth told them. She and Lucky had gotten nowhere in decoding Kristina’s computer files.
Emily, Nikolas, and Lucky walked back into the main room with Emily and Nikolas looking somewhat disheveled.
Elizabeth looked at her friend questioningly. “Don’t go there, Liz—not in front of Kristina,” Emily whispered as she laced her arm through her best-friend’s. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“Wait!” Lucky called out, holding up his hand. “We’re not all here.”
“Where’s Sly?” Nikolas wondered.
“I stopped by his place, he wasn’t home. I even tried calling him . . . I called him last night, he hasn’t been home in a while,” Natalie explained.
“Shit!” Lucky cursed, slapping his hand down on his thing. “He took off.”
“What?” Jax and Nikolas said at the same time.
“Why would he do that?” Zander questioned.
“Because he’s Sly, he does that,” Lucky explained.
Carly shook her head. “No, Lucky, he’s been good for a while. Sly wouldn’t just . . . take off, would he?”
Lucky looked at Carly urgently. “Exactly, Caroline, things have been too good. He’s been fine. This is the type of thing to set him off.”
“Ok, back up you two—what are you talking about?” Gia asked curiously.
“Sly is . . .”
“Caroline, it’s not our thing to tell,” Lucky warned.
She looked at him sternly. “The ten of us are in this together, Lucky. If we don’t handle this perfectly we all go down. With Sly gone, it puts a big crimp in our plans. Everyone in this room has a right to know why Sly is gone.”
Lucky clenched his jaw.
“You see,” as Carly began Lucky got up and went into the back room where he had been with Emily and Nikolas. “Sly, in the past, suffered from pretty serious depression. When he was in college . . . well, he’s been under control. But, sometimes when things get too tense he’ll take off and go on a bender. I’m just afraid . . .”
“Where would he go?” Elizabeth wondered. “LA?”
“No,” Lucky said as he came back into the room. “He went to London. Sly’s got a flat over there. He usually uses it when he has a premiere or something to do over there. But, on occasion, he’s gone there to wallow in his problems. I know that is where he is.”
Lucky stopped and turned to Nikolas. “Is the Cassadine jet still here?”
“Yeah, where else would it be.”
“Call them up, we’re going to London and dragging Sly’s ass back to Manhattan,” Lucky explained. When Nikolas faltered Lucky only dug in further. “You and me, Nikolas, we’re going to London on your jet and we’re getting Sly. I’m not letting him do this to himself because of something that, I would wager, has something to do with our families.”
“Ok, fine, we’ll do it. Anyone else coming?” Nikolas asked as he took out his cell phone.
Elizabeth was about to volunteer to go with them, but Lucky didn’t give her the chance. “No, everyone else has to stay here. Watch Kristina, get into her computer, maybe someone should go talk to Alison Barrington—anything. Just don’t let Sly get us in trouble,” he ordered the group and started to leave the office.
“Lucky, wait!” Jax called out. Lucky stopped. “The computer?”
“Back room, I didn’t get very far. But maybe my hacking skills are rusty, take a crack at it if you like,” Lucky said, his voice void of emotion.
Nikolas shrugged and gave Emily a quick hug and kiss. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too,” she said, returning his kiss. “Be careful.”
“Careful? We’re just going to London to get retrieve a wayward actor. I want you to be careful.”
Emily smiled, “I’ve got all these brave, strong men here to protect me. I’ll be fine.”
Unable to take the looks of love and sap between Nikolas and Emily, Zander left the office in an attempt to get some fresh air. When he got outside he found Lucky leaning against the wall.
“Hey,” he grunted.
Lucky nodded.
“Sorry to hear about Sly. I always liked him, he’s a cool guy.”
“He’s the best,” Lucky stated simply. “He just—he just needs to know that himself.”
“Well, tell him that. . . I don’t know, just bring him back. The sooner this is ALL over, the better,” Zander muttered, feeling a bit flustered. He didn’t know Lucky that well. Or, rather, he didn’t know the real Lucky that well. The guy kind of unnerved him. If there was a picture in the dictionary under the word “intense” it had to be of Lucky, Zander thought.
“Listen, I saw Carly’s little chart, Elizabeth and I were supposed to camp out and keep an eye on Kristina tonight. I’d feel better if . . . listen, will you fill in for me? Keep an eye on her?”
“She’s my friend,” Zander noted. “I’d love to spend the night with her.” Lucky raised an eye at the other man’s odd comment. “No, no, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant--.”
Lucky patted Zander’s shoulder and chuckled, “I know what you meant, man.”
**
“No, no, ENGLISH!” Jason shouted. He stood in front of a fisherman, pointing over him at the water. “I don’t speak Greek or whatever the fuck you speak. ENGLISH!”
The smallish man said something angrily to Jason, in Greek, causing the taller man to groan and throw up his hands. He shook his head and reached into his jacket, pulling out his cell phone. With a glare for the man, Jason dialed quickly.
“Get me a translator,” Jason barked into the phone. “No, I don’t speak Greek. That wasn’t in the sales pitch. Or, wait, was it in the Employee Handbook? ‘Must speak Greek.’ Cause, sorry, I didn’t get it . . . No, I will not calm down. People I love are in danger, real, serious danger. Kristina Cassadine is the person immediately involved. And even though we both know Helena Cassadine is still in prison, we both also know that she is most likely behind this shit. So, get me a translator or find--.”
Before Jason could finish his sentence he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“—my partner,” Jason muttered, flipping his phone off. “Well, well, well, it’s about damn time. I thought you were never going to show up.”
**
Lucky and Nikolas sat on the Cassadine jet in virtual silence. Nikolas wanted to say something, anything, to break the wall Lucky had put him around him.
It was weird. Nikolas had seen Lucky torn apart, angry, sad, and just about at the end of his rope. But finding out about Sly’s disappearance and seeing the utter determination and loyalty in his brother’s eyes made Nikolas extremely jealous. Sly was Lucky’s brother. Maybe not in blood or name, but where and how it counted, Lucky and Sly were brothers. Nikolas knew that in some way he had his chance with Lucky but he lost it. Or someone stole it from them.
“Lucky,” Nikolas blurted out.
Lucky glanced over at Nikolas, worry written across his fine features.
“Something on your mind, Nikolas?”
“Back at the warehouse you kind of alluded to . . . rather, you said that the situation we are in may have something to do with our families. But how?”
“Don’t worry about it, Cassadine. Your granny is still locked away in federal prison,” Lucky sneered.
Nikolas sighed, not believing it. “Have you checked? Made sure she’s there.”
“Yes. I called my dad as soon as I had the chance. He said Helena is tucked away nicely in her prison cell.”
“Visitors, Lucky, has she had any visitors?” Nikolas asked anxiously. “How do we find out who has been visiting her? Because, if Kristina is on that list--.”
“She wouldn’t use her real name,” Lucky informed. His eyes clouded over. “Why can’t it just be simple extortion? Really. You and Jax have more money than God, we’d be able to pay her off and be done with it. But this damn war . . . how much more time do I have to lose? How many people have to get hurt?”
Nikolas reached out and squeezed Lucky’s shoulder. He was hunched over, his arms on his knees, gazing down at the tops of his black boots.
“I can’t answer that one, Lucky. I wish I could, but I just can’t answer it.”
**
“So, we need a new plan,” Dillon noted. He and Maxie were in his penthouse, watching movies because Maxie turned down his idea to have sex. He was really getting annoyed at her refusals.
“A plan? For what?” Maxie wondered.
“Your little obsession with Spencer,” Dillon said dryly. He removed a joint from the front pocket of his shirt, lighting it with the lighter on the table.
“Must you?”
“Yes,” he said before taking a deep inhalation of the pot. “What was I saying?”
“This is going to be a successful strategy planning session,” Maxie muttered with a frown.
“You’d be so much more fun if you loosened up a bit,” Dillon explained, offering her the joint. She glared and shook her head. “Your loss—this is good stuff.”
“Dillon! Why am I even friends with you? You’re either up or down, speed or booze, if your nose isn’t in coke, you’re smoking a joint. Do you realize how badly you are fucking up your life? Dillon, I care about you, against my better judgement I care about you, but you are a mess!”
“I’m a mess, Max? You were what? Thirteen when you tried to seduce that prick everyone thought was Lucky? Then when he returned, and the real Lucky shot you down, you came to crawling to me. And for the last how many years I’ve given you everything you could want, everything you could need. I’ve been your only friend, Maxie. When Spencer fucked you and left, who was there to pick up the pieces?”
Without thinking, Maxie swept her hand across Dillon’s face, the slap echoing through her body.
“It wasn’t like that, Dillon. Lucky and I—it wasn’t like that. He didn’t fuck me, we made love, and it was beautiful. I guess it is something you’ll never understand.” Maxie stood up and grabbed her purse. She walked to the door, but not before looking back at her friend one more time. “If you are ever serious about our friendship, about salvaging what we have, come look for me. But until then leave me alone.”
Dillon watched Maxie leave, tossing his lighter across the room in frustration. “Damnit!”
**
Maxie stepped out of Dillon’s apartment and ran around the corner. What she found was weird. Men, all dressed in black, toting weapons, and going into a warehouse. If she were the daughter of Frisco and Felecia Maxie might have turned away, frightened, but instead decided to stay and see what was going on.
**
“If you would have asked me last week what I would be doing in New York, I don’t think I could have dreamed this scenario,” Zander said as he sat on the couch with Elizabeth.
“Oh, come on, you’ve lived in Port Charles a long time—insane, crazy, situations are common place. Or at least they were,” Elizabeth pointed out with a laugh. The television flickered in front of them, shedding a minimal amount of light on the dark room. Kristina sat behind the couch, sleeping.
Zander smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not what I meant.”
“What,” Elizabeth looked at curiously “are you hinting at?”
“Well, I haven’t told anyone yet, but…” Zander leaned forward, closer to Elizabeth, “I’m dating Nicole Kidman.”
Elizabeth smiled. “What? The actress? Since when do you know her?”
“At the club on Saturday we met, she found me attractive, gave me her number, and we went out last night.”
“Oh my gosh!” Elizabeth exclaimed happily, giving Zander a congratulatory hug. “That is so cool. You must be so happy. Here I was thinking you’d spend the weekend brooding over Emily when you’re really romancing one the most famous actresses in Hollywood! Go you!”
“I rock,” he boasted with a laugh. “It’s pretty cool, actually. She’s not like a movie star at all. Nicole is down to earth and smart, and really funny. I just want to get this shit with Kristina over with so I can put it behind me and figure out if I can have a future with Nicole.”
“I hope so too. You’ve been alone too long, Zander. You’re such a great guy, you deserve some happiness,” Elizabeth said, kissing him on the cheek. “I’m hungry, are you hungry?”
“I’m a guy, Liz, I’m always hungry,” Zander noted with a sigh. He reached for the television remote control and turned the channel to MTV. “You gonna get something? Do you want me to go?”
“Nah, I’ll get it. I’m thinking barbecue from around the corner. I spotted it this morning, Lucky said they make great stuff.”
“Cool,” he said. Zander pointed at the desk. “I think Carly put some cash in the top drawer of the desk—for food and stuff. Might as well use that.”
“Might as well. I’ll be back in ten minutes, no more,” Elizabeth promised, waving as she disappeared down the stairs.
Zander looked over his shoulder at Kristina and shook his head. She was groggy, but awake.
“What could have turned you into such a raving bitch? You weren’t always insane . . . in fact, once I thought you were a nice girl,” Zander said sadly. “I no longer think that, but still. Why would you do this? I mean, even Nikolas! He’s blood. Don’t you have any respect for anything?”
Zander shook his head again and turned back to the television. He heard the door to the office open and looked up, thinking it was Elizabeth.
“Did you forget--.” He stopped himself, realizing it certainly was not Elizabeth.
Four men, clad entirely in black, stood in front of the doorway. Two of the men brandished automatic guns, aimed at Zander, while the other went to Kristina’s side. They took her from the chair and quickly ushered her out of the office and out of the warehouse.
One of the men checked the other rooms, leaving Zander alone with the other.
“What’s going on? Who are you? Who sent you?” he asked nervously, remembering the gun Lucky put into the desk, in the drawer Elizabeth left open. He inched towards it, waiting for the second he had an opportunity.
“Don’t even think about it,” the man holding the gun on him warned.
“Tell me what is going on!” Zander demanded.
“Fuck you,” said the other man, returning from the back room. He hit Zander in the gut with the butt of his gun. “Do you punks really think you’ll win this game? It is not your game to win.”
Zander doubled over in pain, placing his hand on the coffee table to steady himself.
“He’ll follow us.”
“No he won’t,” said the man who hit Zander. He moved his hand to his back and pulled out a switchblade. He opened it, aimed, and slammed it down. It sliced clear through Zander’s hand into the soft wood of the table. Zander screamed in pain. He gaped at the his hand, blood pouring out around it, he prayed it took Elizabeth a long time at the restaurant.
“Let’s go, we’ve already wasted enough time.”
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