Lucky’s Room

“Sometimes…” Elizabeth sighed and stared out the window. “Sometimes, I look at him…and there’s so much anger in him–over his mother, over Sonny. It scares me.”

Lucky exhaled slowly. They’d been in his room for over an hour and Elizabeth had proceeded to lay out everything–every emotion, every event, every feeling she’d had since she’d found out the truth about Ric.

With every word that spilled from her lip, Lucky’s confusion at her decision to marry him grew. He couldn’t understand why she’d go back to him after his revelation about Carly, much less trust him enough to bind herself to him forever.

But he’d forced himself to have patience–eventually she’d get to the point–she’d get to the big picture, where he could realize why she loved this man who’d dedicated his entire being to destroying Sonny.

And now she was silent and he was no longer closer to understanding her than he’d been before she walked into his room.

“Are you scared of him?” Lucky asked finally.

She didn’t answer right away and that worried him. Finally Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. “No. He wouldn’t hurt me. I don’t…I’m not scared of him, but the anger he has–that scares me. He doesn’t think sometimes and he just acts.” She glanced at her ex-fiancé. “I think he’s the reason Scott Baldwin didn’t call me.”

“You think he wants Sonny prosecuted?”

“I think that…no matter how much he thinks he wants peace and to start a new life…the second he lost his reason…the second I lost our child…he decided it was just another reason for Sonny to be destroyed.”

Lucky stood and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. He crossed the room and peered over her shoulder into Kelly’s courtyard.

“It used to be so simple, Lucky,” Elizabeth sighed. “Remember when they were us?”

He followed her gaze and saw the Police Commissioner’s daughters Georgie and Maxie sitting with his cousin Lucas and with Emily’s newest cousin, Dillon. “Yeah. You, me, Emily and Nikolas.”

“The Four Musketeers,” she said faintly. “Why did it have to change?”

“We grew up,” Lucky replied. “But, hey, we’re still friends.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Are you going back there tonight?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “I have to,” she answered. “He’s my husband. I can’t…I can’t just abandon him because we had a fight.”

“I wish you’d stay here tonight,” Lucky told her. “Just give him time to calm down or whatever.”

“I can’t. If I run out now–how is this ever supposed to work?” Elizabeth asked. “How am I supposed to make my marriage work if a little fight sends me running?”

“It wasn’t just a fight, Elizabeth. He’s got this hatred for Sonny that scares you and–”

“Lucky…” Elizabeth shook her head. “Just walk me out, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jason’s Penthouse

“He was indicted for aggravated assault?” Carly shrieked.

Jason held his hand up to his friend. “Carly, let me handle this.” He turned back to their lawyer. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means Scott Baldwin convinced the grand jury that Mr. Corinthos pushed the victim with the intent of causing her bodily harm. Add to the fact that Mrs. Lansing actually miscarried, well…the jury didn’t appreciate it,” Robyn reported.

“What happens if he’s convicted?” Carly demanded.

“He won’t be,” Robyn told the blonde with little patience. “Because I get to present a defense. We’ve been over this, Mrs. Corinthos. The prosecution was able to get an indictment because they neglected to call Mrs. Lansing. If they don’t call her at trial, I will.” She hesitated. “I have reason to believe Baldwin was bribed not to call her.”

Jason frowned. “Bribed? By who?”

“I don’t know that yet,” Robyn told him. “If I had any actual proof, I would have reported him to the Ethics Committee.”

“Okay then. Is there anything I can do?” Jason asked.

Robyn shook her head. “The most you can do is visit Mr. Corinthos as often as possible. It can’t be easy for him. I’ve got a bail hearing set for Monday morning–it’s the earliest I could get it.”

“Sonny’s already been in there since last Monday!” Carly cried. She looked to Jason. “Isn’t there a judge you can’t talk to? He can’t last another four nights. Please, Jason–”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you request that,” Robyn remarked dryly. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to go and start work on the defense. You know my number if you need anything. Just remember, after six, I charge double. And triple on weekends.”

“You’re positive you can get my brother acquitted?” Courtney spoke up. “I mean, you said he wouldn’t even be charged.”

Robyn narrowed her eyes at the blonde. “I said that with Elizabeth Lansing’s testimony, he wouldn’t be charged. I can’t very well be held responsible if they didn’t call her, now can I?” she finished in a condescending tone.

“You can’t speak to me like that,” Courtney retorted. “You work for me.”

“Actually,” Robyn said, cutting both Carly and Jason off before they could speak, “the last time I checked, I get paid by Corinthos and Morgan Coffee Company. Now, if you suddenly became an owner…maybe then you could try to treat me like a servant.” She picked her briefcase up. “As it is, I represent Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan. His fiancée was not included in the agreement.”

She pulled the door open and left.

“I don’t like her,” Courtney announced sharply. “You should fire her.”

Jason exhaled slowly and eyed his fiancée. “She’s right. She doesn’t work for you and even if she did, you don’t get to speak to her like that. She’s a good lawyer and Sonny and I like her.”

“She couldn’t even get the charges dropped,” Courtney said, scathingly. “What makes you think she can get him acquitted?”

“Haven’t you been listening to a thing she said?” Carly asked. “She was depending on Elizabeth’s testimony to exonerate Sonny. Scott didn’t call her. At the trial, Robyn will present a defense, which she couldn’t do with the grand jury. I believe her–she’s not going to lose.”

“And what makes you so sure that by the time the trial gets here that Elizabeth hasn’t changed her mind?” Courtney demanded.

“Because Elizabeth has said from the beginning that she doesn’t believe Sonny did this. She went to see him at the jail,” Carly informed them both. “Now, I asked one of the guards and she came to see him right after I did. When I left, he was withdrawn and depressed. And now…now he’s different. He seems lighter, more hopeful about getting out.”

“And you think Elizabeth is the reason for this?” Courtney demanded.

“I think Elizabeth managed to do what Jason and I couldn’t.” Carly sighed. “I think she convinced him he didn’t do it.”

Jason looked at her sharply. “Are you sure?”

“Wait, why did she have to convince him?” Courtney asked.

“Because Sonny doesn’t remember anything he said to her–he just remembers he was angry and she was–that they were both yelling. He doesn’t remember walking away, or whether she did. He just remembers going there and then being in the limo.”

“You mean Sonny thought he might have done it?” Courtney asked, skeptically. “That’s crazy.”

“Not to Sonny, it wasn’t,” Carly said quietly. “He was genuinely terrified that he’d pushed her.”

“And you think Elizabeth convinced him he didn’t?” Jason asked, steering the conversation back to his question.

“I don’t know for sure. But whatever she said…he looks better, Jason. And you and I both know that it can’t be easy on him in there.” Carly’s eyes were glossy and she raised a hand to her mouth. “He hates small spaces so much. And every time I try to go to sleep in our room without him, I think about him there and it hurts so much because I can’t do anything. There’s no crazy scheme I can plot that will change it.”

Jason sighed and drew his friend into his arms. “I know, Carly. I hate to think of him being in there, too. But he’ll be out on Monday. And he’ll be acquitted. It’ll be okay. I promise. I would never let him go to jail.”

She nodded and sniffled against his chest. “I know you wouldn’t. You’ve never failed us.”

Courtney sighed and crossed her arms, rubbing them absently. “You know…I wonder who really pushed Elizabeth,” she said suddenly.

Jason’s cell rang then and he extricated himself from Carly’s arms to answer it. “Yeah?”

“It’s me,” Johnny said. “We might have a situation.”

Jason frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Elizabeth left her apartment about an hour and half ago. She was upset and she went to Kelly’s. I followed her up to Lucky Spencer’s room and then went downstairs to wait for her. She finally came down with him about ten minutes ago and she left. But instead of heading back to her place, she went to the park and she’s been sitting there since.”

“Any idea what’s wrong?” Jason asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not a clue. But Lansing is still at home, so I assume she had a fight with him. I wasn’t sure if I should call, but just to be on the safe side. Do you want me to just keep an eye on her at the park, try to talk to her?”

Jason hesitated and thought about how relieved Carly looked when she talked about Elizabeth’s effect on Sonny. “I’m going to call someone who’ll come and take care of it. Keep an eye on both of them and call in if anything changes.”

“Will do.”

Jason hung up and looked at the curious eyes of his fiancée and best friend. He sighed. “Sonny’s got Johnny on Elizabeth. He was concerned that if he didn’t do it, that whoever had would come back and finish the job.”

Carly nodded. “It was good of him to do that,” she said. “So what was wrong? Is she okay?”

“Johnny’s just worried. Elizabeth was upset when she left her apartment and it looks like she’s stalling on going back,” Jason answered. He picked up the penthouse phone and started dialing. “I’m going to call Emily to go check on her.”

Courtney nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” She was minimally relieved that Jason hadn’t taken upon himself to go check on the brunette. Elizabeth was married now and Jason was engaged to her. There was no reason for the two of them to be in each other’s sphere.

“Em? It’s me. Listen, if you’re not busy…” Jason hesitated. “Look, I’ve got a guard on Elizabeth after her fall. Just to be careful. And Johnny thinks something is wrong. She’s been sitting at the park for ten minutes and before that, she spent an hour with Lucky after she left her apartment all upset. I’d appreciate it if you could go check on her–but don’t tell her I sent you or that Johnny is there…is that okay?” When his sister answered in the affirmative, he said his thanks and hung up.

“You’re doing the right thing,” Carly assured him. “Besides, even if you went to check on her yourself, she wouldn’t talk to you. She’ll talk to Emily.”

Jason eyed her curiously. “Since when did you become the authority on Elizabeth?”

Carly flushed. “Look. We came to an understanding…and she’s doing everything she can to convince everyone Sonny’s innocent. I can’t be civil to her in return?” When his gaze didn’t stop being skeptical, she growled. “Hormones, okay? How’s that? Pregnancy hormones. You don’t like the actual explanation, let’s go for the easy one.”

Park

Elizabeth sighed, hearing footsteps coming closer to the bench she was sitting on. She looked up to see Emily approaching. “Emily. Hi.”

Emily smiled in return. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

She shrugged. “I’m okay. How are you? How’s the chemo going?” Elizabeth asked weakly.

Emily sighed and sat next to her friend. Jason’s call had mystified her–it was the first time she’d heard her brother speak about Elizabeth since she’d been back but she’d been worried about Elizabeth since she’d heard about the accident. “It’s going well, I guess. We won’t know any results for a while. Listen, I’m so sorry I haven’t visited you or called–”

“I haven’t either, Emily,” Elizabeth interjected. “We’ve both been so caught in our respective dramatic lives that we’ve barely sat down and talked since you’ve been home. I want…I want that to change.”

“I do, too,” Emily agreed. “So, how’s Ric?” she asked weakly.

“Ric…Ric is…” Elizabeth hesitated. “He’s angry,” she said finally. “He’s angry with the world, but he’s mostly angry with Sonny. No matter how much I try to tell him that Sonny couldn’t have pushed me, he’s determined to blame it on him. I think he’s just turning this into another reason to get revenge on him.”

“Are you arguing a lot or something?” Emily pressed. “Is everything okay?”

“We had a bad fight today,” Elizabeth admitted. “He wanted me to consider the possibility that Sonny did push me and I just…I can’t. Because I know he didn’t. I was so furious that he’d use our child…our baby…as a way to get at Sonny…and he…” Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “He said that it wasn’t a child, it was fetus. And that it was gone.”

“Asshole,” Emily muttered. She sighed. “Elizabeth, he was angry and maybe he didn’t mean it the way it came out. Do you love him?”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said immediately.

“Do you want this marriage to work?” Emily asked. “Or was this a marriage of convenience?”

“No!” Elizabeth denied quickly. “I love him. I…I wanted to marry him.”

“You’ve only been dating since January,” Emily reminded her friend, sensing her weakness and vulnerability. “You and Lucky dated practically forever before you decided to get married and look how that turned out.”

“Lucky and Ric are completely different,” Elizabeth said quickly. “And…I know it’s only been five months since we started dating and only seven since we met…but why does it have to matter? What does time have to do with anything?”

“Normally, I’d say nothing,” Emily replied. “Sometimes, you just know. But you’ve even admitted that Ric spent a lot of those five months lying to you.”

“But not about how he feels!” Elizabeth replied, desperately. “He’s always been honest about that.”

“And that’s very admirable,” Emily told her. “I know how much you needed that. But if he’s not honest about everything else, how you can you learn to trust him?”

Elizabeth hesitated and looked towards the sky. “I’ve spent so much time being scared, Em,” she whispered. “I’m tired of being scared and running. Ric…he loves me. I know that. And I love him. And even though getting married so quickly might have been a mistake and even though I can’t always trust him…I can’t run from him.”

“Sometimes we love people…and we want it to work out…but Elizabeth, love isn’t enough. It can’t be. Not for the long run,” Emily advised. “You have to trust the person. You have to know them. You have the most passionate and vibrant love…but if you don’t have trust, it will fizzle and you will be left with nothing.”

“I know you’re right,” Elizabeth sighed. She looked at the ground. “Trust–it is important. And without it, a relationship will never last. But I can’t just give up the first time we have a fight.”

“No, you can’t,” Emily admitted. “But you need to learn when to give up. I just hope your marriage never comes to it.”

“Yeah, me too.” Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked at her friend. “What about you? Have you told Zander?”

“No,” Emily confessed. “I’ve tried so many times but I think…no, I know he’ll be better off without me.”

“That’s not your choice to make,” Elizabeth told her. “You should never make that decision for someone else. Zander loves you, Emily. He’s never loved anyone else like he loves you. Pushing him away and concocting elaborate schemes isn’t going to make it go away.”

“It will if he hates me,” Emily told her. “And he will when I’m done with him.”

Elizabeth regarded her suspiciously. “Do I want to ask?”

“You can ask, but I’m not telling,” Emily said. She stood. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

“I’ll get it out of you,” Elizabeth promised as the two headed towards the entrance.

“Yeah, okay.”

“You’re a rotten liar,” Elizabeth reminded her. “I know how to work you.”

“Things have changed, doll, things have changed,” Emily laughed. Elizabeth managed smile.

Johnny stepped out from behind a set of bushes and started to follow, pulling his phone out.

“Morgan.”

“It’s me. Emily showed up and they talked for a while. Whatever your sister said, it worked. She left and she looked a little better. I’m following her now.”

“Thanks, Johnny. Keep me posted, okay? And if Faith Roscoe takes one step near that building, I want you to stop her, is that understood?”

“Understood.”

Courtyard

Lucky managed a smirk as his cousin took his order. “Never thought I’d see you working here.”

Lucas shrugged. “It’s an easy job and I get to see my friends a lot. Personally, Georgie got the better summer job.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lucky asked as Lucas set his soda down. “Where’s she at?”

“Dillon Quartermaine was doing something over at the courthouse–probably at one of the Quartermaine’s latest hearings about Kristina–he overheard some lawyer complaining she had no assistant. He knew Georgie was looking for a job and told her.”

“Well, that was cool of him. I haven’t really gotten a chance to talk to him,” Lucky said, “but he seems okay.”

“He’s a jackass,” Lucas muttered. “He’s only trying to impress Georgie. He’s got this thing for her.”

“So, who’s the lawyer?” Lucky asked curiously. “Anyone I’ve heard of?”

“Actually, yeah. Probably. Robyn Nichols, the chick defending Sonny Corinthos in that assault case against your friend Elizabeth. Normally, I’d be worried about her being involved with a mob lawyer,” Lucas said, “but this isn’t exactly a mob case.”

“No, it’s not,” Lucky replied. “Listen, I’m heading up after I eat. If Elizabeth comes back in, looking for me, just send her up, okay?”

“Sure. Is she okay?” Lucas asked.

“She’s fine. Just having some problems,” Lucky replied. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

Robyn Nichols’s Office

It was late morning the next day and Robyn was up to her ears in legal precedents for Sonny’s bail hearing. She already had her new assistant alphabetizing those cases as well as ones she planned on using at the trial. She intended on impressing Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan with her performance in hopes they’d hire her permanently. Right now, it was on a trial basis.

She wasn’t thrilled with Courtney Matthews and sometimes Carly Corinthos could get a little grating, but Robyn was willing to deal with it for the kind of paycheck the job offered.

“Here’s the next set you wanted, Ms. Nichols,” Georgie Jones chirped helpfully. “You’ve also got a message from Commissioner Scorpio. He needs to meet with you about his testimony.”

Robyn managed an amused smile. “Georgie, first of all, it’s Robyn. And secondly, you don’t need to be so formal. I’m well aware that the commissioner is your father. You’re doing fine. I’ll need the next set in a few hours, okay?”

“Okay,” Georgie replied, leaving the office and disappearing behind the temporary desk she’d set up. Georgie was a little young for the job, but Robyn had received a personal call from Edward Quartermaine, requesting a personal favor. She’d been flattered and offered Georgie the job on the spot.

She’d get Sonny Corinthos acquitted if it killed her.

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