~*~Chapter 39~*~

Elizabeth wakes up early and yawns, stretching slowly as she sits up in bed. She smiles as the warm glow from the sunrise hits her face. One thing she can’t deny, Greece is definitely beautiful! She sighs and stretches her arms in front of her, locking her fingers together. Suddenly, her face falls, as she spots the ring on her finger. It’s not the one she’s worn since arriving at the island, it’s her wedding ring from Lucky.

“Lucky,” she whispers, slowly pulling the ring off her finger and holding it up in front of her. She crawls out of bed and goes over to the small jewelry box on her desk. Helena had given her some jewelry, as a gesture of good will, although she rarely wore any of it. She pulls out a necklace, sliding the ugly jeweled trinket off of the chain, then threads it through her ring before fastening it around her neck. After sliding Sergei’s ring back onto her finger, she tucks the necklace under her shirt, feeling closer to Lucky now that it hung around her neck.

Liz goes into the bathroom and washes her face, trying to scrub away the red streaks from crying all night. Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, she sighs. Her eyes are empty, devoid of any life. Now that Lucky is dead, she has no reason to care about life, not even her baby can give her hope at the moment. She’s broken, devastated, and the only reason she can find for not ending it all right then and there is that Lucky would never want her to take her own life, no matter how bad things get.

Quickly drying her face, she walks back into the bedroom and sits down at her desk, grabbing the folder off of her bed on the way. She quickly stuffs it into one of the drawers, then pulls out a piece of paper.

Dear Lucky,

I’m not really sure why I’m writing this. I know now that you’re gone. Sergei showed me the news clippings and death reports yesterday. I didn’t believe him at first, why should I? After all, your death had already been faked once before by Helena, so what’s stopping her from doing it again. But, now that I’ve read everything so many times I have it memorized, I can’t deny it any longer. You’re dead, and for what it’s worth, so am I.

I know I have to keep going for my baby, but I don’t know how. The only thing that was keeping me sane was knowing that you were still out there, that you were trying to find me, or even that you were moving on without me. As long as you were alive and happy, I didn’t care. Now, I feel totally alone, knowing that the one person who truly knew me, who cared about me so deeply, is gone forever.

Before Sergei brought the news to me, I found security and surveillance tapes in Helena’s office from when you were being kept under Wyndemere. You looked so sad and lost, kind of how I feel now. As much as I hated seeing you in such pain, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen. Just seeing your beautiful face made me so happy, and I couldn’t wait until the day when I would finally see it again, because I was convinced that someday, you would find me here. Now, that hope has vanished, along with everything else inside of me.

I’m sure you’re in Heaven now, watching over me, and that gives me some peace. At least now, you know where I am, what happened to me, what I’ve been doing. You know about Sergei, about the baby I’m carrying. I hope you can forgive me, Lucky, because I couldn’t bear for you to be angry with me. I always said you were my angel, and I suppose now that statement is even more true than ever. I can only hope that you will continue to look out for me, to watch over me. I may not have you with me in the physical world any longer, but maybe having you near me in the spiritual one will make up for it.

I love you, Lucky. No matter what happens, or where you are, I will always love you. You are my soulmate, and I know that someday we will be together again, and that time, it will truly be forever.

Love,
Elizabeth

After sharing a quiet breakfast with Sergei, Liz is closed up in the nursery, putting the finishing touches on the church mural, wiping away her tears and in the process, smearing paint all over her face. She had been trying to think of murals for the other two walls that wouldn’t upset Helena, but now that Lucky was gone, she didn’t care anymore. The wall that contained the window would be a mural of Kelly’s exterior and courtyard, with the window strategically placed as one of the diner’s windows. As for the other wall, at first she wanted to paint the docks, but then decided that would be too dark for a nursery, so instead, she would paint the boxcar, since it held so much meaning for her and Lucky.

“If Helena doesn’t like it, then she can take a long walk off a short pier, because I just don’t care anymore,” Liz mutters to herself, standing back to admire her work. The church looks perfect, she can almost she her and Lucky rushing out the doors after their wedding. She smiles slightly at the memory, another tear trickling down her cheek.

“I should buy stock in Kleenex,” she says with a wry chuckle as she wipes her arm across her face. There’s a knock at the door, and she sighs, knowing who it’s going to be. “Yeah?”

Sergei pokes his head inside. “Hey, I thought you might want to take a break. It’s really beautiful outside today. You look like you could use a little sun.”

Liz drops her paintbrush and turns to face him. He really does look concerned about her. “Thanks, maybe I will. I just finished here anyway. Some fresh air might be good for me.” She smiles and walks past him out of the room, hoping he wouldn’t follow her outside. This time, he doesn’t.

~*~Chapter 40~*~

“Em, are you coming to bed?” Nikolas shouts, wondering what’s taking his wife so long.

“I’ll be right there, I have to go to the bathroom again!” she calls back. Nikolas chuckles and climbs into bed, waiting for her to come in.

Finally, Emily hurries into the room, quietly closing the door behind her. “You’d think I had a never-ending bladder considering how often I’m in there!” she says, pulling back the covers to climb in next to him.

“Okay, that was more information than I needed,” he laughs, wrapping his arms around he and pulling her close. “Other than the bladder thing, how are you feeling?”

“Good, great. I can’t wait for this baby, Nikolas. At first, I was a little worried, since we’re both still so young, but now I can’t imagine not being pregnant. You’re going to be a wonderful father, you know that?”

Nikolas smiles, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. “Not half as wonderful as you will be.”

She chuckles. “As a father? No, I don’t think I’m father material.”

Nikolas groans and swats at her playfully. “You know what I mean!”

“Hey!” Emily shouts with a laugh. “Didn’t your mother tell you not to hit pregnant women?”

“I guess not. She wasn’t around much, remember? Anyway, I grew up with the Cassidines, and we all know that they don’t exactly follow the usual models of behavior!”

“Okay, let’s not start with the ‘who’s childhood was worse’ stuff, because I always win! As bad as the Cassidines are, the Q’s are worse by far! At least you got away from them, and ended up with a wonderful family like the Spencers.”

Nikolas smiles and cuddles up to her. “Well, really, you did to. After all, once you married me, they became your family. They love you like a daughter, you know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I always knew that Liz was their favorite, not that I minded. They had that bond over Lucky that I could never share. Sometimes I feel almost like I’m replacing her, like if she were still here, she would be the one having their first grandchild, not me.”

“Honey, don’t think like that! My parents love you just as much as Liz. They don’t think of you as a replacement. I used to think that of myself when Lucky was gone, and I now know that it was silly. Luke and Laura don’t play favorites. There’s room in their hearts for everyone, and they love everyone equally. It took me a long time to realize that.”

Emily nods slowly. “You’re right. I just wish Liz was here to share this with us. Lucky may be acting better, but I can tell he’s still really hurting inside. I don’t think anything will be able to fix that, and no amount of therapy is going to help him be happy again. Only Liz can do that. It’s been so long now, I’m starting to think they’re never going to find her.”

Nikolas tightens his arms around her and sighs. “I know, so do I. I’m just afraid of what Lucky will do if he starts thinking that way.”

~*~

Lucky sets the empty vodka bottle on the table in front of him and frowns. That was the only bottle he had left, and now he was too drunk to go out and get more. He makes a mental note to go to Luke’s tomorrow and raid the bar, then gets out of his chair and stumbles over to the kitchen.

After digging around in the refrigerator for a few minutes and coming up empty-handed, he goes over to the phone, staring at it as he tries to decide who to call. His parents are probably in bed, as are Nikolas and Emily. For that matter, most of Port Charles is probably asleep by now. Suddenly, he remembers V saying once that she was a night owl, and that she was always up late, reading a book or playing on her computer. He pulls out the address book and opens it to the A’s.

Smiling at Liz’s handwriting, he quickly dials the phone number, hoping he doesn’t wake her. After a couple of rings, she answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey, V, it’s Lucky. I didn’t wake you, did I?” he asks, his voice slurring slightly.

“No, I was up. What’s wrong Lucky? You sound funny.”

“I’m okay. I guess I had a little too much to drink, but I’ll be fine. Listen, you know how you said if I ever needed to talk, to give you a call? Well, I know it’s late, but I was hoping you could come over, keep me company.”

“Sure, Lucky, it’s not a problem at all. Is there anything else you need?”

Lucky chuckles, wondering if she read his mind. “Actually, I just realized that I haven’t been grocery shopping in weeks. I don’t suppose you could bring over some food?”

V laughs. “Of course. I’ll be over in a few.” They hang up and Lucky stumbles back into the living room and sits down to wait for her to arrive. He’s still not sure why he called her, but it felt right at the time. V was the only friend he had left that wasn’t family, and she always listened to him without judging him. Maybe that’s what he needed right now.

A few minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. He gets up and makes his way to the door. “That was fast!” he says as he swings it open. “Oh, what are you doing here?”

Kimber smiles and pushes her way inside. “I was worried about you. I’m sorry, were you expecting someone else?”

“As a matter of fact, I was. I’m fine, Kimber, you don’t need to check up on me.” He stood in the doorway, holding the door open, hoping she would get the hint and leave.

Kimber sighs, seeing that she wasn’t going to get anywhere tonight. “All right, I can see that you’re busy. I’ll see you around, Lucky.” She walks up to him and, before he can react, kisses him, then hurries out of the house and down the driveway to her car, turning to wave before she gets in and drives away. Lucky stands there, frozen in place by the suddenness of what she just did. As she backs out of the driveway, he retreats into the house and closes the door, the leans his forehead against it, trying to block out the memory of her lips on his.

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