| Subject: Chapter 10 |
Author:
Becca
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Date Posted: 10:10:49 02/24/01 Sat
In reply to:
Becca
's message, "The Path of Thorns" on 09:58:31 02/24/01 Sat
Chapter 10
3 Weeks Later
**Spencer House**
Liz sat in a virtual daze as Laura and Audrey sat in front of her gushing about the plans for the upcoming wedding. A wedding that was only one week away. A wedding she didn’t want. So she sat with her soon to be mother-in-law and grandmother and planned the wedding because no matter how much she knew she wasn’t marrying the man she was meant to spend her life with, she also knew that for some reason it had to happen.
Maybe it was, like Lucky said, to protect her and everyone involved from Helena. But Liz felt, deep down, that there was another reason she had to marry Landon. A reason nobody could fully grasp at this point, but a reason nonetheless.
In the weeks since everything happened, since Landon and Liz announced their engagement, Liz and Lucky grew closer. Their secret meetings weren’t the passionate encounters she envisioned, they weren’t moments out of a steamy romance novel. They were more meaningful. Lucky shared stories about his childhood, the stories he was able to tell, because it was clearly evident that he had entire separate life that nobody, not even Maria, knew about. He’d share with her what he was able to, and Liz regaled him with stories of her rebellious childhood and her first months in Port Charles. Lucky wanted to know everything about Landon and Nikolas and Sly and Emily, everything that Liz knew she told him. He voiced his sadness and despair growing up knowing he had a family he couldn’t be with. But Lucky also spoke fondly about what he did have, the happiness he did experience. In the short time Liz knew Lucky, she was able to tell that Maria was always a place of calm and hope for Lucky. She had a feeling that there was nobody Lucky loved or needed more.
All the wedding preparations and Laura’s fawning were driving Liz nuts, but she couldn’t really blame the woman for throwing herself at something. Anytime Liz or Luke or anyone mentioned Lucky and Maria, Laura would tense up and her usual good nature would give way to a short, quick-tempered fit. Amazingly enough, Liz understood where Laura’s sense of jealousy came from. She could almost feel it herself. Laura resented Laura because she was her son’s mother, the person who raised and guided him, who held him when he was an infant and who eased his mind when he had nightmares. Even though she didn’t do it knowingly, Maria usurped Laura’s spot in her son’s life. Laura saw Maria as having something she wanted, and Liz could almost feel the same thing.
Lucky’s dedication to the woman, his unquestioning love for Maria was something Liz wanted for herself. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but it was becoming quite evident that Liz had fallen in love with Lucky. But he was so guarded and protective of his emotions with everyone except Maria, Elizabeth wasn’t sure if he even felt remotely the same way.
On one hand he was doing everything in his power to protect her, that alone had to mean something. But conversely Lucky was having Liz marry his brother, marry Landon, and it didn’t seem to be outwardly affecting him.
“Ugh,” Liz groaned as she thought that, as her mind pondered for the one millionth time in the week if Lucky would ever feel for her as she felt for him.
“What honey?” Audrey asked, concern in her voice.
“Hmm?” Liz muttered snapping out of her daze.
“You kind of groaned,” Laura noted with a sympathetic smile. “But I totally understand, planning a wedding can be very stressful, especially in this short amount of time. If you’d feel better we can push the date back, just say the word.”
“No, no, the wedding has to happen as scheduled,” Liz explained tiredly, not really in the mood to discuss the wedding at all, it only made her think of Landon, who made her think about Lucky, and if she did that she’d end up zoning out again.
“She’s just in a hurry to marry your son,” Landon explained as he stepped into the house, flashing the women a smile. “Right?” He asked, looking right at Liz, his tone somewhat harsh.
“Yep, I just want to marry your son,” Liz said with a bitter smile in Landon’s direction. In the amount of time it took for Liz and Lucky to grow closer, the once tight bond of friendship that Liz and Landon had began to disintegrate rapidly. She knew it was because he resented Lucky for taking his place in Liz’s life, but Landon’s attitude was bordering on hateful. Liz still loved Landon, he would always be her first love of sorts, her first boyfriend, her first lover, and her first real friend in Port Charles. She didn’t want to lose that. But if he was to make her choose between that and the connection she felt with Lucky, there was no choice.
“Landon, honey what are you doing here?” Laura asked, she was about to say something more when Tony walked in right behind Landon. “Tony, it’s good to see you again.”
“You too Mrs. Spencer,” Tony said politely. In the weeks since Landon and Liz’s ‘engagement’ and Landon found out the truth about Tony, the duo had been spending more time than usual together. Time together but that one moment, that one kiss, hadn’t been mentioned again.
“I’ve got to go,” Liz said suddenly, shooting a glare at Landon as she stood up. “I just remembered I’m supposed to meet . . .” Liz paused, trying to come up with an excuse she hadn’t already in order to see Lucky.
“Your brother,” Landon said quickly. “Weren’t you supposed to meet Steven?”
“That’s right,” Liz said, unsure of why Landon was helping her. He had made it clear that even though it was over between them, the last thing he wanted to see was Lucky and Liz together.
“Don’t let us keep you honey,” Audrey said, “I know Steven’s schedule is tight, go see your brother.”
“Thanks Gram, I’ll call you tonight,” Liz said quickly as she leaned down to give her grandmother a quick hug. “Bye Laura.”
Liz was at the door ready to leave when she remembered she forgot to say good bye to her fiancé, “Talk to you later Landon?”
“Ok . . .have fun Liz,” he said with a satisfied smirk. “Love you!”
“Right back at ya’,” Liz shot back through gritted teeth. She wasn’t happy being at odds with Landon, but his jealousy wasn’t making it possible not to be. Putting up the visage of a happy couple was growing increasingly tedious as the day of the wedding grew nearer.
Laura looked at Landon once Liz was gone, “What was that all about?”
“What?” he asked tiredly, flopping down next to Tony on the couch.
“That little exchange with Liz . . .did you two have a fight?”
Landon looked at Tony then to his mother. Lucky had made it perfectly clear that everyone was to believe that Landon and Liz were a happy couple, that meant keeping the truth from Nikolas and Emily and Sarah and even Tony, it was driving him nuts.
“Don’t worry about it mom, it’s nothing. Elizabeth is in love with your son now more than ever,” Landon noted with a sigh, his double meaning going unnoticed by everyone in the room. “I’m thirsty, anyone want a drink?” he asked as he made his way to the kitchen.
**Pier 21**
“Carly,” Lucy hissed as she crossed the restaurant to where Carly was sitting, writing something down on a yellow legal pad. “What are you doing?”
Carly looked up, “Working on the menu for Liz and Landon’s wedding . . .what does it look like?”
“Oh,” Lucy paused then sat down across from Carly. Carly had convinced Lucy to put off the opening of the restaurant a week in order to hold the reception for Landon and Liz’s wedding at the restaurant. Lucy was sold on the idea as an attempt to see how smoothly the staff would operate. “How’s it coming along?”
“Fine, why Lucy?” Carly asked with a sigh, looking up for a moment before going back to the paper.
“Because we have more important matters to discuss.”
“What can be more important than a wedding and the opening of our restaurant?”
“V and Steven,” Lucy declared triumphantly, catching a glare from Carly in the process. “What? I thought we decided we were going to play matchmaker with them?”
“I thought we decided on Steven and Maria? And V and Danny? Or maybe Danny and Maria . . . or wait, Lucy, do you really think we have the time to be doing this now?”
Lucy shook her head and motioned around the dining room. “Look at this place. It is ready to go, all that we await is opening night, and that’s coming, not to mention our first party. We have nothing to worry about, Danny has proved to be the best chef for the job, anything we decide on he’ll cook. Maria is the perfect person to help this place run smoothly, we’ve got financial backing up the wazoo, why must you constantly worry?”
“Because Lucy, everything I’m ever involved in ends up in disaster, I want this to work.”
Lucy jumped up and grabbed Carly by the hand. She pulled her business partner and friend to the giant window that overlooked the outdoor dining area that sat over the harbor. “Look at what we’ve done partner, we’ve made a perfect restaurant, classy and chic, trendy and retro, everything we envisioned. I know you have all those weird little eccentricities that make you a Spencer, but honey, the only way this won’t work is . . . I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. Trust me, one day we’ll be the cover of those restaurant magazines being touted as the wonder women behind the East Coast’s finest dining experience!”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re nuts Lucy?”
“Yeah hon, but I like it that way,” Lucy declared, her eyes twinkling. “Now, are we going to make a love match with these four single people or not?”
Carly laughed as she followed Lucy to the kitchen. “I’ve been thinking, V and Danny would fit much better, I’m sure of it . . .”
**The No Name**
Nikolas entered the tiny, secluded restaurant, looking around for his lunch date quickly. He motioned to the host and slipped past him to the back of the dining area.
“Is this your idea of a joke?” Nikolas hissed as he sat down across from Andreas.
“Why would you think that? Isn’t this where people who need privacy come to eat?”
“Whatever,” Nikolas grumbled. “I don’t have all day Andreas, I have to meet a friend for a real lunch in about twenty minutes, so if you can just tell me what you know.”
“Do I have your assurance of protection?”
“We’ve been over this, no harm will come to you if you can deliver Helena . . . preferably her head, on a silver platter.”
Andreas chuckled, “And they say you are the reluctant Cassadine.”
“Yeah well, I’m only what Helena has forced me to be, but I’ll never be the Prince, no matter what DNA does or does not say.”
“What do you mean Sir?”
Nikolas rolled his eyes, “I’ve learned that my paternity is a fluid thing, that who my father is has the ability to change with the blink of an eye. Right now Stefan is my father, next week it can be Stavros again, hell, someday it may come out that Luke Spencer is my father, don’t laugh, I’ve had that thought on occasion. But no matter who my father is, I’ll never be the person my grandmother wants me to be, I’ll never be her pawn.”
“That’s good to know,” Andreas said as he handed Nikolas a file folder.
“What’s this?” the young man asked as he leafed through the contents.
“Copies of Lucky Spencer’s adoption records and his birth certificate.”
“Can they be traced back to Helena though?” Nikolas wondered as he looked at the adoption records. “Because if not, if they can’t be traced directly back to Helena this is no good.”
“No, but the accompanying papers that, the receipt if you will, to the agency that, for lack of a better word, bought Lucky are on the way. A friend of mine who Helena double crossed in the past knows someone at the agency and is working on getting me those papers. Once we have them . . .”
“We got to the police and tell them what my grandmother did and send her away for a very long time. When do you think these papers will arrive?”
Andreas thought for a moment, “Around a week, probably next Saturday.”
“Next Saturday?” Nikolas asked curiously. “That’s the date of Landon’s wedding . . . listen, if the papers get here before Saturday come right to me. But no matter what, when the papers come the first thing you must do is find me. But if it is Saturday . . . I have a feeling Helena will make an appearance at the wedding anyway, we wait until after the ceremony, ok? This is my brother’s big day, I don’t want anything spoiling it for him. Your job will be to make sure Helena stays through the entire wedding. Liz is good friends with Taggert, so he’ll probably be at the wedding anyway, we’ll go to him with what we know. Do you think you can pull this off?”
“I know I can Nikolas, this will work.”
**Penthouse 2**
“Pizza man,” a voice yelled, waking Lucky from his brief nap. He sat up on the couch, groggily fixing his now wrinkled black tee shirt.
“Coming,” he yelled. He paused as his hand went to open the door, it suddenly hitting him that nobody ordered a pizza. Cautiously he looked through the peephole only to find nobody standing there. “Who’s there?”
“Pizza man,” came the voice again.
Lucky chuckled, suddenly realizing whom it was. He swung the door open quickly, “I thought you’d never get here.”
“I was planning a wedding Lucky, I couldn’t just leave,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he pulled them into the room, shutting the door behind them. “Is Maria home?”
“Nope, I think she’s at the restaurant or somewhere like that,” Lucky murmured, placing a soft kiss on Elizabeth’s lips. “How are the wedding plans going? Only a week away, huh?”
“God Lucky, do we have to talk about it?” Liz groaned as she moved away from him and sat down in one of the armchairs. “I don’t even want this stupid wedding, not to marry Landon anyway, so do I really have to talk about it.”
“Well, I have some good news,” Lucky noted with a grin as he knelt down in front of her, placing his hands in hers.
“You figured out a way to stop Helena so I don’t have to marry Landon?”
“Not exactly, but you won’t have to actually marry Landon,” Lucky said.
Liz frowned, “You aren’t going to suggest I marry say, Nikolas or something? Are you?”
Lucky looked at her in confusion. “God no. It’s bad enough you have to pretend to be engaged to Landon, I’d never force a Cassadine on you,” he added with a laugh. “This is good news Elizabeth, are you going to listen?”
“Well, there are other things I’d prefer to be doing right now,” Liz mumbled as she brushed her fingers along his full, soft bottom lip. “But I suppose . . .”
He sighed deeply, really wanting to give into her every whim but knowing it wasn’t the best thing in the world. “The priest at the wedding . . . he won’t be real. The marriage license will be a forgery, Sonny has it set up that you won’t really be married, you won’t need to get a divorce or an annulment or anything, it won’t be real.”
Liz’s face lit up with a smile that made Lucky’s heart beat faster. He was shocked at how much he had wanted to tell her and see her reaction, it didn’t disappoint.
Elizabeth, instead of speaking, slowly crossed the room to where Lucky was standing. She ran her hand over his shirt, smiling playfully as her fingers moved to his hair. “Why don’t we celebrate?”
Lucky looked into her eyes, lost in the intense love and want for a moment, frozen and unable to do anything. She took him by the back of the head and pulled him forward in a heated kiss that nearly knocked Lucky over. He was shocked by the forwardness, so shocked it sent him to another time, another place, with another person.
“Elizabeth no,” Lucky said fiercely, pushing her away. He walked over the window, staring out, his eyes locked on the distance.
She took a step to reach out for him, but recoiled, hurt by his action. “Lucky I’m sorry I just . . .”
“You don’t understand, we can’t . . . not . . . I love you too much to pull you into my life anymore than you are. I’ve already messed your life up enough, I won’t totally ruin it,” Lucky said still avoiding looking at her.
“You . . . you what?” she whispered, unsure if she heard his words. “You love me?”
He turned around slowly, his voice low as if he didn’t trust it, “Of course, of course . . . probably from the first second I saw you. You didn’t know?”
“I wasn’t sure . . . I mean, I could tell you had feelings for me, but I thought maybe . . .”
“How do you feel?” he asked, still keeping his distance.
“About you? Isn’t it obvious?” she asked with a half laugh. “I’m in love with you, every second I have to spend pretending to be in love with Landon kills me because it’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told. All I want to do is scream and tell everyone I’m in love with you.”
Lucky closed his eyes tightly, “This can’t happen, we can’t . . .”
“Don’t even think about it Lucky,” Liz warned.
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t? I understand that you are afraid of something, something that goes beyond Helena doing something to me, you’re even maybe ashamed of it. Lucky you can tell me, you can trust me.”
“I know.”
“Then why don’t you?”
Lucky looked to the floor then back up at Elizabeth, her face welcoming and comforting. “I’m not the person you think I am . . . I’ve done things . . . not even Maria really knows me.”
Liz stepped closer to him, reaching out for his hand. “Lucky, you can tell me. I want you to know, however rash this may sound, I’m in this for the long run. Hell, do you really think I’d be marrying Landon if I wasn’t?”
“But Elizabeth, you have to so you can . . .”
“Stay safe? Lucky, if I’m such a risk to you all I’d have to do is leave and go stay with my parents in Europe. Their working with the military for goodness sakes, I’d be safe. But I couldn’t stand t be apart from you, to stop something that has just begun. But if you want to push me away and . . . I’ll leave.”
“No,” Lucky said quickly. “No.”
“Then don’t push me away Lucky, I just want to be with you.”
“Someday I’ll tell you, everything, but not now . . . alright?” he asked, sounding more like a little boy Elizabeth wanted to protect and not like the man she wanted to make love to.
“I’ll do anything for you Lucky, anything,” Elizabeth whispered, touching his cheek softly.
“Me too, I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll take a bullet, I’ll go on the run, I’ll let you marry someone else, I’d do anything for you Elizabeth, anything,” he whispered, moving closer, feeling more comfortable.
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Make love to me Lucky,” she whispered, looking straight into his blue eyes which told her everything she needed to know.
“But Elizabeth, we’ve only known each other . . .” he whispered, unsure of why he was fighting this. He loved her, he desired her, and he needed to be with her.
“Lucky,” Elizabeth whispered. She stood on her toes, reaching up to kiss him, to let him know this wasn’t something impulsive, something led by a purely physical desire, that she truly wanted to be with him. “I love you Lucky and I want to be with you. So much can happen, we know Helena can end it all tomorrow . . . I want to be with you.”
She paused, watching him intently, waiting for his answer. Knowing in her heart what it was already.
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