~*~Chapter 65~*~

Lucky’s hands begin to shake as he studies the envelope. It’s Elizabeth’s handwriting, it has to be.

“Calm down, Spencer. Don’t get your hopes up yet, this could just be a coincidence. Or maybe it’s just your eyes playing tricks on you.”

“Are you talking to yourself now?” Sonny asks with a laugh as he walks out of the kitchen. He sees Lucky sitting on the couch, unmoving, and walks over. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know. V brought some fan mail to me, and I could swear this one is from Elizabeth. It’s her handwriting, I’d know it anywhere,” Lucky says, his voice trembling.

“What does it say?”

“I haven’t read it yet. I’m afraid that if I open it, it won’t be from her after all.” He looks up at Sonny, his eyes full of both fear and hope.

“Do you want me to read it?” Sonny asks, reaching out for the letter. He’s never seen Lucky so shaken up about something before, and it’s starting to make him nervous.

Lucky holds the envelope against his chest protectively. “No, I can do it.” He sighs, then slowly breaks the seal and pulls out the single sheet of paper, his eyes quickly scanning it for some sign that it’s from his wife. Sonny watches him quietly, hoping that by some miracle, it is.

Lucky looks up from the letter, his face breaking out in a grin. “Phone, I need the phone!”

Sonny laughs at his sudden mood swing and grabs the cordless phone. He tosses it to Lucky, who quickly dials, still gripping the paper in his other hand. “Dad! Get over here, now! No, I can’t say, just trust me, I need you. Thanks.”

“Lucky, what’s going on?” Sonny asks, wondering why the sudden flurry of activity. Lucky is reading the letter again, his eyes wide, totally immersed in another world. He grabs a pencil and begins jotting down letters on a pad of paper that was sitting there. A few minutes later, Johnny opens the door to announce Luke, who hurries past him.

“Cowboy, what’s wrong?” he asks, his face full of concern. Lucky stands up and throws himself at Luke, hugging him.

“She’s alive dad, she’s okay. Look,” he steps back and holds out the letter. Luke takes it, glancing up questioningly at Sonny, who just shrugs.

“Okay, hang on, let me sit down.” Luke sits on the couch and holds the paper in front of him, quickly reading the letter. When he’s done, he looks up at his son. “Am I missing something here? This is just a fan latter, a strangely written one, but that’s all.”

Lucky shakes his head, grabbing it from him. “No, it’s not. See, after we were married, I decided to teach Elizabeth a simple code, in case something ever happened to one of us again. That way, we’d have a way to contact the other if the opportunity arose. Even if I hadn’t recognized her handwriting, I would have known this was from her right away, because of a couple of clues she left in it. Once I knew it was from her, I used the code to decipher the real letter.”

“Okay, I’ll bite, what’s the code?” Luke asked, amazed at his son’s foresight.

“The first letter of every sentence, unless it isn’t capitalized. Each paragraph is a new word. Look again, and you’ll see it.”

Luke turned back to the letter, wondering what it would reveal.

Hello,

I don’t usually write fan letters, but when I heard your new CD, I just had to. Something about it just grabbed my attention. The last song especially got to me. Oddly, I felt like you were speaking directly to me. Robert, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your songs. You are very Lucky to have such a wonderful voice!

Recently, I was given your album as a gift, and have listened to it every day since. Every time I hear it, it lifts my spirits. Partly because of your beautiful lyrics, and partly because your voice is like an angel’s. Everything about your CD is the best, the best there is. All my free time is spent listening to it now. This may sound silly, but I’ve almost worn it out! Soon, I’ll have to buy another one.

Hopefully, you read all your fan mail, because I really want you to know how wonderful you are. Crazy as it may sound, I feel like I know you. After memorizing all your songs, it’s like I’ve seen into your soul. Laugh if you will. I don’t mind sounding a little nuts. Voices like yours come around once in a blue moon. Every day I think I couldn’t possibly love it any more, but I do.

Let me just say that your album is the best I’ve heard in a long time. One day, I think you’re going to be really big. Very big. Everyone who hears your voice, will fall in love with it, just like I have.

Extraordinary, that’s what you are. I just really hope you get what I’m trying to say.

Sincerely, your #1 fan

“What? Come on, I’m dying here,” Sonny pleads, breaking his silence. “What does it say?”

Lucky takes a deep breath an holds up the pad of paper he was writing on earlier. “History Repeats. HC Alive. Love, EIS.”

“HC? EIS? Am I missing something?”

Lucky chuckles softly. “EIS is Elizabeth’s initials. And, I have a sick feeling that HC is...”

“Helena Cassidine,” Luke finishes, his voice steely with hatred.

~*~Chapter 66~*~

Sergei knocks on Helena’s door, wondering why she sent for him. “Did you want to speak with me?” he asks, poking his head into the office.

“Yes, dear, come in. There is a very important matter that we must discuss.” She smiles as he walks into the room and takes a seat across from her, noticing his nervousness. “I’m going to get right to the point here, there’s no use beating around the bush. I want you to resume your physical relationship with Elisha.”

“What?” he asks, shocked at the order, but not completely displeased, either. “Why? I mean, you wanted her to have my child, and she has, so why the sudden change of heart?”

“It’s not a change, I just realized that she’s easier to deal with when she’s pregnant. I think it would be good for her to have another baby, someone to keep Mikkos company growing up. I always regretted you and Nikolas not knowing each other when you were young. Being an only child is tough. Also, it will keep Elisha busy.”

Sergei mulls over the idea for a minute. Her points are somewhat valid, at least he can see how she would think they were. “But, I really doubt she wants to be pregnant again so soon. And I know she doesn’t want to sleep with me. She’s still upset about Lucky’s death.”

Helena chuckles. “His death, that’s right. Well, there comes a time when one must move on, and this would be the perfect time to remind her. She is, after all, your wife, and with that title there come certain duties. If you have to, remind her that once she’s pregnant, she’ll have nine whole months to herself again.”

“I’ll try, but I really don’t think she’ll go for it. She may be civil to me now, but I know she still dislikes me.”

“Then threaten her if you must. Tell her I’ll harm Mikkos, whatever you have to do. I want another child, don’t disappoint me.”

Sergei shrinks away from her threatening gaze. “Yes, ma’am, I’ll do my best.” He stands up and hurries out of the room, his mind racing. How in the world is he supposed to pull this off?

~*~

Liz is sitting in the nursery, watching Mikkos sleep, just staring wistfully at the murals, when Sergei walks in.

“Hey,” she says, looking up at him. “Is something wrong?”

He smiles, touched that she could tell. “Kind of. Helena called me into her office today. She had another assignment for me.”

“Uh-oh. Where is she sending you now?”

“Nowhere. It’s not that kind of the thing. It’s about you.”

She sits up, her attention grabbed. “Me? What about me?”

Sergei sighs and looks down into the crib for a moment, trying to figure out the best way of saying it. “Well, she decided Mikkos isn’t enough. She wants us to have another baby.”

Liz opens her mouth in shock, then closes it again, at a complete loss of words. He one comfort lately had been that she didn’t have to sleep with him any longer, now that Helena had her spawn, or whatever she considered Mikkos.

Sergei steps up to her and holds up his hand. “Now, before you flip out on me, I don’t agree with her, and I’m going to try my best to avoid doing this to you. I know the idea of us...together....isn’t exactly appealing.” He looks down at his feet, slightly embarrassed.

“No, Sergei, it’s not that,” she says quickly, trying to spare his feelings. “I mean, it’s nothing against you, really. Part of it is because of Lucky, a big part, obviously, but another is because I still see Nikolas sometimes when I look at you, and that just makes it really weird. I may not have told you before, but I really appreciate that you haven’t pushed me at all since I became pregnant. I can’t believe she’s doing this!” She stands up and begins to pace, trying to think of a way out.

“I know, I know. Helena’s just sick. She knows how to push your buttons, and that’s what she’s doing. Now, I can’t promise that we’ll never have to sleep together again, but I will say that I will try to put it off as long as possible. Sooner or later, she’ll figure it out, but until then, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” Liz says, reaching up to hug him. “That means a lot to me.”

Sergei shrugs and turns to leave the room. “I know I can’t exactly be a good husband to you, since I’m not who you want, but the least I can do is try to be a good friend.”

“It means a lot to me, it really does,” she says, smiling at him as he leaves. Once the door is closed, she sighs and flops down in the chair, rubbing her face. Now what? It’s bad enough she has to pretend she’s still falling for the “Lucky’s dead” story, but now she has to worry about Helena forcing her so-called husband into her bed again? She must know that Mikkos is Lucky’s, and that’s why she’s doing this.

She reaches up and gently caresses the mural of the boxcar. “Come on, Lucky, hurry up and find me!”

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