~*~Chapter 71~*~

“Because I love you, Elizabeth,” a soft voice says from behind her.

Elizabeth gasps at the sound of his voice, a voice she never thought she would hear in person again. She freezes, afraid that if she moves, or turns around, it will have all been a dream, her imagination playing tricks on her. How many times had she prayed that he would come for her, find her on the beach and take her in his arms?

Lucky takes a step forward, confused by her reaction. “Elizabeth?” he whispers, worried that maybe she’s in a fragile state of mind. He has no idea what Helena’s done to her here, maybe she’s been traumatized, maybe he scared her by walking up behind her like that. He decides to take a chance and reaches out to touch her shoulder.

Liz slowly turns around, tears in her eyes. Lucky remains still, waiting to see what she will do, not wanting to frighten her. She tentatively reaches up to touch his face, to assure herself that this isn’t some figment of her imagination. He gently covers her hand with his, leaning his face into it, relishing the feel of it on his cheek.

“You’re really here?” she asks softly, her voice catching. She looks up into his intense blue eyes as he nods, and knows that this is no dream. “Lucky....” she whimpers, flinging herself into his arms at last, burying her face in his shoulder.

Lucky sighs and wraps his arms tightly around her, tears flowing freely down his face. After nearly a year of being apart, she was finally in his arms again. “I thought I had lost you forever,” he whispers, rubbing her back as she cries softly.

“So did I,” she says in between sobs. “I missed you so much!”

Lucky pulls back and takes her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Shh, it’s okay now. I missed you, too, but that’s all over. I’m here, and I’m never letting go of you again.”

“I love you, Lucky,” she whispers, her tears coming even harder.

“Oh baby, I love you too!” he says emotionally, pulling her to him and kissing her, softly at first, then with growing intensity. She sinks into his embrace, losing herself in his kiss.

A few feet away, Laura stands quietly and watches the reunion, sniffing as a few tears escape her eyes. She can hear someone approach, and smiles, knowing it’s Luke. He rests his hands on her shoulders, and she reaches up to cover them with hers. “How did it go?” she whispers.

“There were only a couple guards, and they’re taken care of now,” he responds quietly.

“Look at them,” Laura sighs, leaning back against him. “Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?’

Luke looks down at her and smiles. “Well, the second-most beautiful.” He removes his hands from her shoulders and wraps his arms around her waist.

“You’re sweet,” she says softly. “So, what’s the plan? Do we just bring them back to the boat and run? Or do you want to find Helena?”

“Oh, I’m definitely going to find the old bat, that’s for sure! There’s no way she’s getting away with this, not if I can help it!”

“And how do you plan on making her pay?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet. Something will come to me, though, it always does.”

Back on the beach, Liz and Lucky finally pull away from their kiss, smiling into each other’s eyes. “Are you okay?” Lucky asks softly, wiping away another of her tears.

Liz nods. “Now I am.”

“Has she hurt you?” he asks, his face full of concern. “There were a few times...I thought I could feel you, and it felt like you were in pain.”

“I’m okay, really. I just missed you so much. I thought...I thought you were dead at one point.”

“Why? What made you think that?”

“Helena had all these fake documents made up to show me. They said you were shot outside the club, that you were killed. I didn’t believe them at first, but after seeing the news clippings and coroner’s reports....”

Lucky quickly gathers her in his arms. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that again! I swear, I’ll kill that woman myself if I have to!”

“I shouldn’t have believed her, no matter what she showed me. I mean, she already faked your death once, what would stop her from doing it again?”

He hugs her again, burying his fingers in her hair. “I just wish I had found you sooner. Everything has been such a mess without you.” He pulls back again and takes her hands, looking down at them as he tries to gather his thoughts. For the first time, he notices the ring on her finger and looks back up at her, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Elizabeth?”

“Hm?” she mumbles, too deliriously happy to notice his change in demeanor.

“What’s this?”

~*~

Helena peers out the back of the house and curses softly to herself. “Damn, I should have known they’d come for her sooner or later! I just thought it would be much later!”

“What’s wrong?” Sergei asks, walking into the room to find her staring outside, mumbling to herself.

Helena turns around and smiles. “Sergei, just the person I was looking for. Go upstairs and get Mikkos, then wait about ten minutes and bring him out back to me.”

“Why? Is something wrong?” he asks, concerned by her strange behavior.

“Just do this for me, and don’t ask any questions! Just get the baby, wait ten minutes, then meet me outside. How difficult is that?”

He can see that she’s getting angry, so he slowly backs up toward the stairs. “Of course, I’ll be right out.” He turns around and hurries up to the nursery, wondering what she’s up to now, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that something serious is about to happen.

~*~Chapter 72~*~

Liz swallows quickly, trying to remain calm. “Excuse me?”

“This,” Lucky says, shaking her hand to indicate the ring.

“Oh, that. Um, it’s not what....”

“Elizabeth, this looks like a wedding ring!” he interrupts, trying to remain calm. “And it’s not the one I gave you!”

Liz bursts into tears. “I’m sorry, Lucky, she makes me wear it!”

“Who? Helena? Why would she make you wear this?”

At this point, Liz is crying too hard to speak, and he embraces her again, trying to calm her down.

“Well, isn’t this sweet?” Helena says from behind them, causing them both to jump apart. Liz wipes her eyes quickly, but refuses to release Lucky’s hand.

Lucky’s eyes narrow as he glares at her, the ring temporarily forgotten. Luke and Laura walk up next to them from where they had been standing.

“Helena, death certainly becomes you,” Luke says sarcastically.

“Why thank you, Luke. I must say, I’m impressed that you found the girl so soon. Considering how long it took you to locate your son last time, I thought I had a few years left before I had to worry about you sniffing around.”

“Well, no need to worry any longer, because we’re taking her with us.”

Helena chuckles and shakes her head. “Oh, you didn’t really think it would be that simple, did you?”

Luke shrugs. “Looks pretty simple to me. There are four of us, one of you, and all your guards have been, well, tied up.”

“It would seem that way, but there’s more to this than you realize, Luke,” she says, looking over at Liz. Just then, Sergei walks up behind her, holding Mikkos.

Laura is the first to see him, and she gasps. “Nikolas!”

Lucky follows his mother’s gaze and frowns. “Hey, what are you doing here? And why did you bring Bethie?”

“Bethie?” Liz asks. No one answers her, they’re too busy staring at Sergei.

“Elisha, who are these people?” Sergei asks Liz, although he has a pretty good feeling what her answer will be.

“Ah, Sergei, there you are,” Helena says, turning to smile at him.

“Elisha?” Lucky asks.

“Sergei?” Luke and Laura ask in unison.

“Yes, Sergei. Oh, I can understand your confusion, after all, you never knew you had twins, did you Laura?” She grins wickedly, loving every minute of this.

“Twins?” Laura asked softly, falling back against Luke in shock. “How? I mean, how could I not know that?”

“Well, you weren’t conscious when you gave birth, so you wouldn’t remember, now would you? “

“So, what’s with the baby?” Lucky asks hesitantly, glancing over at Liz, who looks like she wants to crawl under a rock.

Helena’s grin widens as she looks over at her. “You mean you haven’t given your in-laws the good news yet? Well, Luke, Laura, this is your grandson, Mikkos Sergeilovich Cassidine!”

The three of them all gasp at the name. Lucky looks at Liz in disbelief. “Elizabeth? Tell me she’s lying! You’ve been gone for less than a year, this can’t be possible!”

Liz swallows hard, dying to tell him that the baby is his, but afraid of what Helena will do if she knows. “It’s not what you think, I mean....” She trails off and looks down at the ground, totally lost. Lucky takes this as a gesture of guilt and drops her hand, backing away. She covers her face and begins to sob. Laura rushes over to her and hugs her, knowing all too well the pain she must be feeling.

Sergei watches this whole exchange, sensing that there is more to it then what’s on the surface. He looks down at the baby in his arms, studying his tiny face, then looks back at the people in front of him, the family he never knew.

Helena continues to grin gleefully. “Actually, for all we know, there may be another little one on the way, right Sergei?” She turns to him, waiting for his response.

Sergei just nods in agreement, looking up at Liz to make sure she knows he’s still deceiving Helena about their physical relationship. She manages a small smile in thanks, which Lucky sees and completely misinterprets. He turns red and glares angrily at Sergei, wanting to attack him, but because the baby is in the way, he holds himself back.

Laura looks up from Liz to scowl at Helena. “It’s over, Helena. We’re taking Liz back with us, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

“Ah, see, this is where it gets interesting. The question is, will she repeat history and leave her child behind in order to be with the man she loves, or will she do the honorable thing and stay here to raise her son?”

Everyone turns to look at Liz, waiting for her response. She looks tearfully at Lucky, who is still fuming over the baby, then at Sergei, who is standing slightly behind Helena, cradling Mikkos in the crook of his arm, his other arm behind his back. As he brings it around, her eyes widen in horror, and a small gasp escapes her lips. Everyone turns to see what she’s looking at, and jumps back when they find that Sergei is now holding a gun. Helena smiles for a moment at his foresight, then frowns as she realizes that the gun is not being aimed at one of the Spencers, but instead is pointed right at her face.

“Elisha is going back to Port Charles,” he says coldly, staring down the barrel of the gun into her startled eyes, “and so is her son.”

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