| Subject: ET Chapter 6 |
Author:
Becca
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Date Posted: 18:16:00 07/30/01 Mon
In reply to:
Becca
's message, "Eternal Ties" on 17:53:29 05/24/01 Thu
ET 6
**Note: I’m pretty much disregarding all that has happened on Port Charles during the Tainted Love story, i.e. Eve and Ian aren’t married nor is she pregnant.
**Alison’s Apartment**
Lucky sat at the computer, working furiously to decode the CD’s. Jack sat on the couch, rather impressed with his new friend’s ability, also wondering where Alison had gotten to.
“I am a genius,” Alison declared as she threw the door to her home open. “What? No round of applause?”
“It would be nice to know what we’re clapping for first,” Lucky noted as he looked away from the computer for a moment.
Alison walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking closely at the computer screen. “Well, I went to Chris, convinced him to test the water for us . . . what are you doing? That looks like a whole lot of nonsense.”
“CD’s I stole from Helena, I think they contain the secret to who my imposter is—and probably more,” Lucky explained.
“Wait,” Jack said quickly, looking at Alison skeptically. “How’d you get Chris to do it?”
“Well, he didn’t believe my story about my grandmother being poisoned so I just . . .”
Lucky’s face fell, but Jack spoke first. “You didn’t Ali—please tell me you didn’t.”
“Of course not, I promised I would keep this a secret and I will . . . we just have to tell Chris the truth if he finds anything,” Alison blurted out. “I figure, once he finds out what is in the water things will be different, you know?”
“Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Lucky assured her. The computer began to beep, signaling Lucky’s attention. “We may not even need Chris’s help in the long run.”
Jack got up and moved to Alison’s side to see what had suddenly captivated Luck’s attention. “Wait, how’d you do that? You broke the code. You said it had many layers of security blocks . . .impossible.”
“Oh, did I forget to tell you? I’m sort of a hacker, computers are my thing,” Lucky answered proudly as he began to search the contents of the disc.
“Wait, wait, that file there,” Alison said quickly as she pointed to one of the headings on the screen. “ID2L . . . maybe that’s it. Identification of two Luckys.”
Lucky looked up at Alison briefly, flashing her a smile that momentarily made her knees weak. “At least, I think.”
“I think you’re right . . . here goes nothing,” Lucky said, taking a deep breath before clicking on the file. The first thing to pop up was a picture of Lucky and all of his vital statistics listed.
“Wow man, she knew a lot about you,” Jack muttered with discomfort as he read through the list, which Lucky was currently having print. There were intimate details about Lucky listed, though Lucky didn’t seem all that fazed at the moment.
“Helena is very thorough,” Lucky explained as he moved onto the next file. Up came a picture of the imposter, the man had blonde hair and blue eyes, though he had no real resemblance to Lucky beyond the color of his eyes.
“That’s the guy they think is you?” Jack asked in shock.
“I must say, you’re much cuter,” Alison joked, trying to ease the tension.
“Luka Cassadine,” Lucky said hoarsely. “She replaced me with a Cassadine. The ultimate revenge I guess . . .”
Lucky hit the print button before standing up and walking over to the couch. He collapsed on it softly, “My dad called a Cassadine Cowboy. Elizabeth made . . . she didn’t know. They couldn’t tell. How could they not? How could this happen?”
Lucky felt himself on the verge of tears, shocked by the sudden emotion. He had been holding in the reality of his situation since he escaped, but now that his imposter had a name, now that he knew what he was dealing with it made him feel ill.
“Oh my,” Alison gasped, “His father is Stefan Cassadine! How could someone do that to their own grandson?” She wondered but the feeling of sympathy for Luka passed as she looked at Lucky.
The vibrant, beautiful smile he had flashed her only moments earlier was gone, replaced by a look of heartache and despair, it broke her own heart. Jack’s head hung low, like he was feeling Lucky’s pain. Alison sat down next to Lucky, rubbing his back gently as he leaned forward, crying into his hands.
“Everything is going to be alright, I promise,” she assured him.
**Helena’s Yacht**
Helena rested soundly in her luxurious bed. It was amazing she was able to sleep so solidly, peacefully even, despite the madness that was going on around her. Then again, when one is driven by madness, it must not really damper one’s ability to sleep.
Madness wasn’t going to rouse the Cassadine matriarch that evening. Luke Spencer was.
“Rise and shine darlin’, we’ve got something to discuss,” Luke hissed as he stood at the foot of her bed. Usually he’d take part in the pseudo sexual games they played, but not tonight. He didn’t have time, Stavros was running around loose, his son was acting very much unlike himself, and Luke was working on Stefan’s side, the sooner he got to the point of this game, the sooner it would all end.
Helena looked up at her uninvited guest and smiled shrewdly, “Why Luke, isn’t this a bit late to come calling?”
“Maybe, though I’m surprised to see you asleep at this hour. I thought vampires roamed the streets at night looking for their latest victim,” Luke suggested with a smirk. “Or did you send your psycho offspring out to do your dirty work tonight?”
Helena batted her eyes at Luke innocently, “Why would I ever have Stefan do my bidding? He’s terribly incompetent--.”
Luke rose his hand in the air, revealing a handgun, it shut her up rather quickly, “Not THAT son Helena, the one you had frozen and who has recently thawed out. The whack job who kidnapped my wife, held her prisoner, and forced himself on her.”
“Be careful whom you accuse of forcing themselves on women Luke,” she said menacingly. “We all know about your past.”
Luke clenched his jaw angrily, “And I paid for my sins, I’m still paying, I’ll always be paying. I guess it’s good that Stavros is of the undead now, that means he can finally start paying for the misery he caused, he can finally pay for his sins.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about Luke.”
“Bull,” Luke barked, surely rousing Andreas from his restful sleep. Luke moved to the head of the bed, looking down at Helena, “I’m going to give you the chance to live—tonight. I know all about Stavros being alive, I finally broke your little codes on those discs.”
Helena searched Luke’s face, finding no sign that he knew the truth about his son, knowing full well he didn’t totally break the code. It would take a veritable computer genius to get through all the safety precautions Helena installed to prevent anyone from finding out about her special pet project with Lucky.
“I’m rather impressed Luke, but I must admit, I don’t appear to have control of my eldest son. He’s looking to rebel,” Helena informed Luke.
“Yeah, I’ve heard. Do you know he’s been sniffing around my niece, Carly? Caroline can handle herself, but if I find out he’s even looked at Laura without my knowledge—I’ll make sure to finish the job I started twenty years ago. You can be sure of that,” with that Luke turned his back and disappeared from the room and off the boat.
Helena sat back in her bed, rather concerned with her son’s callous inability to lay low until she was ready. Not to mention he seemed to be fixated on a Spencer woman. Laura was bad, but a Spencer by blood was even worse.
**The Brownstone**
Stavros stood at the door of the rather modest house, finding it perfectly fitting for Spencers. He knocked a few times, not really caring that it was late and people were most likely sleeping. Stavros was finding that he had a severe inability to lay down and go to sleep, at all. Most likely a side effect of his mother’s science project, and another reason to resent his supposedly loving mother.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” a shrill voice asked. Stavros stared at the door, waiting for the body the voice belonged to appear. “What?”
“I’d like to speak with Caroline, is she available?” Stavros asked, sounding frighteningly like a young man who had come to court the girl he was interested in, and not the dark and dangerous man he was.
“Like I’m about to let YOU in my house and speak with my daughter?”
The woman had red hair and a hard, worn look about her. “Ah, Luke’s sister, Barbara Jean I presume. I’m honored that you recognize me.”
“I should call the cops,” Bobbie said fiercely, “In fact--.”
She turned to leave when Stavros put out his hand to stop the door from shutting in his face, “For what? Waking you at two in the morning? I hate to inform you that when you die, any such outstanding warrants and whatnot evaporate. I am a free man. So, call the cops, they won’t care.”
“Go to hell you bastard, you will pay, one way or the other,” Bobbie warned him.
“What’s going on?” Carly asked as she walked up the stairs to the door, not realizing it was Stavros who her mother was arguing with.
Stavros turned around quickly, a pleased grin on his face. “Caroline, I was looking for you.”
Carly looked at Stavros then to her mother, giving Bobbie an “it’s ok, I can handle it” look. “Go back in, I’ll be fine.”
“If you need me,” Bobbie said before shutting the door, leaving her daughter alone with who she knew was a psycho. For some reason, Bobbie had a feeling they’d get along fine, Carly could handle herself better than anyone.
“Why are you looking for me?” Carly shot, looking Stavros directly in the eye. “I hate you.”
“You don’t know me,” he protested. “You can’t hate something you don’t know.”
“Crap Stavy, total crap. I hate war, I think war is bad, yet I’ve never been to war. And I hate live, and yet never tried it.”
Stavros looked her over, she had been out all night, probably at a bar or something, she had the faint smell of cigarettes and alcohol on her, yet she didn’t appear to be inebriated.
“You see Caroline, you’re mistaken. War has its benefits, if it weren’t for war this great country you live in wouldn’t exist, now would it?” Stavros challenged. “However, I must tell you that liver is absolutely dreadful, I never touch the stuff myself. Or at least, twenty years ago I didn’t, who knows what culinary wonders exist today. No?”
“You’re insane,” Carly grumbled as she sat down on the stoop. Stavros followed suit, and Carly couldn’t believe she was actually sitting down on the stoop with Stavros Cassadine, it was rather surreal. “What is wrong with you?”
Stavros looked at her with a smile. He really was handsome, Carly had to admit, and strangely charming, which frightened her.
“Plenty my dear, plenty.”
Carly laughed lightly, an idea coming to her in a flash. What if she cozied up to Stavros in order to help her family, what if she got close to him in order to find out exactly what Stavros and Helena were planning against the Spencers? Maybe then she could finally find a place in the family whose blood she shared, maybe then she could really be considered a Spencer.
“I had you pegged totally differently,” Carly admitted. “First of all, I thought for sure you’d still be walking around, jonesin’ for Laura.”
Stavros smirked with discomfort, “If she chose, willingly, to spend twenty years with Spencer and bare him two children, then she really isn’t worth my time—is she? She gave me Nikolas, and for that I’ll be forever grateful, otherwise . . .”
“I understand, though I don’t know what you could have seen in her in the first place. Laura is a major drag—dull as dirt and even more annoying than dull,” Carly noted with a laugh. “We’re in business together.”
“She was amazing when she was young…but I’d rather not dwell on her. The only thing she has to do with in my life is my son, that’s all that matters,” Stavros sighed, having already planned to locate his only son once the sun rose on the next day.
“Have you seen Nikolas yet? I mean since you woke up?”
“No, and I don’t know where to look. Mother said Stefan raised him, but I’ve got the feeling he isn’t at Spoon Island. I just want to see Nikolas.”
Carly smiled, touching Stavros’s arm gently, “Maybe I can help. I know where Nikolas lives and works.”
Stavros looked at her, stunned by sincerity in her offer, not even realizing this was all a plan, that Carly was as devious and daring as any Spencer.
**Alison’s Apartment**
Lucky stood in front of the stereo system, scanning the radio for a decent radio station to listen to. Jack had passed out on the couch and was sleeping soundly. A night of covert undercover wiped the guy out. Alison sat at the computer, reading in horror some of the stuff Helena had on it. She was shocked Lucky was letting her look at this stuff, but also honored that he so thoroughly trusted her.
He finally found a decent radio station, stopping on a soft, Dave Matthews Band ballad. Alison looked back at Lucky and saw him standing at the window, looking up into the night sky sadly. She walked over to him, placed her hand on his back, and sighed.
“Hey,” he whispered, looking into her eyes. He was so lost, so alone.
“Want to dance?” she offered.
He nodded softly, taking the young woman into his arms. He forgot what it had felt like to hold someone like that, to sway softly to a peaceful song. Lucky let himself forget he was dancing with Alison, his mind wandering off to another place, another song, another girl. Taking her hand to his heart, Lucky felt as though he would cry.
Alison shuddered as she felt how fast Lucky’s heart was beating. It struck her that he probably hadn’t had contact of this intimacy, of this closeness, of this sincerity in a very long time. He stopped moving and looked at her, and Alison could tell that he wasn’t seeing her, he was seeing Elizabeth, and she was afraid he’d kiss her.
Not afraid because it would be such a horrible thing, to be kissed by Lucky. She had to admit, ever since she saw him she had a mini-crush on him. And if her heart wasn’t already conflicted, for other reasons, Alison could easily fall for Lucky Spencer.
No, it was horrible because she knew how Lucky would tear himself apart for kissing her, for pretending she was Elizabeth, for letting himself be human for a minute.
“That’s alright, we don’t have to dance,” Alison told Lucky, bringing him back to earth.
She went to sit on the chair, glancing at Jack’s sleeping form, not even realizing that Lucky had followed her and was kneeling beside the chair.
“Thank you,” Lucky whispered, holding one of her hands in both of his. “Holding you for that second, it reminded me of how good it feels to hold someone. I was standing there, looking at the sky, wondering why I was even trying, why I didn’t give up. The threat of Helena finding me and locking me up again and . . . it’s great, man, I’m afraid her goons will burst in here any minute and take me away. And I think to myself, my god man, just give up, nothing is worth the fear or the pain.
“But you made me realize that something is worth it. One dance with Elizabeth would make it worth it, it would make me know that life can be beautiful.” Lucky closed his eyes and squeezed Alison’s hands lovingly, “You are an amazing girl Alison, truly a beautiful person. You and Jack have given me so much in such a short amount of time for no real reason but faith. I don’t know how I could ever repay you both. But I want you to know that you’ll be in my heart forever. I’ll never be a rich man or a great man, but I’ll be a man, I’ll be around. You’ve given me that right now, you’ve given me the wake up call to go on. I swear to God Alison I won’t let anything happen to you or Jack.”
Alison felt herself get choked up as Lucky kissed her hand, “And we won’t let anything happen to you. But Lucky, you should know that you are wrong. You say you aren’t a great man, I say you are. From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were special.
“Lucky, I was reading those files, I know what Helena did to you, I know what you survived. For that alone you are a great man. But beyond that, your willingness to fight for your life, to love despite a normal man’s reason to hate, to still be so trusting and open, you are a great man. And someday, Lucky Spencer, you’ll realize how great you really are.”
**Penthouse 4**
Sonny sat on one end of the couch trying to distract himself by reading over a contract. Alexis sat at the other end, doing the same thing.
“We need to talk,” Sonny said suddenly, causing Alexis to cringe inwardly.
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” Alexis paused and looked at the file in her hand, “I really don’t think you should sign on with this particular distributor in Texas.”
“Not about that,” Sonny said softly. “About—our son.”
“Oh, yeah, him,” Alexis muttered. “I’m glad you brought it up. I was thinking it might be best for Zander and I to leave the Penthouse. I’m not claiming he’ll live me with me wherever I go, but I do think we should try to distance ourselves from you.”
Sonny looked puzzled, “Why? Where are you going to go? Spoon Island?”
“I just don’t think Zander needs to deal with your lifestyle right now. He’s been through hell his entire life, and once it comes out that you are his father it’s only going to get worse,” Alexis claimed.
Sonny was getting angry. “Oh, so now I’m not good enough? Alexis really, do you think it will be good to open Zander up to your family? The Cassadines aren’t the Cleavers.”
Standing up, Alexis looked down at Sonny, “I’m not saying that. What do you propose Sonny? Zander and I move in here and we become a happy little nuclear family? We wouldn’t exactly be the Cleavers either. I can see the headline now ‘The mobster, his mouthpiece, and their delinquent son’, I’m not about to set Zander up to that kind of criticism.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting Alexis. But I don’t think going back to the Cassadines is the way either.”
Alexis threw her hands in the air, “I never said I was Sonny. If I had to choose your lifestyle over my family I’d choose you five times out of six. But I have the option to start over and . . .”
“Start over Alexis? What you going to leave Port Charles? Come on, you probably know Zander better than anyone excluding Emily, do you really think he’s about to leave her? You obviously haven’t thought this out.” Sonny paused and looked into Alexis’s eyes, “You’re spooked. You think because our one night past is about to come out, because you’ve come clean to Zander, because eventually he’s going to find out about me, that it’s going to change everything. I can promise Alexis, I won’t let it.”
“I don’t know what you talking about. If you are insinuating that I think you are going to want . . .us to . . . that’s ludicrous. We’re friends, nothing more,” Alexis muttered.
“My thoughts exactly, so you have no reason to be worried.” Sonny pointed over his shoulder towards the door and smiled, “You and Zander will stay across the hall for the time being. All I want is the ability to be able to protect my son and his mother. I’m not looking to get married and start a family Alexis.”
“Good,” she said, relief washing over her. Alexis had always been attracted to Sonny, but his lifestyle and choice of career had always disgusted her, the fact that they were now openly tied together scared her. “I’m going home.”
Sonny watched her retreat to her penthouse and called out with a laugh, “You’re still spooked Davis—I can tell. You really need to calm down!”
**The Cottage**
Zander carried a passed out Emily to her car and deposited her in the passenger seat. Elizabeth, in a desperate attempt to ignore the chaos of her life at the moment, had invited the young couple over for a night of dinner, conversation, and movies. It had been awkward for Zander, but Emily was in her element and he truly enjoyed hearing all the stories the two girls were exchanging. It struck him odd that Lucky seemed so distant and bored throughout the conversation, considering he played a central figure in much of the stories. He shrugged it off as more of the Spencer kid’s attitude problem. Though, Zander had to admit the one time he and Lucky had been left alone in the room he kind of got spooked by the ominous way Lucky was looking at and talking to him.
“Thanks for tonight Liz, it was fun,” Zander said after shutting the car door.
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and waved it off, “It was nothing, in fact, I should be thanking you and Emily. After that disaster of an engagement party I needed some time to just kick back and have fun with friends.”
“About the party, sorry Emily and I never showed up. Something major came up in my life and she wanted to stay with me,” Zander apologized. “I’m sorry.”
Elizabeth sighed at the sincerity in Zander’s voice, almost like he was apologizing for much more than just missing a party, like he was apologizing for what happened last summer, for everything he ever did.
“Don’t worry about it Zander, the party was a bust anyway. You would have been dreadfully bored . . .”
Zander laughed, “I somehow doubt that. Watching Spencer get pulled away in handcuffs would have been pretty fun.”
Elizabeth smiled weakly, knowing that Zander was joking but also sad that he thought so lowly of Lucky. Sure she had been having trouble recognizing the man she fell in love with, that Lucky’s actions and behavior in the last year had been very strange, but it was the brainwashing she tried to tell herself.
“You know I’m kind of surprised you two don’t get along at all,” Elizabeth admitted. “You remind me so much of who Lucky used to be.”
“Now that you mention it . . . the Lucky you and Emily were talking about tonight was—a totally different guy almost. I don’t claim to be an expert on your boyfriend Liz, but the two versions don’t match up. You know?”
Elizabeth let out a breath, “Trust me, I know Zander, it’s caused me many sleepless nights and . . .” she paused, unsure why she was admitting this to Zander. Maybe it was because Emily was asleep, maybe it was because Zander was an outsider, he wasn’t part of this Spencer/Cassadine mess, he didn’t have any special interest outside of Emily. “I should let you go take Emily home.”
Looking down at Emily in the car Zander smiled contently, “You really wore her out tonight, I think she fell asleep halfway through the second movie.”
Elizabeth chuckled as Zander went around to the driver’s side of the Eclipse, “I think I fell asleep during that movie. I swear, it’s the last time I let Nikolas pick out the movie.”
“That may be best,” Zander noted. He smiled at Elizabeth and started up the car. She walked over to the driver’s side, shaking her head with a laugh at Emily’s sleeping form. “Night Liz, take care.”
“You too…get my best friend home,” she ordered playfully, waving as the car sped away.
Elizabeth turned and faced the cottage a dreadful feeling in her stomach as she made her way back to her temporary home. With Emily there Elizabeth felt like she had an ally, but going back inside there with Gia, Nikolas, and Lucky, she felt like an outsider.
Elizabeth tried to remember when Lucky and Nikolas had gotten so close, had gotten so Batman and Robin, but couldn’t pinpoint it. Before the fire they were reluctant brothers becoming friends, but they weren’t nearly as close as they were now. In fact, it seemed that as soon as he got back, Lucky had an unbreakable bond with Nikolas. She often wondered if their closeness was part of Helena’s programming.
“Hey, Elizabeth, hurry up,” Lucky called from the doorway before disappearing back inside.
“Coming,” she muttered, glancing down at her wristwatch. It was late and she suddenly remembered she had plans the next day. Her lunch with Spence at Eli’s. A smile crept to her face at the thought and she had a feeling it was going to be another restless night.
**General Hospital**
“This can’t be,” Chris muttered as he looked through the microscope at the sample Alison had brought him. He had gone over it a hundred times at least but it just didn’t add up. It looked, smelled, and tasted like normal water. There were normal amounts of minerals and other normal chemicals in it. But upon further investigation Chris found signs of a virus.
The virus, he surmised, wasn’t a naturally occurring one and he had no idea what it was. But it seemed to be dormant, needing a trigger of some sort. He tried a few different chemicals and had no reaction.
“Ramsey are you still here?” Eve Lambert asked as she poked her head into the lab. He shrugged and she walked over to him, looking to see what he was staring at so intently. “What is that?”
“A virus but . . . it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s dormant but needs a trigger—I just can’t figure out what the trigger is,” Chris muttered, “I think it’s some sort of household, everyday item but I . . .” he shook his head in frustration.
“What does the virus do when triggered?” Eve queried.
Chris wondered whether he should tell her or not but figured it wouldn’t hurt. He could trust Eve; she was the only person he wanted to trust.
“You got to promise not to tell, this isn’t exactly hospital financed research,” Chris told her.
“My lips are sealed Ramsey, what’s up?”
“It has to do with mind control. Alison brought it in to me and made up some story about her grandmother but I can’t help but think it’s something bigger, more dangerous. Like those Cassadines or something,” Chris explained.
“The Cassadines? Come on Chris, Alison doesn’t know or associate with any of them, how could they be involved and . . .wait; did you say mind control? That’s not possible!”
“We find the trigger to this virus and we’ll prove it is possible,” Chris explained solemnly. His face lit up suddenly, “and we’ll be richer and more famous than we could possibly ever dream.”
“That’s the Chris I know and love,” Eve said with a laugh. “Want a partner? I need the distraction.”
Chris smiled and nodded his head, he knew Eve was trying to get her mind off of Ian leaving Port Charles with Ariana, not to mention he’d give anything to spend more time with her.
“And you know Chris,” Eve started as she examined the virus under the microscope, “if this is the Cassadines, as you think, we are in way over our heads.”
“I know, so if you want to pull out now I understand,” Chris offered with a smirk. “But I know you won’t—it’s too interesting to pass up.”
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