Set in Fall 2003, shortly after Courtney becomes addicted to pain killers and hits Elizabeth with her car. This story is based on challenge in which Elizabeth becomes pregnant with Jason’s baby. I can’t remember now who set the challenge, so apologies for that.
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In February of 2003, shortly after Ric came to the show, he started working for Carly at The Cellar as her manager. Faith drugged Carly, and Ric took advantage of the situation by bringing Carly to a motel and pretended to have slept with her. I was happy that they did treat this like the terrible thing that it was — Carly definitely had been sexually violated, and both Sonny and Jason saw it that way. However, when Jason told Elizabeth, she didn’t believe him and that upset me.
I do think I wrote this story before most of it unfolded — either I wrote it as soon as it started or with spoilers because I definitely didn’t think they’d portray Elizabeth as being so insensitive to a sexual assault survivor.
In 2003, on the eve of Jax and Brenda’s wedding and Carly’s new club opening (The Cellar, beneath Kelly’s), Sonny and Brenda kissed. I know Jax saw it, and I think maybe Carly did, too. Either way, she knew about it and was upset at the club opening. She was drinking, and Faith drugged her. Ric found her and decided to take advantage of it. He took her to a motel, undressed her, and told Carly they’d slept together. If she didn’t want him to tell Sonny, she’d have to help him. At this point, Elizabeth and Ric had only really begun dating and Jason and Courtney were together. In this story, I’m not interested in dealing with Courtney so I ship her off almost immediately, lol.
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This series is a rewrite of the first General Hospital fanfiction I wrote back in 2002 and the majority of the third story, Sweet Revenge, is lifted from my story, Deserving. I honestly can’t speak much to where my inspiration came from other than a desire to write something. I had watched GH off and on through high school, but in the summer of 2002, I was recovering from foot surgery and stuck in the house. I rediscovered my love for General Hospital and though I’ve walked away more than once, I’ve always gone back.
I don’t care much for this story, which is why I never finished my plans for it — it involved Emily returning to the fall out of events of Sweet Revenge and whatnot, but eh. It’s not that great, and I have no desire to deal with it, though I’ve always wanted to go back to summer 2002 😛
This is set in August 2002, before we knew why Brenda was back in town, before the warehouse explosion that took Kristina (Alexis’s sister)’s life, but after Elizabeth slept with Zander. Things to remember about that period of time: Felicia was dating Roy DiLucca (yeah, I didn’t understand it either), and Skye had signed a contract with Edward to bankrupt Jax because she thought he cheated on her. Additionally, the story reflects the fact that I used to be a huge Courtney/AJ fan, mostly because I hearted the crap out of Billy Warlock’s AJ and wanted him to have whatever he wanted.
Beyond a general decision to rewrite it, I don’t really know what I’ll be doing with it yet. I don’t know which elements will be saved, what will get jettisoned. So just stay tuned.
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Luis Alcazar |
I Shall Believe begins in the fall of 2003. I’ve always thought the show copped out that year when writing Rebecca Herbst’s pregnancy into the storyline by making the baby Zander’s. He was a character that was clearly already on his way out, and it just didn’t show much imagination, and the fallout would have been more interesting had it been anyone else. So naturally, I made it Jason.
This story begins after Sonny shoots Carly in the head and she wakes up without any memories or emotions. Sage Alcazar has tried to kill Lorenzo and come on to Dillon Quartermaine. This is one of the stories that received a great deal of feedback at the time it was posted in 2003-04, and then when I reposted it in 2006. Mostly because this story also features my attempt at writing Courtney in a sympathetic light, which was always difficult for Liason fans. Courtney has taken the boys to live in Haye’s Landing after the shooting, to keep them away from the press while Sonny is in jail. She and Jason have been married for about ten minutes.
I realize now that the character of Brian is almost unknown  — he was only on the show from about November 2003-February 2004. He was a sheriff in Haye’s Landing that owned the house Courtney rented while Carly was recovering. They were very cute together, and it was the first time I’d liked her in ages. So when I started this story in November 2003, I wrote Brian into it. He was a former FBI profiler who’d lost his wife Karen and moved back home. On the show, he moved to Port Charles to join the PCPD (which I thought was insane, but whatevs) and ended up being shot by Courtney in January 2004 (the crime Zander Smith was accused of and on the run for when he was killed by the cops) and then killed during the PC Hotel fire by Capelli. … Naturally I like my Brian better.
Note: Lucas Jones is in this story, and I wrote it originally in 2003/4 more than a year before his character came out as gay. At the time, I had no idea the show would eventually go in this direction, so when I write him in this story as straight and romantically involved with a girl, it’s not because I don’t approve, but simply this is how I wrote it eleven years ago.
I discussed the plot and conception of this story in my Fanfiction 101 series: The Peaks and Perils of Pantsing: The Witness and I Shall Believe
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I LOVE THIS BANNER THIS IS THE BEST LINE I EVER WROTE
In 2006, there was a challenge at The Canvas, in which an author would receive a title and would have to write a story accordingly. I received The Witness from IsisIzabel, and somehow this story came about. It’s literally one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written and still the one I get asked about (the only one that’s completed, that is), inquiring about a sequel. I always feel slightly guilty since this story, though originated on a Jason/Elizabeth board, is barely Jason/Elizabeth. Their friendship is in there, and if I ever wrote the sequel, I’m sure a romance would be in there. It just never fit the plot. Â If anything, this story is much more Patrick/Robin and Dillon/Lulu.
Set in late May 2006. It’s been so long since some of these storylines happened, I can’t really remember what was going on with Sam’s surgery. She was shot, and there was a brain surgery, so in this story I have Alexis whisking her off to a clinic to keep her away from Jason’s dangerous life. Lucky is addicted to pain killers, Maxie has told Robin about John Jacks’ paternity. Robin and Patrick are dating. Dillon and Georgie are still struggling with their marriage, and he has just returned from the Maarkaam Islands with Lulu. And rereading this, I miss the crap out of Dillon.
Enjoy this. I had a blast rereading for typos as I moved it over.
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Let me take you back to July 2006, a brighter, happier time. It was the summer of the great Liason reconnection and we still were naïve as a fandom to believe that this time would be different. This time would be special. Foolish children. *cough* Anyway.
The first spoilers about August 2006 and the blackout came and we were told, as we always are that NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME. Except, this is GH. So within a few months, it was all the same. Ric was the villain, Sam was the martyr, Elizabeth was back with Lucky, Dillon walked away from Lulu to stay with Georgie — everything changed for about five minutes. As it always does when GH promises us it’s all going to hell in a hand basket.
But among these spoilers was the holy grail for Liason fans: Our couple was finally going to do the nasty. I did not trust GH to do this the way I would do it, but in only this one circumstance–GH surprised me. They wrote the Liason Night of Passion (Forever known as NOP) better than I ever could.
And they promptly screwed it up by having Jason go back to Sam, and Elizabeth go back to Lucky. FML. This is the point where the banner year of 2006 starts to dip in quality. They start taking the safe ways out. And do not get me started on the paternity debacle.
So, I was inspired to write the blackout based on spoilers. This was written ENTIRELY before the NOP aired.
SO! If you don’t remember this momentous event (and why should you? GH’s momentous events are never as momentous as promised), here are dirty details.
+ Elizabeth found Maxie and Lucky together three times in about forty-eight hours, so my girl is pretty annoyed with life.
+ Jason and Alexis both saw Sam and Ric doing the dirty at separate times. Carly was kind of separated from Jax at that point, in the wake of the Oh-btw-John-is-Nikolas’s-son debacle. I don’t remember the details and they’re less important.
+ Dillon and Georgie are having issues because Georgie, for some reason I cannot fathom, flirted with Diego Alcazar, one of the dumbest characters to cross my screen in many moons. Lulu has discovered she’s pregnant from her night with Dillon, but the two are angry with one another.
+ Patrick and Robin are kind of seeing each other, but he’s reeling from possibly contracting end-stage AIDS during a surgery.
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I remember that this was a challenge response (possibly issued by Stephanie aka ILETUDRIVE) — what if Elizabeth turned out to be Jerry’s daughter? This was back in 2002, when Jerry was still the affable and lovable Julian Stone, who’d been on the show from about 1997-98, engaged to Bobbie. Now, of course, he’s the evil psychopath. I’ve mostly come to terms with the change, but I thought a disclaimer was necessary here.
Another note about this story: It’s one of the oldest stories on the site. I began writing it in October 2002. The only full-length story that’s older is Surviving the Past. So it’s not exactly fantastic, but I kind of think the Jax moments are hysterical, so there’s that.
I beg of you to remember that I was eighteen back then 😛
This story is set in the fall of 2002, after the Alcazar story wraps up. I don’t really care how–it has no effect on this story. Brenda’s dying but she’s not really in this story. Jax didn’t get shot, he’s not paralyzed and he didn’t try to push Skye away. Skye is insanely jealous and insecure about Brenda.
Sonny does not know about Alexis’s baby, so he and Carly are still tight. Roy left Port Charles and went to Miami. The scene with Elizabeth and Jason took place when she left. They’ve been avoiding each other for the past two months as it is now early December. Zander left for Florida. Gia left town. Lucky, Luke and Lulu are in London. Nikolas and Elizabeth are friends again.
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Timeline
This set after August 15, 2006 when Jason and Elizabeth slept together. This story is written in Carly’s POV, and during this time period, she’d moved into a new era of her character. She was managing the Metro Court and becoming closer to Lulu, who had recently learned she was pregnant after a brief relationship with Dillon Quartermaine.
Inspiration
I really loved GH back in 2006, and I wrote a ton of character pieces, just having fun with these people I loved to spend time with. Laura Wright’s first two or three years of Carly rejuvenated my love for the a character which led me here. Ironic, honestly.
Banner Here
Carly Corinthos was having a very bad day, thank you very much. She’d overslept, missed a meeting with suppliers at the hotel and then had to cancel lunch with an investor for a new club because her pregnant cousin needed someone to drive her to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment because the useless moron who had impregnated her had had some sort of family emergency. Carly always dropped everything for Lulu because she wanted the girl to know that someone was at least on her side in all this. As long as Lu didn’t feel alone, she might not do any Carly-like things and screw up her life.
And her day was getting worse after running into Sam at the hospital and seeing her all teary over Alexis, who’d been sick for months and had hidden the illness. If Carly had a husband as annoying as Ric and a daughter as useless as Sam, she would have hidden it too. You just couldn’t depend on people to take care of things for you–especially not your kids. Sam had been all teary-eyed because she and Jason were still not back together and the only way to shut Sam the hell up was to promise to talk to Jason.
She’d talk to him, he’d ignore her and then with any luck, she could go home, eat dinner with her boys and maybe this day would end better than it had started.
She shoved open the penthouse door (Carly Corinthos never knocked and didn’t intend to start, knocking was for people who had time to waste and she didn’t) and shrieked. “Oh, my God, I’m blind!” She slapped her hands over her eyes.
A brunette squeaked and fell off the couch, grappling for something to cover her naked body.
“Carly,” Jason Morgan glared at her and tossed Elizabeth Spencer the t-shirt from the back of the couch. He tugged a pillow over his middle. “What the hell do you want?”
“Can’t talk, traumatized.”
Elizabeth sprang to her feet and tugged the shirt down further, as if it didn’t already come very close to reaching her knees. She looked around frantically and found Jason’s jeans tossed over the pool table. She skirted around the sofa and tossed them to him. “Ah, Carly–”
“Oh, god I wasn’t hallucinating,” Carl whimpered, “you really are here.”
“Carly,” Jason growled, sliding into his jeans and pulling them up around his waist. He zipped them but didn’t bother with the button. “What do you want?”
“Is it safe to look yet?” Carly asked, not moving her hands.
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth muttered, dragging her fingers through her tousled curls. “Carly–”
“Carly, take your damn hands from your eyes and tell me what you want,” Jason said shortly.
“Okay, okay…” Carly reluctantly slid her hands away and breathed in relief. “Good, you’re somewhat decent.” Still, she felt somewhat nauseous and damn, Jason looked pissed. She must have interrupted him before he could finish–oh, God, she was going to be sick. “Um, so my reason for coming here is obviously moot now.”
“Just say it and go,” Jason replied, irritated.
She frowned and glanced at Elizabeth before looking at Jason oddly. “How long has this been going on anyway?” She gasped. “Is this why you really broke up with Sam?”
“Oh my god,” Elizabeth repeated. She leaned against the pool table. “This isn’t happening to me.”
Jason strode forward, grabbed Carly’s hand and shoved her into the hall. He joined her, shutting the penthouse door behind him. “From now on, you knock,” he instructed, jabbing a finger in her face.
“Do you intend on screwing the muffin in the living room often?” Carly demanded. Her face paled. “Oh, God, I’m never going to get that image out of my brain. I’m going to havenightmares.”
“Carly,” Jason said, his teeth clenched. “You will knock from now on. And you’re not going to tell anyone about this, or so help me God–”
“Don’t worry, I will never forget to knock again,” Carly assured him. She narrowed her eyes. “And why can’t anyone know?” she demanded. “Does the brat still think she’s too good for her? Well, you just give me five minutes and I will have her teeth knocked out–”
“Carly.”
It was that tone that told Carly she might have gone too far. The glare on his face, the clenching of his jaw. Clearly, keeping this a secret was important and he wasn’t asking her, he was demanding her to comply. She narrowed her eyes. “Jason, look, I’m not about take an ad out in the paper about this. Believe me, I don’t even want to know this is going on. But you deserve better–”
“No, Elizabeth’s son deserves better,” Jason cut in. “He needs to be safe and the only way he can be is if no one knows.”
“That’s not fair to you–” Carly began again.
He sliced his hand through the air. “I’m not going to push her away like I did before, like I did to Sam. It doesn’t work. But this way everyone gets what they want and what they need. So you’re keeping your mouth shut, Carly, and you’re letting me have this.”
She closed her mouth and nodded. “Okay. Okay.” She hesitated. “So I guess coming over here to talk you into giving Sam another chance is not going to work right?”
“Probably not,” Jason said, exasperated.
She shrugged. “I only agreed so she’d leave me alone. Geez, Jason, what did she do that was so horrible–” she stopped. “Nope, don’t even tell me. I’m better off not knowing.”
“Carly,” Jason called as she started for the elevator. “And you’re not allowed to tease, torment or in anyway use this information against Elizabeth in public.”
“I would never,” Carly said, insulted. Damn him, he knew her too well. She jabbed a button. “And damn you. You always take the fun out of having a secret.” She stepped onto the elevator and heard the door to the penthouse open and close. She did not want to think about what was going in there now.
This was definitely a bad day.
Timeline
In August of 2006, Patrick was exposed to end-stage AIDs after operating on a patient. He was eventually found to be negative. This is set after the black out that month.
Inspiration
I wish I could tell you. I wrote a lot in 2006.
Banner Here
January 10, 2007
“You always think somehow, there’s going to be a miracle.”
Robin Scorpio glanced over shoulder and smiled faintly as Elizabeth Spencer stepped up to her side. The two women both cast their eyes to the gravestone they stood over. “I guess you do. I mean, even though you know they don’t happen all that often and even when they do, they usually turn out wrong…it doesn’t stop you from believing in them.”
“Would you have still treated her if you’d known how it would turn out?” Elizabeth asked softly. “Knowing that…it would end this way?”
“That would be asking me…would I still have fallen in love with Stone if I’d known that he would die of AIDS, but before that, he’d give me the virus as well.” Robin sighed. “There are days my answer would be no. But most days, the answer is yes.” She met Elizabeth’s eyes. “Would you have still fallen for Lucky all those years ago if you’d known it would end like that?”
“And that’s assuming you have a choice in who you love,” Elizabeth murmured. “But you don’t. I think we each know that better than anyone.”
“If I had known that by treating April Gilbert, that my entire life and those of the people I love would change irrevocably, would I have still fought for her surgery?” Robin pursed her lips. “I suppose it really doesn’t matter what my answer is, does it?” She trailed her fingers restlessly over the stone, knelt on her knees and traced the letters. “Patrick would have fought for her anyway.”
“That’s true.” Elizabeth hesitated. “But even if he hadn’t…would you have?”
“Yes,” Robin stood. “Because I’m a doctor and my patient’s needs come first. They have to come first. But I would have thought twice. I would have hesitated.” She chuckled bitterly. “I suppose that doesn’t make me a very good doctor, does it?”
“Maybe not,” Elizabeth allowed, “but it makes you human.” She touched Robin’s shoulder. “And there’s no shame in that.”
“I’m glad April came into my life,” Robin said after another moment. “Not that Patrick…that what happened, happened. But that I met her. And that I was able to make a difference, at least in her life.”
She tugged her coat more tightly around her and glanced over her shoulder where two cars waited, two men stood. Far apart, seeing as neither liked the other but there they stood nonetheless. “It’s strange how much everything’s changed since that day in the OR.”
“You’re not kidding,” Elizabeth laughed, her hand straying down to the rounded belly that was covered by her black pea coat. “I never thought I’d be in this place.”
“Are you sorry?” Robin asked, turning the tables on Elizabeth. “Are you sorry you went to him?”
“There are days when I say yes,” Elizabeth nodded, echoing robin’s answer. “Days when I think this is all a mistake and that it can’t end any other way but badly. But most days, I’m glad. Because if nothing else, something good will come from it. And our friendship survived it.”
“Friendship,” Robin sighed heavily. “That’s what it all comes down to in the end, doesn’t it?”
Elizabeth looped an arm around the brunette’s shoulder and hugged her. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s not going to be easy, Robin. We’ve both chosen hard roads.” She glanced down. “Me with my being pregnant with the baby of a notorious criminal. And you…” her eyes softened. “If you need me, Robin, for anything. Night or day, sun or snow. Because I love him, too.”
Robin’s throat swelled. “I know,” she said thickly. “And there are days when I think I can’t possibly do this again. That I can’t…” she closed her eyes. “But then there are days when I look at myself and realize that I’m proof. Right?”
“Right.” Elizabeth took Robin’s hand in her free one. “And even it turns out for the worst, you’ll have had today. And tomorrow. And as many other days come after it.”
“There are moments when it doesn’t feel real,” Robin said slowly. “And that I will wake up and it have been a dream. That he’s not…that he didn’t test…” she sucked in a deep breath. “That it’s all okay.”
“And there are moments when I think that I couldn’t have possibly tested pregnant. That it was a nightmare and even if it was true, it could never be his child.”
“It helps to say it out loud. That I’m scared and that I wish I’d never met April Gilbert, because if I’d never met her, Patrick would be okay right now.”
“He will be okay,” Elizabeth said. “We’ll all be okay. We might have different definitions of okay, but, hey…it’s not a death sentence anymore.”
“But it can be.” Robin closed her eyes. “I know that I’m strong. I know that I have lived through so many awful things and still came out standing but I have to wonder…”
“Don’t we all have a breaking point?” Elizabeth nodded in sympathy. “If you feel yourself breaking, I’m here. I love you. You know that.”
“I know.” Robin exhaled on a shaky breath and smiled weakly. “I love you, too. You know that. I don’t think I could have survived this last month without you. Since the moment we found out, you’ve been so good to me–”
“Well, you never turned your back on me either,” Elizabeth pointed out. She tilted her head in the direction of the cars. “We should get back to them. Jason gets cranky if I’m out in the cold for very long. I think he picked it up from Sonny.”
The two women turned and arm in arm, they made their way to their separate cars. Robin stepped up to Patrick and touched his shoulder.
“How are you feeling?” Robin asked. “Did you want to go say goodbye–”
“I said what I needed to say at the hospital,” Patrick said. He tucked her arm in his. “Robin, I understand if you–”
“Don’t give me another out,” Robin interrupted. “I don’t need it or want it.” She opened the car door. “We should go.”
“Yeah, I definitely don’t need to spend any more time in a cemetery than I need to,” Patrick said darkly. “It won’t be more than a year before–” he stopped abruptly, seeing the stricken look that flashed across her face. “You’re right, let’s go.”
Jason hustled Elizabeth into the car but not before casting a concerned glance at Robin. “Is she okay?” he asked, once Elizabeth was settled inside.
Elizabeth rested one hand on her belly, feeling her daughter kicking and entwined her other with Jason’s. “No,” she admitted. “But then again, none of us is right?”
Inspiration
Inspired by the sappy Christmas song.
Timeline
This is an alternate universe, so forget everything you know.
Sir I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight
— Bob Carlisle, Christmas Shoes
Nicole shifted her weight from one foot to the other and rolled her neck. How long did it take to get from Fifth Street to Forty-Eighth anyway? She was tired of standing on this bus.
Her parents had always told her not to go on buses–but she couldn’t ask them for a ride today. Besides, they thought she was at Cathy’s house and Cathy had been instructed to make an excuse in case her father called.
But he wouldn’t. Her father hadn’t left the bedroom in a few days. See, her mother had been kind of sick and he was worried about her.
But it was Christmas Eve and seven-year-old Nicole was braving the Port Charles streets all by herself. She’d saved for weeks and weeks to buy her mother a pretty pair of earrings and she thought she had enough so she’d climbed the bus to head to Wyndham’s.
The bus lurched to a sudden stop, sending Nicole flying forward. She landed in the lap of a young blonde woman sitting with a little boy. “I’m sorry,” she said, righting herself.
“It’s all right.” The woman studied her and cast her eyes to the direction Nicole had come from. “Where’s your mother, honey?”
“She’s at home,” Nicole said. “She got some kind of…” she hesitated, “lou-kem-cem…she’s sick.”
“Leukemia?” the woman supplied.
Nicole nodded. “Yeah. My daddy’s with her but I hope this bus gets to Wyndham’s soon because I wanna buy these earrings for her. I saw them in a catalog a-and I’ve been saving for weeks. I think I have enough but I had to come today because Daddy says she’s gonna be an angel soon and I think angels need pretty jewelry.”
The woman’s eyes softened and she looked at her soon. “Scoot over, Kyle.”
The brown-haired boy scowled but obeyed his mother and she moved over to create a small space for Nicole. “Thank you,” Nicole said gratefully.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” the woman asked.
“Nicole Maria Emilia Morgan,” Nicole told her proudly. “The Emilia is for my aunt Emily.”
“I’m Maxie and this is my son, Kyle.” The woman tipped her head towards her son. “Honey, say hello.”
Not wanting to be outdone, Kyle sat up and puffed his chest out. “My name is Kyle Andrew Radcliffe, Jr.,” he said. “My daddy is police man.”
“My daddy works with coffee and he always smells like it,” Nicole wrinkled her nose. “I’m seven and three-quarters.”
“I’m eight,” Kyle boasted. He frowned. “What did you mean when you said your mommy was gonna be angel?”
“That’s what my Daddy says,” Nicole told him. “He says that sometimes people get really sick and then they go to be angels and that way, my mommy can take care of me forever but I won’t be able to see her.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want her to stay with me but Daddy says Mommy is too good and pure for this world and that’s why she’s his angel.”
“Your daddy sounds like he loves your mother very much,” Maxie said. “He’s lucky to have such a beautiful and caring daughter.”
“He says I’m an angel too,” Nicole said. She sighed. “I hope Mommy doesn’t become an angel until after tomorrow. She loves Christmas. She let me put the angel on top of the tree this year and I made paper chains. She calls my dad a paper chain expert but he’s really bad at it so I think she’s just being nice.”
Maxie smiled. “I hope you get Christmas with your mommy. Hey, we’re coming up to Wyndham’s stop.”
Nicole smiled brightly. “I’m kind of excited. I’ve never been there by myself.”
Maxie matched her smile and took Kyle’s hand. “Tell you what. Why don’t Kyle and I walk you to the jewelry counter? And then we’re meeting his dad at the police station so maybe we can give you a ride home.”
“Wow, really?” Nicole clapped her hands together. “That’s great! I don’t know which bus to take home anyway.”
—
Nicole pressed her face up against the glass case of the jewelry counter and her face crumbled. “I don’t have enough.”
Maxie crouched next to her. “Didn’t you say you saw it in a catalogue?”
Nicole nodded, her lip trembling. “But that’s the one I saw and it wasn’t that much then.”
Maxie followed Nicole’s finger and saw a tiny pair of sapphire earrings in a silver settings with a price of three hundred dollars. She felt a pang in her heart. There was no way that the angelic girl had saved that much.
She straightened and looked at the sympathetic salesgirl. “Were these earrings on sale at any time?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah, they were on sale for fifty bucks back at the end of the summer but it’s Christmas, everything’s inflated.” The pretty redhead looked at the tiny girl staring forlornly at the jewelry. “Look, I have about twenty bucks on me. I can go ask my friend Joy if she can offer anything. Maybe between the three of us, we can make up the difference. She looks so sad.”
Maxie nodded and lowered her voice. “Her mother’s very sick and I get the impression she’s not supposed to last much longer.”
“Wait here and I’ll go talk to Joy.” The girl moved to find her friend at the other end of the counter waiting on an elderly woman.
Maxie looked back Nicole. “Honey, how much money do you have?”
Nicole reached into her pocket and took out a plastic bag full of bills and it jingled with change. Maxie took it from her and started to count.
By the time the salesgirl and her friend Joy had rejoined them, Maxie had counted out forty dollars. For a seven-year-old girl to save that much money…
“Between us, we have sixty dollars,” the salesgirl said.
“Yeah, when Lea explained what was going on, I couldn’t help but give some money,” Joy told her. “Does it help?”
Maxie bit the inside of her cheek. Nicole was still short two hundred dollars. The little girl saw the hesitation on her new friend’s face and smiled. “It’s okay, Maxie. I don’t have to have the earrings. My mommy is pretty without them and I guess angels don’t really need jewelry.”
Maxie felt Kyle tugging at her jacket and she turned to look at him. “Yes, honey?”
He reached into his pocket and took out the envelope full of his own money. Maxie’s eyes filled with tears. Kyle had saved over a year to get a new Xbox and he had a hundred and fifty dollars with him.
She kneeled in front of him and kissed his cheek. “Oh, baby, I am so proud of you.”
Kyle shrugged. “She just wants her mommy to look pretty when she becomes an angel and I think it’s sad that she won’t get to see her every day because I would miss you.”
She took the envelope from him and gave him a tight hug. When he woke up the next morning, that Xbox he’d saved for would be waiting for him. She’d make sure of that. “I have never been more proud to be your mother than right this second.”
She stood, set the envelope on the counter and reached into her own wallet to take out the remaining money.
Lea smiled brightly, rung up the purchase and then even wrapped the velvet jewelry box herself. “Here you go, honey.”
“Thank you!” Nicole said. She smiled again and looked up at Maxie. “Can you take me home now? I want to make sure my mommy didn’t become an angel while I was gone.”
When the trio had exited, Joy sniffled and reached for a tissue. “Man, times like this, I’m glad I waited to quit until after the holidays.”
—
Kyle Radcliffe, Sr. frowned that night when he saw the credit card purchase receipt for the video game system. He looked at his wife who was arranging their son’s presents under their tree. “I thought we agreed Ky was going to buy this on his own?”
“We did.” Maxie stood and sat down on her husband’s lap. “Your son gave the money away.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“You remember the little girl who we gave a ride home?”
Kyle nodded. “Jason Morgan’s daughter. I know him–he used to work for Sonny Corinthos before he got married and left the business. I heard his wife was sick.”
“Leukemia and it’s bad. Nicole said her father told that her mother was going to be angel soon.” Maxie sighed. “She wanted to buy he mother a pair of earrings for Christmas but she didn’t have enough. Kyle, she saved forty dollars. Do you know how wonderful that is?”
“How much were the earrings?” Kyle asked.
“Three hundred dollars. So the salesgirl threw in a twenty and her friend put in forty and then Ky put in his entire hundred and fifty dollars.”
“He’s been saving that money for over a year,” Kyle said, surprised. “Birthday, allowance, report card grades…he wouldn’t even buy baseball cards. He gave it to a little girl he never met before?”
“He said that he felt sorry for her because she wouldn’t see her mother anymore and that he’d miss me if that happened.” Maxie rested her forehead against her husband’s. “How can I not buy him that game system after that?”
“I guess he earned it.” Kyle smiled at him. “And you were worried we’d screw him up.”
—
Nicole climbed up on her mother’s bed and rested her head on her mother’s chest. “I love you, Mommy.”
Elizabeth Morgan’s hand slowly came up to stroke her daughter’s long blonde hair. “I love you, too,” she said softly before looking at her exhausted husband sitting at her side. “How was Cathy’s?”
Nicole sat up and reached into her jeans pocket. “Mommy, I…I didn’t go to Cathy’s. I went and got your Christmas present.”
“Aww, honey…” Elizabeth started to struggle into a sitting position. Jason quickly sat on the bed and helped her. “You know you didn’t…”
Nicole sniffled. “Daddy says you’re gonna be an angel and I thought you needed pretty earrings. I saw them in a catalogue and I went on the bus to get them. I didn’t have enough but a pretty lady and her son helped me.” She held the neatly wrapped present out to her mother. “Here. You can open it tonight.”
Elizabeth hesitated but saw the hesitant and excited look in her daughter’s eyes. She was so proud of herself for doing this–for apparently not asking her father for the money even though Jason could have taken care of it. She took it from her and pulled the wrapping off as fast as her exhausted body could handle.
She tilted the box open and the sparkle of the sapphire stones took her breath away. Her vision blurred with tears and she looked at her daughter. “Oh, baby…”
“I wanted you to look pretty,” Nicole said. She wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist and started to cry. “Please stay here. I know Daddy says you’re too good for this world but you’re my mommy and I need you. Someone else can be an angel.”
“I don’t want to go,” Elizabeth said. She closed her eyes and held her tightly. “I love you so much and don’t listen to your daddy, he’s always thought I was too good for things. Too good to love him, too good to marry him. He’s very biased and I think he labors under the impression that I’m perfect or something.”
She looked at him with a soft smile. “But I love him for it and I love you.” She kissed Nicole’s head. “No matter what happens, I will always be your mother and I will always love you. Please remember that.”
“Okay.” Nicole kissed her cheek. “Will you wear the earrings tomorrow?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Sure, baby.” She looked at Jason. “Why don’t you put her to bed? It’s getting late.”
Jason nodded and picked their daughter up off the bed. He kissed his wife’s forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
—
The next morning, Nicole woke up to see her father kneeling next to her bed, with tears in his eyes. “Hey, baby,” he greeted hoarsely.
She sat up and her lip trembled. “Is Mommy an angel now?”
He nodded and pulled her into a hug. “Mommy’s an angel now and she wore your pretty earrings to heaven.”
“I wish she’d stayed here but you’re right, Mommy’s so good and sweet and pretty that everyone should get her to look out for them and not just us.” Nicole kissed her father on the cheek. “Now she’s your angel forever.”
“Yeah.” Jason managed a smile. “But she already was anyway.”
