Saturday, November 13, 2010

Rafina, Greece: Woods

Elizabeth knew that she should try to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible, that she should limit the sound of her footsteps crashing through the words, cracking branches and rustling through leaves, but if she went slow–if she took her time–she was terrified that they would find her.

It might be the echoes of her own footsteps, it might be her imagination or more correctly her panic, but she was sure that she could feel them behind her, pursuing her doggedly. By now they must have found the bodyguards she’d knocked out and they would have noticed her empty bed. She’d thought about piling some pillows under her bedspread, but it would have eaten into her small window of escape and it wouldn’t fool anyone long enough to make a difference.

It had taken her two days to make her escape–two long days of thinking about her babies, her husband, and how terrified Jason must be. He would never guess it was Helena Cassadine that had stolen her away, not if Helena didn’t want it that way. He must think it was it was one of his own enemies, despite the relative peace.

She prayed that he did not blame Johnny Zacchara, that this would not break the truce and partnership between their families. Jason was an intelligent man with a shrewd mind, but Elizabeth knew that when his family threatened, he stopped seeing shades of gray, and instead only concentrated on black and white facts.

She had no idea what Helena wanted from her and she wasn’t going to stick around to find out. She would not be another Laura Spencer, forever tormented by her years trapped by the Cassadines, forced to bear a child. Nikolas was a blessing, to be sure, but Elizabeth knew it hung between them, that it always would. She would not be another tool of Helena’s revenge.

She dashed through the woods, not knowing if she’d come out to a cliff, a field, a highway. She wasn’t sure where she was — if she was still in Port Charles, or even the country. She might be in Russia, or Greece or Italy. The Cassadines had properties all over the world and Helena had endless resources.

She couldn’t worry about that now. She just had to keep running. If she kept going, surely she would find some sort of civilization. She would get out of this, she would go home to her babies and her husband and this would all be a terrible dream.

Elizabeth tripped and went flying, breaking her fall with her hands. She flipped over and took a few deep heaving breaths, her palms stinging. She listened closely, praying that she wasn’t hearing footsteps.

Nothing. Just the chirping of the crickets, the wind rustling through the leaves. Perhaps they didn’t know where to start their search? Maybe they really hadn’t found the guards yet. Maybe she would have more time to escape.

Elizabeth hauled herself to her feet, every muscle in her body screaming in agony. She pictured her babies the last time she’d seen them–Juliet fast asleep in her crib, Cameron sprawled out over his fire engine sheets and Jake curled into a tight ball under his puppy sheets. She would get home to them. She must get home to them.

She took off in another fast dash, wanting to put as much distance between herself and the estate as possible. The faster she moved, the faster she could be away from this terrible nightmare.

Up ahead, Elizabeth spied a break in the trees and almost slowed her pace. Finally! Something other than woods!

Her foot tangled in a tree root and Elizabeth went sprawling again. She was unable to break her fall and she crashed to the ground, her last vision being a rock flying towards her.

And then everything went dark.

Friday, July, 26, 2024

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Robin set her chart down and leaned over the counter towards Nadine and Leyla. “Did you hear?”

Nadine frowned and looked up from her insurance forms. “What?”

“I talked to Carly this morning–”

“Wait,” Leyla interjected with an amused smile. “I just want to remember this day and that remark.”

“Ha,” Robin responded dryly. “Yes, yes. Our kids date, we have to be civil. It’s all very ironic.” She leaned closer. “Juliet called her yesterday. They found Elizabeth.”

Leyla dropped the folders she was holding. “Found?” she repeated dully. “What do you mean found?”

“Oh, God,” Nadine pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh, God-”

“No, no, oh man, I’m sorry,” Robin said quickly. “She’s okay. She’s alive.” She cleared her throat. “She was kidnapped by Helena and held in Greece. Carly didn’t have all the details but something happened and she’s head amnesia all these years. She didn’t know who she really was until Jason walked through her door.”

“Oh…wow,” Nadine breathed. The blonde charge nurse shook her head. “That’s just…I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s incredible,” Leyla said. “I always hoped, but it seemed impossible after all these years.”

Nadine frowned suddenly. “You said Juliet called Carly yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Robin looked at her oddly. “Why?”

“Nothing.” Nadine smiled faintly and looked back at her work. Amalia had spent the day with Juliet yesterday but had said nothing when she came home. Where had she gone so wrong with her daughter that even fantastic news like this could go unsaid?

“When is she coming back?” Leyla inquired, flashing her fellow a nurse a strange look.

“Carly didn’t know for sure but probably in the next week. She recalls some things but not everything and I don’t think Jason wants to overwhelm her.” Robin picked up her chart. “Something about being in Port Charles…there’s always something completely unbelievable happening.”

Rafina, Greece: Elizabeth’s Apartment

Elizabeth sat on the sofa in her apartment, staring at the assortment of photos that Jason had given her. He was not with her; she had asked him to give her some time to herself a few hours previous. He’d been reluctant to go and she couldn’t blame him. After all these years, she couldn’t imagine it was easy to walk away from her.

To Jason, to these children, she was someone who had disappeared from their lives suddenly, without a trace. They had managed to go on, but she’d been a hole in their lives. And until a few days ago, she’d been Maia Cassadine, a shopkeeper in Rafina that kept to herself. It didn’t matter that inside her own head she’d always known she wasn’t Maia. The truth was that Maia Cassadine had become her identity because there was nothing else to fill that space.

Now, she knew all the people and things that were supposed to fill it. A son who was in college and according to Jason, Cameron was charming, popular and intelligent. Someone she’d be proud of calling her son. Except none of those things were to her credit. She hadn’t raised Cameron to be this man. Jason had.

Another son, who was angry with the world for all the wrongs in his life. The lack of a mother, events concerning his paternity that sounded familiar to her, but were still hazy. Jake was a good kid, Jason had said, but they didn’t always get along well. That…she could take credit for. It was her actions that led to this, her amnesia that kept her from knowing the truth all these years. Her failures.

A little girl who Elizabeth had only known for a scant six months. She’d never seen Juliet walk, never heard her first words and while Elizabeth could dredge up some brief sensations of Jake and Cameron, Juliet was a mystery to her. A black hole that she couldn’t bring to life in her head. She looked at the photographs and Elizabeth knew that this was her daughter. It was in the shape of her nose, the tilt of her chin, the color of her eyes. Juliet looked like a perfect combination of herself and Jason. This was her daughter. And Elizabeth didn’t know her.

And of course, there was her husband. A man that she couldn’t really remember except that she looked at him and knew this was the guy. She knew she had loved him, but did she still love him? Could he still love her? Surely, he loved the woman she’d been all those years ago and she’d loved that man. But did that automatically translate to the people they were today? He was changed by the pressures of raising three small children without their mother. And she hadn’t been Elizabeth Morgan in so long…could she just return to Port Charles, take up that life and just go on as if it had never happened?

Elizabeth wished she knew how she had lost her memory. She had Helena’s story–that she had fallen and struck her head on a rock, but could that be it?  She had assumed–and so had Jason–that Helena had kidnapped her for a specific purpose but had died before revealing that purpose to her. What if that wasn’t true? What if Helena’s intention had been to steal her from her family, to take away her memory and do this?

And why? Jason hadn’t been clear on the reasons for Helena giving a damn about Elizabeth in the first place. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to give her more information about her past than she was ready for.

She could ask him to go away, to tell the children he’d been mistaken and maybe that would be the kind thing to do. If she went back to Port Charles and never felt anything for these children and this man again — if her memory didn’t come back, she would just be prolonging the inevitable. Maybe she could get to know them, but it would never be the same. It would never be the family they deserved.

Elizabeth exhaled slowly and picked up a photo of the children together. She thought it must be recent — Juliet looked like a teenager. She was smiling and standing in between her older brothers. She looked like a happy girl, one who had everything. And yet, she’d been the one to initiate another search. Didn’t she owe it to this girl who had never had a mother to do something?

Staying here in Rafina, continuing her life as Maia Cassadine would be the easy, cowardly way out. Going home, to see if she could remember or resume her life as Elizabeth Morgan…that would be the difficult decision.

Elizabeth glanced out her window and just stared. She’d told Jason to go back to his hotel and get some sleep. That had been two hours ago. Instead of getting the first bit of sleep in days, he’d sat on the bench outside her shop.

She owed it to Jason to go home and find out if she could be his wife again. She hadn’t asked and he hadn’t volunteered, but obviously there had been no other woman since she’d left. He’d remained married to her not only in a legal sense, but in his heart. Any woman would give her left arm for that sort of devotion. She could never turn that away.

Elizabeth had to go back to Port Charles and face her past. She had three children and a husband to think about. Even if she didn’t quite remember them.

Kelly’s: Courtyard

“You eat here more now than when we were kids,” Nikolas remarked, lowering himself into the seat across from his brother. “Looking out for your business investment?”

Lucky shook his head and spooned some chili into his mouth. “Kelly’s is family, Nikolas. A Spencer has owned this place for nearly fifty years. And if I have to hire and then fire every manager in the world to keep it that way, I will.” He sighed. “Besides, I’m not sure we were ever kids.”

Nikolas smiled wryly. “I certainly don’t remember it.” He crossed his legs and shifted in the chair. “I had a call from Nadine this afternoon. About Elizabeth.”

Lucky wiped his mouth. “Cameron told me yesterday. I wasn’t sure how widespread they wanted the news or I would have called you–”

Nikolas waved it off. “No, of course not. I’m simply….” he hesitated. “I’m relieved to hear the news. I wish that it had been anyone other than Helena behind this all, but I can ease my mind with the knowledge that Elizabeth wasn’t hurt or dead. She was just…lost. And now she’s found.”

“We both know it won’t be that easy.” Lucky glanced to the chair to his left and Nikolas looked at the one at his right, both of them thinking of the women who had once occupied them. Emily, dead for nearly two decades and Elizabeth, gone nearly as long. “I had a long talk with Cam. We talked about the past, about all the things that went wrong, and why I gave him away.”

“You made a good choice, Lucky,” Nikolas assured him. “It wasn’t the easiest or what we all wanted, but it was the right one. Especially once Elizabeth was gone. Cam was needed to hold them all together.  Jason’s been a good father. Better than either of us expected.”

“I always knew he’d be a good father, that he’d love Cam as much as he loved Jake,” Lucky replied. “I just didn’t want him to have my family.” He shook his head. “I guess I’m not fated to raise any of the kids I love.”

Nikolas frowned. “I thought you and Sam had settled all of that. Isn’t she sending Chloe?”

Lucky grimaced. “She called and told me that Chloe isn’t ready to be away from her. Of course, when I offered to fly down there for two weeks, she refused. She doesn’t want to confuse Chloe.” He shook his head. “I’m going to have to drag her back into court and that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do. I’ve sat by and watched Johnny and Nadine Zacchara fight over their kid like a bone just to hurt one another. I don’t want that for Chloe. I don’t want her to feel like she’s got to fix things.”

“You don’t want her to feel like she was expendable either,” Nikolas replied. “Nadine and Johnny have threatened each other with custody of Amalia because it’s all they have left to taunt each other with.” He sighed. “I wish I could say it’ll be different once Nadine and I are in London, but I doubt it.”

“She’s a good woman,” Lucky said. “I know she never meant to hurt her daughter. But Nikolas, you know she’s still in love with Johnny. It’s never a good idea to marry someone who’s in love with someone else.”

“I’m not worried about it,” Nikolas responded. “Nadine and I aren’t young kids looking for  passionate, crazy love. We’ve each had it, we’ve each lost it. I just don’t want to be alone anymore and neither does she.”

“As long as you know what you’re getting into.” Lucky sat back and looked at him. “It’s because of Elizabeth and Emily that we’re brothers, you know. That we can stand to look at one another.”

“I know,” Nikolas replied. “I thank God every day for Emily’s love, for Elizabeth’s friendship, and for what it brought me. She’s alive, Lucky, and even if she never remembers me or you, that’s enough for me. I just want her to be somewhere in this world, safe and whole.”

Morgan Home: Jake’s Room

Jake flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t sit downstairs any longer with Cameron’s dopey smile and Juliet’s cheerful demeanor. He knew Cameron was happy because Molly was talking to him again, so he was getting some now, but Juliet was happy because of their mother. She wasn’t even thinking about all the downsides to this.

Sure, their mom was coming home but she didn’t know them. She didn’t remember them, except for having some vague idea that they existed. It wasn’t like she’d be the woman who’d left that morning and they certainly weren’t the babies she’d left behind. None of this was going to have a happy ending. At least not now.

He heard a knock at his window and he twisted his head to find Amalia perched on the tree branch again. He swore and jumped out of his bed. “Jesus, Li, doesn’t it ever occur to you to use the front door? It’s raining!”

“I didn’t want anyone to know I was here,” she said, her teeth chattering. He all but lifted her into his arms and set her on his bed, soaked to the bone. Jake shut the window and crossed to his dresser, searching for something she could wear that wouldn’t fall right off.

“Juliet was looking for you earlier,” Jake told her, tossing her a pair of his old track shorts and a t-shirt. “Your mom called, too. You haven’t been home since yesterday.”

Amalia didn’t say anything. She took a towel from the back of his door and started to rub her hair. “I don’t want to talk to my mother.”

“Because she’s marrying Nikolas Cassadine?” Jake guessed.

Amalia whirled, her dark eyes snapping. “Who told you that?”

“Cameron heard it from Molly, who heard it from her mother.” Jake sat at his desk. “I guess that puts a crimp in your grand plans.”

“Shut up!” Amalia snarled. She threw the towel at him. “Close your eyes. I’m going to change.”

Jake obeyed and reminded himself that Amalia was only fourteen. It didn’t matter that she didn’t quite act that way or that she sure didn’t look that way. She was fourteen, she was his little sister’s best friend…and she was changing in his room.

“Go ahead and open them,” she said after another moment. Jake did so and slammed them shut immediately when he realized she had tricked him. She hadn’t had a shirt on. He was going to have to go to confession or something, which would be difficult, seeing as how he wasn’t altogether religious.

“Damn it, Lia!”

She just laughed. He heard her rustling and then was startled when she straddled his lap. Jake’s eyes shot open and his protest was swallowed when Amalia swooped down and kissed him. He would tell himself later that she’d caught him by surprise, that if he’d been thinking clearly, he would have pushed her away immediately. Instead, his hands slipped up her arms, drawing her closer.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and Jake decided there was no real harm in kissing. He’d wanted this for months, had held off, resisted temptation but surely there was no harm in a little kissing.

Jake felt Amalia’s cold hand creep under his T-shirt…and then reach for the zipper of his jeans. He broke the kiss and lunged to his feet, sending Amalia flying to the floor. “Jesus Christ!”

Amalia stared up at him, confused. She was breathing heavily, her dark hair drying into tangled curls. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, in a tiny voice. “I’m not experienced–”

“Damn right you’re not!” Jake snarled. “What the hell are you thinking? You’re only fourteen–”

“I thought you liked me,” Amalia said, looking uncharacteristically vulnerable. She bit her lip and drew her legs in to tuck under her chin. “I thought–”

“Well, you thought wrong!” Jake responded, stepping away from her. “I don’t know what the hell is going through your mind–”

“What’s going on up–” Juliet burst through the door, Cameron at her heels. She closed her mouth when she found her best friend dressed in Jake’s clothes and curled up on the floor. She glared at Jake, taking in his mussed hair and the undone button of his jeans. “I heard a thud,” she said flatly.

“Amalia fell,” Jake said, keeping his eyes on the wall behind his desk.

“Right,” Cameron drawled out. “And she fell right into your room?”

Amalia got to her feet and grabbed her soaked clothing. “He was loaning me something to wear,” she muttered. “Can we go to your room, Jules?”

“Sure.” Juliet cast another dark look at her brother before letting her best friend pass by her. “Cameron, kill him,” she said, before disappearing down the hall.

“I’d say I hope you know what you’re doing, but I doubt that’s the case,” Cameron said, stepping into the room and folding his arms across his chest. “I’m all for you and Li being together, but don’t you think you’re moving fast–”

“Why the hell do you think I shoved her to the floor?” Jake muttered darkly. “I was sitting there, eyes closed, while she changed and she jumped me.”

Cameron frowned. “She jumped you?” he repeated, not believing him. “She’s fourteen. I don’t think she even knows how to jump anyone.”

“Let me be the one to tell you that she most certainly does,” Jake muttered. He flopped on his bed. “Can you just leave me alone now?”

“Fine,” Cameron shrugged. “But you’ve got one hell of a mess to fix with her. Because no girl wants to be shoved to the ground when they make a move, especially someone who hasn’t put the moves on anyone before, and I think we both know Amalia isn’t that type of girl.”

“No shit,” Jake growled. “Just get out!”

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