Tag Archives: ficlet

April 10, 2014

Timeline & Inspiration

At some point, I’m going to be putting together a more comprehensive Liason history so I can figure out exactly when some of my episode tags are set, but for now — this is vaguely set somewhere in November/December 2002 — definitely before Jason slept with Courtney but later in November because the scene on the show had snow in it.

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Courtney had been watching Michael make snowballs and stack them for twenty minutes before she heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind her. She turned and smiled. “Hey.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Hey, Courtney. I didn’t know you were off today.”

“I’m not,” Courtney replied. She stood up and put her hands in her pockets. “I was on my way home from Kelly’s when I ran into Michael and Carly.”

Elizabeth grimaced. “Tell me Carly’s not still here.”

Courtney laughed. “She doesn’t seem to fond of you either.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I think we like to fight.” She turned to Michael. “Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey, Lizbeth,” Michael said, barely looking up at her.

“He knows your name?” Courtney asked, surprised.

“Well, yeah.” Elizabeth gave the little boy a bright smile. “We’re old friends. He’s been coming into Kelly’s his whole life.” She sat on the bench and Courtney followed suit. “God, he’s gotten so big. It feels like just yesterday he was in his stroller at the garage.”

“Garage?” Courtney echoed.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth replied her eyes on Michael as he continued with his snowballs. “Jason had this bike garage about four years ago and Lucky worked for him then. He lived in an apartment above the place.” She smiled fondly. “Michael was always there—like Jason couldn’t bear to be separated from him.”

“Jason loves him,” Courtney said.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth replied. “Jason’s going to be good father one day.” She chuckled. “If he ever lets himself.”

Courtney frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Jason seems be the anti-happy person,” Elizabeth said. She sighed a little. “He’d rather help everyone in sight before worrying about himself.”

“Well maybe helping people makes him happy,” Courtney said defensively.

Elizabeth frowned. “I’m sure he gets satisfaction from helping people, but what happens once everyone he’s helped is happy…what’s he supposed to do then?”

“He’ll find new people to help.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “That’s no way to live. He’s just going to end up miserable in the long run.”

“Well, he’s not with Brenda anymore, so maybe he’ll find someone who makes him happy,” Courtney said.

“He and Brenda separated?” Elizabeth asked, surprised. “Didn’t they just get married?”

“They thought she was sick,” Courtney explained, sounding a little smug. “Jason told me yesterday that she’d been misdiagnosed.”

“Well, that’s good,” Elizabeth said. “That marriage always seemed a little quick for me, y’know? Because I couldn’t understand how he’d managed to fall in love with Brenda two weeks after we broke up when it took him three years to admit he even wanted to be with me.”

“You two were together?” Courtney asked frowning.

“For like a week,” Elizabeth muttered. “He promised to respect me, listen and be honest with me. And like eight seconds later, he lied to me. Not exactly a solid foundation for a relationship.”

“But it was his job,” Courtney protested. “He couldn’t tell anyone—he couldn’t even tell me.”

Elizabeth frowned. She didn’t like the way that sounded—like Courtney had a right to be trusted with something she wasn’t even trusted with. Hadn’t Elizabeth proved herself far more times than Courtney?

“It wasn’t just his job,” Elizabeth argued. “It’s not like I haven’t kept secrets for him before. The first winter we were friends, he was shot and he recuperated in my studio. I lied to everyone I knew—told them we were sleeping together so they’d leave him alone. And then last year—”

“Were you?” Courtney asked, slightly stricken.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Did she have another Sarah on her hands here? “No. I was barely eighteen and he was shot. Of course not.”

“Oh.”

“And then last year,” Elizabeth continued as if Courtney hadn’t spoken, “he came to town and no one could know he was here. He came to me because he knew he could trust me. I lied to everyone again—I lied to Lucky, to Jason’s sister, Emily—but apparently they forgot I could be trusted.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that,” Courtney assured her.

“I’m sure he didn’t. He also let me worry myself sick when I was staying with him—he knew I was staying up, waiting for him to call or come home. But he never did.”

“That’s not his fault. You’re the one who stayed up,” Courtney told her.

Stung, Elizabeth recoiled a little. “Okay—maybe you’re right. But it doesn’t matter now. He’s obviously moved on.”

“Yeah,” Courtney agreed.

Elizabeth frowned. “Has he, really?” she asked quietly. She hadn’t actually meant it—hadn’t expected to have it confirmed.

“Well, sure,” Courtney said. “He’s not sitting around, waiting for you to grace him with your presence.”

Elizabeth bit her lip and looked away. “I didn’t expect him to sit around.”

“Well, what did you expect, after you walked out on him without giving him a chance to explain?” Courtney demanded.

“He told me it was about his job—that it wasn’t about me,” Elizabeth replied softly. “I think he was blocking out the reasons I was even staying with him. Alcazar came after me, too, you know? How could this not involve me?”

“You should have just accepted his apology,” Courtney said, shrugging.

“That’s just it—he never apologized,” Elizabeth replied. She looked at Courtney. “When you say he’s moved on…do you mean…he’s moved on with you?”

“I don’t really think that’s any of your business,” Courtney said. “Michael, come on. I’m going to take you home.”

Michael waved bye to Elizabeth. “Bye, bye, Lizbeth.”

“Bye,” Elizabeth murmured, without looking up.

Courtney and Michael left – leaving Elizabeth sitting alone on a bench as the snow fell around her.

—–

“There’s nothing going on.”

The sound of his voice startled Elizabeth and she twisted around on the bench. “Jason.”

He was looking down at the ground, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his leather jacket, the snow making his spiky hair slightly damp. “I mean that—there’s nothing going on with Courtney.”

She frowned. “What…?” She looked down at her gloved hands. “How long have you been standing there?”

“I was watching Michael,” Jason admitted. “Before Carly even left.”

“Oh…” Elizabeth shifted. “So you heard the whole conversation.”

“Yeah.” He looked up then and met her eyes. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you and I’m sorry if it felt that way.” He rolled his shoulders a little. “I’ve always trusted you.”

“I thought after…everything with Zander…that you didn’t,” Elizabeth admitted. “I know I certainly didn’t deserve your trust at times.” She looked away. “I’m sorry for what I said just now…about you being anti-happy…”

He shrugged. “Don’t apologize if you meant it.”

“I just…” Elizabeth stood and faced him. “I just don’t understand you anymore. You run around making sure everyone else is happy—but I don’t see you doing the same thing for yourself.”

Jason looked away then. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Why not?” Elizabeth pressed. “Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Because you’re not there,” Jason stated matter of factly. Elizabeth had forgotten just how brutally honest Jason could be at times.

“Jason.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked away. “Don’t—don’t make me the reason you’re not happy.”

“I wanted to apologize,” he said, ignoring her comment. “I should have handled it differently.”

Elizabeth looked down at the ground. “I shouldn’t have left,” she said softly.

“I never think about what I should have done differently,” Jason said. “I don’t ask what if…I never saw the point.”

“I can’t help it sometimes,” she admitted. “I seem to make so many wrong decisions, all I’m constantly doing is thinking about what I should have done instead.” She looked up and caught his eye. “I don’t want to think about that anymore.”

“I don’t want to, either.” He took a few steps, his long legs rounding the bench so he was standing in front of her. He held out his hand. “Come with me.”

“Where?” she asked, a small smile on her face.

“Anywhere.” He shrugged. “Nowhere. Just as long we’re free.”

It wasn’t fixed yet and it wasn’t perfect. But maybe it wasn’t supposed to be. Maybe the best things in life were slightly flawed and rough at the edges.

She stared at his large hand for a few seconds before placing her small one in his. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Inspiration

I wrote a lot of episode tags and shorts back in 2003, so for a lot of these stories, I don’t have any inspiration that’s deeper than the show ended and I wanted to see what would happen next. This is the first of a few Jason/Brenda stories (one of which has been lost to the sands of time) in which I’ve written it as a script rather than a traditional short story.

Timeline

This is set in February of 2003. On the eve of Jax and Brenda’s wedding, Sonny and Brenda kissed. I know that Jax saw it, and I think Carly became aware of it at some point. Brenda and Sonny both realized they were happier with their current partners and that their time had passed, but they didn’t tell Jax or Carly. Jax decided to wait until Brenda got all the way down the aisle, then humiliated her by refusing to marry her and confronting her.  In case anyone missed it, Jax had always been trash considering he knew what Brenda had gone through after the humiliation of Sonny standing her up.

Anyway. This is set after that.

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After Brenda left the hotel and after Sonny left Jason at Carly’s.

(Brenda is sitting on the docks, staring into space. Jason comes down the steps.)

Jason: (frowns) I thought you were getting married.

Brenda: (faintly) So did I.

Jason: (sighs and sits next to her) What happened?

Brenda: Please…don’t act like you care. I can’t handle someone else pretending they care.

Jason: I never liked that idiot.

Brenda: You were never his favorite person either. (softly) You know…they say once you find love, you’re supposed to hold to it. Cherish it. Protect it. (she wipes her eyes and looks at him) They lied.

Jason: (quietly, now concerned) What happened?

Brenda: He waited for me to come down the aisle. He waited for me to say my vows—he even said his own. He waited for me to promise my life to him. And then he said no.

Jason: (stunned) He said what?

Brenda: He said no. He left me at the altar. (shakes head) I should have known. You know, the only wedding I ever had that was both legal and actually happened…was to you. Can you believe the irony?

Jason: Do you know why he did it?

Brenda: He found out that I made a mistake. A mistake that I can’t take back—one that I didn’t tell him about. He found out I kissed Sonny.

Jason: Yeah…I already knew about that. Carly found out. She thought Sonny was leaving her.

Brenda: It was a goodbye kiss…a kind of test to make sure you know, that I was ready to let go. Ready to move on. And you know what? I was. I was right. I love Jax, he’s who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And he left me at the altar.

Jason: I’m sorry it had to happen that way, Brenda.

Brenda: I’m not. Because I could have spent my life with him and never saw him for who he was. I’m glad it happened this way. I saw who he really was and I realized that I can’t be with someone like him.

Jason: (sits back and stares into space for a few moments) At least you saw it before it was too late.

Brenda: Have you ever loved someone so much…that losing them just…it just breaks you? It makes it impossible for you to breathe, to function, to make rational decisions?

Jason: (after a beat) Yeah.

Brenda: (surprised) Oh. Wow. Really? (sniffles) Did you fix it? Did you learn how to live without them?

Jason: No. I…I’m still working on that.

Brenda: (disappointed) Oh. Does the pain go way, though? I mean, do you eventually…can you breathe without wanting to cry? Can you go somewhere where you used to go with them…and not want to destroy the place?

Jason: There’s almost no where I can go…that I didn’t with her.

Brenda: (softly) Who are you talking about? Is it Robin?

Jason: No. It’s not Robin.

Brenda: You know…this is the first real conversation we ever had. Too bad I’m leaving.

Jason: You’re leaving?

Brenda: I can’t stay here. Something needs to change in my life. And nothing’s going to change if I stay.

Jason: Sometimes it doesn’t change if you go, either.

Brenda: Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.

Jason: I left once. Tried to sort out my life. Didn’t really work. I came back when I thought I was ready and found out that I’d messed up. I’d waited too long to make up my mind.

Brenda: If I stay, I have to see Jax. And the thought of seeing him…I can’t handle it, Jason. I can’t do it. I have to go.

Jason: If you need anything…

Brenda: Be careful. I might take you up on that.

Jason: I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it.

Brenda: Yeah. I know. That’s one of your good points. Goodbye, Jason. (stands)

Jason: (stands) Goodbye.

Brenda: You’ll give me a call if you ever figure it out? How to make the pain go away?

Jason: Yeah.

Brenda: Good. I think I’m gonna need it. (impulsively she hugs him) Good luck, Jason. And find a way to be happy. You’re the only person I think I really want to be happy in this godforsaken town.

Jason: (lightly hugs her back) Yeah, okay. I’ll try.

Brenda: (pulling away) Don’t try. Do it. Find out what makes you happy and go for it. I did that. Kind of back fired on me, but at least I went after what I wanted. You’ll never have any regrets that way.

(She smiles at him and walks away. Jason watches her climb the stairs for a moment and stares after her even when she’s gone. He hears sounds from behind him. He turns, it’s Elizabeth.)

Elizabeth: (hesitantly) Hi.

Brenda: (Voiceover) Find what out what makes you happy and go for it.

Jason: Hey. (pause) You want to go for a ride?

Elizabeth: (surprised) Really?

Jason: Yeah.

Elizabeth: Sure.

I have no idea where this is in GH timeline. I’m assuming it’s it’s in 2002. Song is Two Rivers (Avril Lavigne)

Inspiration &  Timeline

This was set just before Luis Alcazar was murdered in November 2002, but after Jason and Brenda got married. Brenda thought she was ill, and Jason promised to take care of her. Song is Two Rivers by Avril Lavigne. YouTube Video embedded below.

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Jason stands on the docks after Sonny leaves and stares out over the chilly water. Brenda’s not sick.

The three words have changed his entire life. He no longer has to go to Europe to watch her fade away.

He doesn’t have to leave Elizabeth.

Like two rivers flow
to the open sea
Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

As if on cue, he hears her voice behind him. “Jason?”

He turns around and looks at her at the top of the stairs. “Elizabeth.”

“I thought you were leaving,” Elizabeth says softly.

“I don’t have to anymore,” Jason replies.

Let the rain falling on your face
Run in to your eyes
Can you see the rainbow now
Through the stormy skies

She comes down the stairs and stands at his side. “What’s changed since this afternoon?” she asks.

“I found out Brenda’s not sick,” Jason answers. “She’s fine—she’s not going to die.”

“That’s great,” Elizabeth says sincerely. She bites her lip. “What does that mean for you?”

“I guess it means we don’t have to be married anymore,” Jason replies. He turns slightly so he’s facing her.

Like two rivers flow
to the open sea
Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

“Guess you’re glad about that,” Elizabeth says. She meets his eyes. “Is that all it means?”

He takes a step closer. “Did you mean what you said earlier?” he asks.

“What did I say?” she asks in return, her voice low and breathy.

Like two rivers flow
to the open sea
Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

“You said see you later,” Jason clarifies. “Did you say that because it would be a while before that happened…or did you really mean it?”

She gives him a little nervous. “That depends…did you mean what you said?”

“What did I say?” Jason asks.

Standing in the rising tide
Heaven’s light shines on you
On you, on you

“You said I mattered,” Elizabeth whispers. “That I always had. Did you really mean it?”

“Yeah.” He touches her cheek and she closes her eyes. “Can we get past what happened?”

“I really want to,” Elizabeth replies. She opens her eyes and searches his. “I want to be with you—is that still true for you?”

Test the sea rising at your feet
How far can you go
Til you need God’s helping hand
To ride the under-tow

“It’s always been true for me,” Jason replies honestly. “Will you give me a second chance?”

“Will you give me one?” she asks instead. “Because I walked out the first time we had a problem—and I should have—I should have tried harder.”

“I didn’t give you much choice,” Jason says. “I miss you.”

Like two rivers flow
to the open sea
Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

“I miss you, too,” Elizabeth replies. She steps closer. “So…are we going to try this again?”

“If that’s what you want,” Jason answers.

She smiles a little. “What do you want, Jason?”

Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

“You,” Jason replies. “It’s always been you.”

He leans down and brushes his lips against hers lightly. When he pulls away, her eyes are closed.

“It’s always been you, too,” she whispers.

Someday we’ll reunite
for all eternity

April 2, 2014

Timeline

It’s set vaguely in 2014, around February but you really don’t need to know much more than the general history of Elizabeth to get it.

Inspiration

This is a weird little ficlet I wrote in response to prompt from a writing book. You had to write one section beginning with this line: This is what she wants most in the world. and then the second beginning with: She is lying. This is what she wants most in the world.  So it just seemed like the thing to do when I came home from vacation.

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This is what she wants most in the world. She dreams of a second chance to tell the truth. Not one truth in particular, but any truth. All the times when she believed a lie was easier, all the times she tried to protect the people around her with false words…she knows now that the truth will always out.

She lied to protect herself when Lucky chose to go to the dance with her sister, to show she didn’t mind that she was always a consolation prize. She lied every time people asked her if she was doing okay when Lucky died, because they always looked so concerned and even if they knew she was dying inside, what could they do? They couldn’t bring him back, they couldn’t take it away. The lie was easier. Except she very nearly drowned in her lies. She lied without words every time Lucky kissed her and she wished for even the briefest of moments that he was someone else. She lied when she slept with Zander, lied to herself, to him, to Jason. She lied to herself that it meant something, because it had to mean something. She didn’t sleep around, that wasn’t who she was. She lied to Zander, led him to think there was something there that just never was. She lied to Jason, because she didn’t really care what he did to Zander, not really. Not in the scheme of things, not if it meant he would always look through her that way, without looking at her.

It’s almost pathological, a natural instinct to open her mouth and let lies fall from her lips. She lied every time she said she believed Ric, every time she said she trusted him and loved him. Because if she didn’t, she’d be alone, and she was terrified of being alone. She lied to Lucky every time she promised him she loved him best when they both knew they were both just settling. Neither had been happy in love since those halycon days before he died. That boy, her first love, had never returned, so neither had their love and they both knew it. They pretended otherwise, because it was easier to lie to each other and be together, than tell the truth and be alone.

She lied when she told Jason it could only be for one night. She wanted him to argue it, to pursue her, she always wanted him to fight for her, but no one ever did. Only Ric, and that wasn’t helpful. She didn’t want Ric to pursue her, but he was the only one who ever seemed to understand it’s not enough to say words, but follow through. Too bad his love almost killed her.

She lied every time she looked at Lucky told herself she would stick by him until the very end because she loved him, instead of the truth: She’d stick by him because there was nowhere else to go and he’d never abandoned that bleeding broken girl who’d crawled out from the snow. She lied when she turned down Jason’s marriage proposals and wished she’d accepted one of the first two because the third answer had been her honest one, and see there was the reward for telling the truth—nothing. Better to lie.

She lied when she promised she had finally accepted that they could never be together, that his life was too dangerous for a family, but that’s okay because Jason lied, too. He never loved her, she knows this now, because if he’d loved her and meant those words, he never would have had a family with the woman who had tried so very hard to destroy Elizabeth’s. She lied when she told Lucky they had a clean slate, because clean slates were imaginary. The hurt and anger would always be between them.

She lied every time she laid with Nikolas, because it was just another way to lie to herself, to maybe even destroy herself. She lied when she said she didn’t want Lucky to know, because wasn’t that the whole reason she did it? To finally shatter the permanent lock, to do something to drive him so far away from her, he’d never come back?

She lied to herself that she could get on with her life after the death of her little boy, but that was one lie she thought everyone could understand. She still woke in the mornings, took care of her other children, but the light was gone and nothing she could do would ever get it back. She lied when she chose between AJ and Nikolas because the truth was that she had tried very hard to care about them both, but her capacity for love was gone, and all that was left was the pretense.

She lied when she told Robin that she loved Nikolas because it seemed like the thing to say, and she thought Nikolas would leave Britt, to get away from her and her lies because she knew how poisonous a liar could be, just look at her life. All she’d ever done was lie, and all she had to show for it was three kids from three fathers, one of them had died because she couldn’t pay attention, none of the fathers were around, they couldn’t wait to run from her. She was a poisonous liar that didn’t deserve to be happy, which is why she could see it in Britt. Liars always recognize their own.

She lied because the lie was easier in the moment, but the truth would have been better in the long term and that’s the one inheritance from Lizzie Webber, the bitch she’d been before her world was shattered that night in the park, because Lizzie never thought in long-term, never thought about the future. The future couldn’t choke you the way today could. Better get through today, and let tomorrow take care of itself. Because some days it was all she could do get through today.

This is what she wants most in the world. To tell the truth.

She is lying. Again. This is what she wants most in the world. For someone to love her anyway, to understand that she might lie, but it’s instinct because telling the truth has never rewarded her. She’d been honest in her love for Lucky once, and he’d been torn from her. She’d been honest in her friendship with Jason, and he’d left her. She’d been honest with Jason that night in the penthouse, that she wanted to be with him, and he’d disappeared. She had been honest in wanting a life with him and family, but then he’d married another woman. What did honesty get you? No place better than the lie.

So this is what she really wants most in the world. For someone to love her for who she is. Lies and all.

April 1, 2014

Timeline

In 2004, they introduced Diego as a foster son for Courtney (listen — don’t ask) who was later revealed to be the son of Lorenzo Alcazar. Diego floated around a little bit for a year before going to jail in the fall of 2005 for stalking Brooke Lynn Ashton. When his crimes were originally discovered, he kidnapped Georgie and went on the run with her, explaining he’d done it as revenge for Brooke and the others accidentally leading Diego’s cousin, Sage, to her death. (The cousin he didn’t know but sure). Anyway, the performers had a pretty decent level of chemistry, so I was mildly interested.

This short is set during the six months he spent in jail.

Inspiration

In 2006, before Diego returned to the show, I posted a challenge on LiveJournal (isn’t that adorable?)

to write a short piece from the POV of a character you either hate or just find completely worthless in order to get inside their head and think about their motivations. I picked Diego Alcazar, and had him thinking about Georgie while he was in prison.

Of course, a year later, Diego killed Georgie, which always seemed to be a goddamn cop out. So this story fell off my radar, ended up in my LiveJournal archives, almost completely forgotten until I was organizing things in 2004.

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He dreams about her.

He closes his eyes and blocks out the sounds of the inmates at night. He forces out the grunts, the groans–he forgets about the smell of urine that seems spill out of every crack and corner of the cell block. He puts all of that out of his mind for a few brief visions of what it could be like if things were different.

If he’d chosen to follow a different path, if he’d chosen a different life, could he have been worthy of her? Could he have been the one she’d turned to instead of that spoiled rich boy? If he had grown up with her, known her from the beginning, could she have loved him instead?

He doesn’t think about her in the waking hours–it is a conscious decision. Thoughts of her beauty, of her spirit and her generosity don’t belong in this world, in this place and he wouldn’t soil the things he loves best about her by thinking about her when he’s surrounded by violent and disgusting men–men who make his crimes look ordinary and dull.  To think about her while he is in the gym or in the cafeteria or even just playing cards with some of the inmates…it is wrong.

He is playing cards one day and thinking about what he could buy her with the money he wins. A smile crosses his face and one of the inmates crudely asks for details. It is his first and only fight. His knuckles are sore and his nose is broken, but he defended her honor and it makes it all right. He stops thinking about her when he is awake.

But at night, he closes his eyes and sees her smile and pretends it’s for him. He begins to plan in great detail how he will prove himself worthy of her love, how he will earn it. He will make enough money so he can offer the same world her boyfriend can. He will treat her with respect and trust. He will shower flowers and gifts and dress her in silks and satins. He will never make her regret her choice in gifting him with her love and her devotion.

He will make her love him and maybe she can save him. Maybe the dirt, the taint, the sheen of the streets and the things he has done will fade and all that will be left is someone that she deserves. He wants to be someone she deserves. For now, all he can do is plan.

And dream.

Timeline

This is set vaguely in 2006. It’s written from the POV of Georgie about her sister, Maxie. It’s not particularly tethered to any piece of the GH timeline, other than it taking place after the events of that fall: Maxie’s affair with Lucky and the pregnancy she faked to keep him.

Inspiration

In 2006, I was watching Veronica Mars for the first time, and I was inspired by the grief Veronica felt for Lilly.  Ironically, the show killed Georgie a year later and I have never forgiven Guza for the trauma.

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She remembered thinking that the day should have started differently, started with some sort of bang or explosion instead of her alarm clock bursting into song at 7:30 A.M. and she should have been doing something major, something significant when she was told instead of standing behind the counter at Kelly’s, refilling salt canisters and glaring at the back of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s head.

The bell chimed above the door, the double doors swung open and her father stood there. And she knew something awful had happened. Something that put that look onto his face.

And then he spoke and the world stopped.

Life went on afterwards. People went on. They went back to their lives, they kept living, loving, laughing, crying and after a week, after two, it had stopped being the front page news story and it wasn’t mentioned on the evening news.

But she was stuck in that moment, watching over and over again as her strong, wonderful and loving father walked into the diner and told her that her sister had been murdered. That her sister, her other half, her best friend, the bane of her existence and the one person that drove her more insane than anyone else wasn’t living anymore. She was dead, she was gone, she’d been stolen and she was never coming back.

The world kept turning, kept revolving. The sun kept rising and setting and the moon still hung the same way in the sky. But the landscape had changed and it was all wrong and there was something missing.

It wasn’t fair, she kept telling herself. And for a while, she also told herself it wasn’t true. It could never happen, not after losing Jesse. It wasn’t supposed to happen twice in a year, twice in a lifetime.

Her mother stopped. She slept more than she woke, she didn’t eat unless someone put something in front of her. Her father kept working, because that was what he did best. He worked. He worked and he worked and then he worked some more and finally when he passed out, it was on the couch in his office rather than their home. But then he’d wake up and work some more.

She couldn’t understand why people were smiling and how someone could laugh. Couldn’t they feel it? Couldn’t they understand that it was all wrong now? That a piece was missing and now the puzzle would never fit back together?

It was her sister that had been murdered, killed by some stranger on the campus one night before she could return to her dorm. Just stabbed over a twenty dollar bill in her pocket that she’d refused to give up. Twenty dollars and now her sister was gone.

She’d sat through the viewing, watched these people cry, these people who didn’t know her sister, could never know, never understand her, never really value her the way she deserved to be.

No one had ever understood Maxie but she had. Georgie had always understood her sister and always found a way to fix her messes, to keep her safe, to keep her sane and to keep her breathing. She’d understood that her sister didn’t know how to be unselfish and never fully realized that there were other people in the world and that their wants and needs mattered just as much as hers.

Maxie had been selfish, Maxie had been beautiful. Maxie had been a bitch, but she’d been loyal. Maxie was her best friend and Maxie was her worst enemy.

She’d been her sister and that was all Georgie could ever say when people, when her friends, those well meaning people kept asking how she was and if she needed anything and if there was anything they could do.

She couldn’t understand why they kept asking questions they knew the answer to. No, she was not fine. And she needed her sister so unless they could fix that and bring her back, then no, there was nothing they could do. So could they please just shut the hell up and leave her alone?

She imagined her mother would be worried about her if her mother were coherent, if she were able to see past her own grief, her own pain and her father was still searching for Maxie’s killer, so he didn’t even see her anymore.

And then someone had wondered (not to her, but she’d overheard it) how Georgie could miss Maxie, when she’d been nothing but a home wrecking slut with a viperous tongue and had been well on her way to killing herself with alcohol? How could she miss and mourn and grieve for a sister who’d been killing herself anyway?

Because Maxie was hers, the one person in all the world that was hers and no one else’s just like Georgie had been Maxie’s. Because they were family and you never turned your back on family, you never said oh, well, too much drama, I think I’ll find another friend. You were never on your own as long as you had your family. And Georgie had never been alone, never on her own.

But Maxie was gone now and she wasn’t sure if this was going to be the way her life would be forever. If it would always be this sinking sea of black darkness with no light, no break in the waves, no sunlight hitting the surface–just an endless abyss and her, always standing on the precipice, always thinking about going under but never going through with it because knew if she did, she’d see her sister on the other side.

And boy, would Maxie be mad at her for throwing it away.

So she pretended and she lived, and she breathed and she woke in the morning and went back to sleep at night and mostly, she remembered to eat and she went to class and sometimes she even pictured Maxie standing at her side, telling her to live them for both and telling her to laugh, and smile and love but Georgie always ignored that and put it out of her head. Because there was no reason to do any of those things now.

She had no reason to live, but no reason to die and she figured there should always be something in between but she wasn’t sure what that was yet. She wanted to find it one day but then again, what if she found it was nothing at all? So maybe she wouldn’t worry about it.

She’d keep breathing because Maxie would want that. She’d keep living and pretending. And maybe one day, the clouds would clear and there be some sort of epiphany and she’d understand that there was indeed a reason for everything.

But she was beginning to think there wasn’t and that the real mystery of the human soul was why everyone kept breathing when there wasn’t any point.

Timeline

This is set in the fall of 2006, but assumes that the paternity question was cleared up.

Inspiration

In 2006, there was a rumor that in order to ensure Alexis retain custody of Molly, Sam was going to accuse Ric of rape, and Jason was going to corroborate it. Thank the Lord Baby Jesus, this never happened, but I was kind of pissed so I wrote a response.  It received some good responses (pointing out that Ric really was a rapist in many respects) and also calls for continuing. Even if I wanted to continue it, I wouldn’t know what to write, so here ya go.

People have asked for a sequel, and honestly, if I were to write something along these lines — it wouldn’t be a direct sequel but a revisit on the rumor.

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Jason Morgan rarely went to the Port Charles Police Department voluntarily and doing so almost always left a bad taste in his mouth, but for some reason, confirming that Sam had come to him the day after the blackout, informing him that she’d been raped by her mother’s husband…for some reason, this visit felt worse.

He stepped up to his penthouse door and frowned when he realized that Milo Giambetti was standing in front of the door. He had assigned Milo to Elizabeth after the paternity of their child had finally been straightened out and as far as he knew, Elizabeth had a shift at the hospital until eleven that night.

“Is she okay?” Jason questioned.

Milo coughed. “Ah, she was at the hospital when DA Lansing was arrested. She wanted to come straight here.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “She was upset.”

Jason sighed and pushed open his door to find the mother of his child standing across the room, staring out the balcony window. Her arms were tightly crossed and she was turned slightly to the side. “Elizabeth, is everything all right?”

She turned, her hair sliding over her shoulder. Most mornings she was too tired to do anything more than towel dry and brush it out. This second pregnancy had sucked most of her energy and some days it was all she could do to work a single shift when she’d used to regularly pull doubles without blinking an eye. She stared at Jason for a long moment before turning back to the window. “The night we slept together, the night that we conceived our child, you told me that Ric and Sam had slept together, that you had seen them together.”

Jason set his keys and wallet on the table and slowly nodded. “That’s true.”

“Today, I was at the nurse’s station going over Alexis’s chemo schedule with Ric when Detective Rodriguez arrested him for raping Sam McCall on that same night,” Elizabeth said, her voice flat and emotionless. “The night that you saw them and walked away. So I’m confused.” She finally turned to face him and he was startled by the anger in her expression. “If Sam was being raped when you saw her, how could you walk away?”

He should have seen this coming, should have warned Elizabeth about Sam’s plan to secure custody of Molly. But he hadn’t and now he was going to have to find a way to fix this. “Sam wants to get Molly away from Ric–”

“So, she’s lying now?” Elizabeth demanded. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Yes,” he admitted.

Elizabeth nodded. “Milo told me that you were at the PCPD. And when I called Nikolas to ask about Alexis, he told me that she was also at the station. Apparently, Sam fed the rape story to Nikolas as the truth and he encouraged her to come forward before it was too late to do anything to him. That he would make sure that his cousin got her day in court if that’s what she wanted.” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know why Nikolas told her that? Because he was with me when we found out that Tom Baker would never be prosecuted for raping me.”

Jason winced. “It’s not like that–”

“It was sickening enough when Sam was blaming the entire night on Ric, claiming that he got her drunk and took advantage of her,” Elizabeth continued ruthlessly, “but I find it disgusting and repugnant that she would lie and say she was raped.” Her voice broke and she pressed a hand to her chest. “Emily and I both went through that kind of terror, and we were both violated in the worst way–”

“Elizabeth, this isn’t like that–”

“When a woman is raped, their life is torn away from them,” Elizabeth continued over him, her watering gaze burning into his. “It’s ripped away, crumpled up and thrown back at them. They’re never the same afterwards. They never look at people the same way, they never think or feel the same. Every man becomes that monster and it never goes away.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, drawing back her shoulders as if finding the courage to keep speaking. “I have nightmares, you know. Emily, she has nightmares. Not often and there doesn’t always have to a reason for them, but every once in a while, Tom Baker visits me in my dreams. He throws me to the ground, he rips my clothes off and he forces himself inside me,” her breathing now ragged, her eyes opened slowly and Jason wished that he’d never gone along with this scheme.

“It’s an insult for any woman to claim rape when it isn’t true, but Sam knew what Emily went through. She had a front row seat for that and for her to use rape as an excuse to…what?” Elizabeth demanded. “Get revenge? For Alexis to get custody? It’s disgusting and I thought Sam was better than that. She’s nothing but trash and if you were down there backing her story up, you’re just as disgusting.”

She jerked her coat and slid the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “I’m leaving Milo here. I don’t want you to speak to me and I don’t want you to come near me. I want nothing to do with you–”

Jason caught her arm as Elizabeth passed by him but she wrenched away. “I could accept your job because I knew, at the core, you were a good man. And the life you lead isn’t really so awful because the only people who usually get hurt are the ones who choose to lead it. But I was wrong. I don’t want you anywhere near my children–”

Jason swallowed hard. “I’ll fight for my child, Elizabeth–”

“And you’ll lose,” she said softly. “Because I know enough to bury you. And you know that.” She hesitated. “Ric is a great many things, most of them bad. But he didn’t deserve to be called a rapist when the only mistake he made was sleeping with Sam. You disgust me.”

She walked away, jerked open the door and slammed it shut behind him.

The bad taste in his mouth had somehow magnified and all he felt was hollow inside.

Timeline

This is set in September of 2006, when Elizabeth was worried about the possible paternity of her second child, and she and Patrick were just starting to explore being friends. Patrick and Robin had only really just decided to pursue a serious relationship.

Inspiration

I’m sorry, have you seen Patrick’s dimples?

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September 10, 2006

Metro Court Hotel: Patrick Drake’s Room

Usually, Patrick was happy to see a beautiful woman at his door. In fact, it was only a year ago that he might have thought about charming said beautiful woman into coming in, staying a while–spending some quality time together.

But things were different now and even if he had a shot with this woman (he liked to think he had a shot with all women but this one might be an exception, she usually was) he was pretty sure the concept of a committed relationship meant that charming and seducing her was against the rules.

So instead he ushered Elizabeth Spencer into his hotel room and wondered why the upstanding married woman would be visiting him long after dark.

“I’m sorry to come over like this–” she hesitated, her big blue eyes scanning the room nervously. “I didn’t interrupt anything did I? I mean, I didn’t think–”

Rambling was usually the first and most obvious sign that she was troubled about something. So he took her by the shoulders and directed to her the sofa. “Sit.”

Elizabeth did as instructed, another sign that something was wrong since Elizabeth Spencer never did what she was told the first time. Or the first five times. Somewhat troubled himself now, he started to cross to the mini bar. “You want a drink?”

“I can’t,” Elizabeth said miserably. “I’m pregnant.”

Patrick bobbled the bottle of brandy and nearly dropped it. He set it down with a clink and turned to face her. “Well.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. He was just glad it was not another brunette sitting in front of him, telling him this and looking at him like he was supposed to fix it. He was just adjusting to the idea of monogamy, after all. “Well, I suppose I’ll have that drink after all.” He poured the liquor into a small glass and tossed back the whole thing. “I guess it’s a rocky time to be having a kid, with Lucky going through withdrawl but maybe it’ll help him focus, you know.” There, that sounded mature. Robin would be proud.

“Yes, that would be true,” Elizabeth sank her teeth into her bottom lip. “Except it’s probably not his.”

Another drink was clearly in order. Patrick poured another brandy. “I’m not going to ask,” he muttered to himself. “I’m not going to ask.”

“And I never would have said anything to you except you’re the only person that’s not connected to anyone,” Elizabeth continued. “Emily and Nikolas–they’re too close. My grandmother would never understand. And Jason–” she closed her eyes. “Well. I’m not ready to tell him yet.”

“Oh, good God…” The glass clinked heavily against the bar and he turned to look at her. “You’re not–he’s not–” This is why he didn’t have friends, Patrick reminded himself. Because inevitably they told you things that you really didn’t want to hear. He swallowed hard. “How do you know it’s not Lucky’s?”

“Because Lucky and I were together only once about six weeks ago,” Elizabeth admitted. “And we used condoms. And Jason and I–” she flushed and pulled at her lip some more. “We spent the night together, but, ah, it was more than–I mean to say–”

Patrick held up a hand and closed his eyes. “Please, if you ever cared about me, you’ll stop there.” He hesitated. “What are you going to do?”

Elizabeth huffed and stood, crossing to the large windows that looked over the harbor. “I wish I knew. That’s why I came to you–” She wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “What do you think I should do?”

“Well, that depends–am I the junkie or the criminal?” Patrick replied. He winced. “Not that I’m insulting your taste in men, so to speak. I’m only saying that–” He paused. “Well I don’t know what the hell I’m saying, Elizabeth. I’m the most self-absorbed person in the world, why would you ask me for advice?”

“Please,” Elizabeth snorted. “I’ve seen you with Robin. You’re only self-absorbed when you don’t care about the person you’re talking about.” She eyed him. “Unless I was wrong and we’re not friends–”

“No,” Patrick sighed, resigned to the fact that he was now part of this. “Look, who are you afraid to tell? Is it Lucky or Jason? Because if you’re afraid to tell Jason, then don’t–”

“No, no–” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m not afraid to tell him. It’s just…I guess it looked like he was finally getting things together with Sam. And I think that this would–it would ruin things.” She pursed her lips. “It’s just–this last month, getting Lucky through the first stages of withdrawl and then–” she blinked. “I’ve been with him every step of the way, for the meetings, for the cold sweats and the more time I try to spend getting him through that…the more I–” She glanced back at him. “Do you think love can be killed?”

Patrick scrubbed his hand through his dark hair and wished like hell he’d sprang for that third drink. “I don’t think it can be killed, no. But I think it can be changed. I don’t think you stop loving someone, but maybe it gets changed into hate or pity or something, and I think it can happen in an instant or in a lifetime.”

“For someone who’s so self-absorbed, that was pretty deep.” Elizabeth smiled faintly. “I think that the moment I walked in on Lucky with Maxie Jones that my love for him either disappeared or it changed into hate, or maybe a mixture of pity and hate. I’m not sure. All I know is there used to be this warmth, this piece of me–” she pressed a fist to her chest, “–and that no matter what happened, no matter how we fought or the things he said to me, it was always there. But I opened that door and that part of me…it just froze.” She met his eyes. “And I realized that I’m not in love with my husband. Not for he is today, or even who he was a year ago when we got married. But I’m still in love with that sweet boy I knew a lifetime ago. The one that died in a fire and never came back.”

“So why did you stay with him after that?” Patrick asked after a long moment of silence.

“Because I promised for better or worse and for a while I thought it was just the worst part.” She shook her head. “But now I have to face facts. I’m pregnant with another man’s child, a man I care for and respect. And I have to find a way to tell my husband that our marriage is over without sending him back to drugs.” She glanced at the mini bar somewhat longingly. “I could go for a drink right now.”

“I wish that I could tell you what to do,” Patrick told her. “But I really don’t think there’s any way out of this situation that doesn’t suck. So I mean, if I were Jason–and I thank God I’m not–I’d want to be told immediately. I think that he’ll be able to suggest something better. I mean, he’s known you and Lucky longer, right?”

“Right.” Elizabeth reached for her purse which she’d dropped on the sofa. “I’m not even sure Jason is the father. I’m going to have to get a paternity test.” She wrinkled her nose. “I should just put in my application for Jerry Springer now.”

“I think Sonny Corinthos with the impregnation of a mother and a daughter is first in line,” Patrick said dryly. “Look, I can get the test done for you so that no one ever has to know it was performed, okay?”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” She hesitated. “Thanks for listening–you’re a good friend, Patrick.”

“Don’t let that get out,” he told her, pulling open the door. “The other nurses will beat a path to my door and then Robin will kick my ass.”

“Only if you let those nurses in,” Elizabeth warned him. “Don’t be an idiot. Though you’re a man, you’ve already got two strikes against you.”

“Perverse creature,” Patrick muttered as the brunette headed towards the elevators.

February 16, 2014

Timeline

14 February 2014, post the Elizabeth/Britt confrontation in which Elizabeth tells Britt she knows the truth about Ben’s paternity, and before Nikolas comes home at the end of the episode.

Inspiration

I was just getting back into writing at this point, and I just felt like writing an episode tag, lol.

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Why was it that after an argument, she could always think of at least a thousand things she should have said instead of remaining silent or offering weak protestations? Why…why had she allowed Britt to have the upper hand?

Elizabeth stepped off the launch and stood motionlessly on the docks for a moment, trying to find the righteous anger she’d had when she’d gone to Wyndemere that evening. Yes, what Britt had said was true. She did still care for Nikolas, and in many ways, did hope that the news Britt had used Dante’s sperm to impregnate herself would separate them, but not for the reasons Britt had insinuated.

Before their affair, something for which Elizabeth would never forgive herself, they had been family and best friends for most of her life. How could she allow Nikolas to continue falling in love with a woman who would do something like this? Yes, she had lied to Jason about Jake, and she wasn’t proud of it, but she hadn’t tricked Jason into fathering Jake.

Elizabeth withdrew the second copy of the paternity test. She didn’t like Britt–that was for sure. In fact, she loathed her for all the pain she had brought to Patrick’s life, for the way she had tortured Sabrina, and for what she was doing to Dante and Lulu. She wasn’t close to either of them these days, but once, Lulu had been part of her family—was still the aunt to her boys.

Why hadn’t she just listed those reasons? There were a thousand reasons someone should have hunted down the truth.

“Aunt Liz!” Spencer rounded the corner and grinned. “Hey!” He narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Cameron? He’s not with Emma is he?”

“No.” Elizabeth smiled and lifted her eyes to Nikolas. “No. I just came from speaking with Britt.”

Nikolas frowned. “About what?”

She tapped the paper against her hand, but Spencer was present and didn’t deserve to be in the middle of this. “I think you should ask Britt why. I’m going to see Dante and Lulu.” She started for the stairs but turned. “And when you know, remember that it has nothing to do with what she thinks it does. I did it because it was the right thing to do, and that should be enough for everyone involved.”

“Elizabeth—“ He looked down at Spencer. “Go wait for me on the launch.”

“But Dad—“ Spencer closed his mouth when he saw his father’s look and left.

Nikolas looked at Elizabeth. “I thought you were going to start over with Britt.”

“I may have three children with three men,” Elizabeth began, “and I know I had an affair with my fiancé’s brother, and maybe I can be sanctimonious at times.” She pursed her lips. “But I don’t think that just because you and I have a history, I should be expected to ignore when people are doing reprehensible things to people I care about and respect.” She tilted her head. “I lied to you. I had no intention of starting over with Britt. I learned something about her today that just confirms what I knew all along. I may not be the best person on Earth, but on my worst day, I don’t come close to Britt Westbourne.”

“Damn it, Elizabeth—“

“And if she doesn’t have the courage to tell you everything she’s done to your face…well,” Elizabeth shrugged. “She didn’t deserve the courtesy head’s up I just gave her before I go blow her secrets up.” She paused, a foot on the step. “I will always care for you, Nikolas, and part of me wishes we could have been something else, but the damage we caused will always be enough for me to step back and stop from doing it again. My self-respect is worth more to me. I’ve worked hard to get it back after everything that happened.” She eyed the island, in the distance. “You should go home and ask Britt what’s going on. If she loves you at all, she’ll tell you the truth.”

She turned her back on her oldest friend and walked away to tell Dante he was a father. She could never go back in time and tell Jason the truth from the beginning, not have an affair with Nikolas, or tell Jason the truth about Sam’s baby.

But in this case, she could do the right thing from the start.

February 7, 2014

Timeline

This was written as an episode tag to March 17, 2006. Robin and Patrick were still flirting at this point and had made a date to have dinner. Then Robin overheard Patrick making a bet in the locker room that she decided meant that he was only pursuing her because of her HIV and wanting the danger.

Inspiration

I was curious as to what exactly made Robin leap to that conclusion, so I wrote a little scene.

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June 2003

Paris, France

“It was fun, Robbie, but I’m just not interested in anything permanent.”

Robin Scorpio sat back in her chair and stared at the man sitting across from her in the sidewalk café. “That’s not what you said when we started seeing each other,” she said, a little irritated.

A grin split across Aaron Munson’s handsome face and he laughed. “Come on, Robbie. You’re not eighteen anymore.”

A strange tingling began dancing up her spine and she shifted in her chair. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

Aaron exhaled slowly and folded his arms on the tiny table, leaning towards her. “Look, don’t make me do this. Just—take it at face value, okay?”

“Oh, that’s supposed to make me back off?” Robin demanded. “Aaron, don’t be a coward. I’m a big girl, I can handle the truth.” The summer breeze flicked her hair across her face, shielding her view of him for a moment. When she could see him, his expression had changed to a somewhat guilty expression. “Aaron, if this is about last week and you having second thoughts about taking things to the next level, I can—”

“It’s not that. Look, Robbie, I like you. You’re a great girl and it’s been a lot of fun these last few weeks. But…” Aaron shrugged. “Okay. I’ll tell it to you straight. But remember you asked.”

Robin sat there and listened as he told her about the group of friends she’d met last year at her sky diving class. How they had wondered what it would be like to take thrill to the next level. How it would be come close to the edge and still escape a death sentence.

How awesome it would be to sleep with a girl with the deadly HIV virus and come out unscathed.

She listened to Aaron tell her about the bet—the bet he had won last week when she’d finally let her guard down and spent the night at his apartment.

When he’d finished explaining and apologizing, she took her wallet out of her purse, paid the bill and walked away.

Less than three years later, she stood in a locker room and listened to history repeat itself.

“No one ever said it would be easy,” Patrick Drake with a laugh in his voice that made her skin crawl. “But I’m confident I can talk my way around it. My reputation isn’t all just talk. You’d just better have the money ready when I come through.”

There was a long pause. “Yeah—I’m actually headed over there for dinner tonight. I’ll let you know how it works out.”

She closed her eyes for a brief moment before silently slipping out of the locker room.