~*~Chapter 13~*~

[author’s note: I tried to find information on the Internet about what Greek wedding ceremonies are like, but couldn’t find enough, so I’m doing this as a regular American one.]

Liz sighs as she turns the corner and sees Sergei waiting with a priest. ‘Am I really going to do this?’ she asks herself, trying to fight back the tears she feels approaching. ‘How can I marry another man like this? I don’t even know for sure that Lucky is dead. He can’t be dead, Helena must be lying, just like she did the last time! But, if he’s alive, this marriage won’t be legal then, right? So, how can she make me marry this freak if my current husband isn’t dead/’ She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the idea that Lucky was dead. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about right then, or for that matter, ever.

“It looks like we’re ready,” Helena says, standing behind the priest.

“You sure don’t waste any time, do you, Helena? I just met the guy, for God’s sakes! I can’t believe you’re making me do this!” Liz whines, desperate to avoid this wedding.

“No, my dear, you’re just getting cold feet. If you don’t do this, I’ll have to find another way to hurt you, and trust me, you don’t want to know what that would be!”

Liz shivers at the threat. “Fine, let’s get this over with then,” she mumbles, standing next to Sergei. She glares at him for a moment, but he merely smiles at her before looking at the priest.

Since there were no guests besides Helena, the priest had refined the ceremony down to just the vows. “Do you take this man to be your husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

Noticing the he had conveniently left out the “lawfully” portion of the vows, Liz sighs and mutters, “yeah, sure.”

He then turns to Sergei. “Do you take this woman to be your wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

Sergei smiles at her. “I do.” It’s the first time he’s spoken to her, and she’s thrown off by it. He sounds exactly like Nikolas! Of course, he’s his twin, so why wouldn’t he?

“The ring...” the priest prompts. Sergei takes a wedding band out of his pocket and slides it onto her finger. “With this ring I thee wed.”

Liz feels like she’s going to throw up. This has to be a bad dream. This can’t be happening!

“Then I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Liz frowns and looks at Sergei as he moves in to kiss her. Just pretend it’s Lucky, just pretend it’s Lucky she repeats to herself as he kisses her. It doesn’t work. She feels like she’s kissing her brother-in-law, which really, is what she’s doing! Helena stands and applauds, smiling at her victory.

“Why that was just beautiful!” she says, thanking the priest as a servant comes in to show him out. “Now, you’ll change your clothes and join me in the dining hall for dinner in an hour. After that, well, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what to do on your wedding night, do I?”

Liz rolls her eyes and follows her back to her room. She changes out of the dress as quickly as possible, trying to think of a way out of this. Maybe if she pretended to be sick, he’d leave her alone. She can’t stop thinking about the way he leered at her when Helena mentioned the “wedding night.” How is she supposed to go through with this?

A short while later, Helena comes to retrieve her. “Time for dinner, Elisha. Let’s go.”

Liz groans and reluctantly follows her out to the dining hall. She tries to eat slowly, hoping to prolong the inevitable, ignoring Helena’s and Sergei’s attempt at small talk. All she can do is hope that once they’re away from the old woman, maybe Sergei will turn out to be on her side. Maybe she can talk some sense into him. After all, he is a Spencer, even if he wasn’t raised as one. Nikolas was raised as a Cassidine, and he still turned out to be just as kind and loving as the Spencers. Maybe Sergei was too.

Dinner ends much too quickly, and before she knows it, Helena is leading her and Sergei to his bedroom. She says good-night with an evil grin, then locks them inside. Liz turns to her new “husband” and sighs.

“Please tell me you don’t really expect me to go through with this!”

He looks at her strangely, his head cocked to the side. “But, Elisha, we’re married now. This is expected.”

“First of all, my name is Liz, not Elisha! Second of all, I’m already married to Lucky Spencer, and no matter what the witch says, I will not cheat on him, not with you, not with anyone!”

He continues to look at her as though she’s insane. “Helena will know if we don’t do this. You don’t want her to be angry.”

“How will she know? She’s not here!”

“This is her house. She has her ways. Don’t you think she knew you would try to talk your way out of this? Look, I know we just met, and you hate me right now, but we don’t have a choice. She will get her way no matter what you do. She always does.”

Liz feels a tear run down her cheek as she tries to think of a way out. He’s right, Helena will do whatever it takes to make sure this happens. The more she fights, the more Helena will enjoy it. She might as well just give in and hope it’s over with quickly.

“Fine, but make it quick,” she says flatly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

~*~Chapter 14~*~

Laura slowly opens the door and sticks her head inside. “Lucky? Lucky, are you here?” When there’s no answer, she looks back at Luke, then enters the house. He shuts the door behind him as they tiptoe into the living room.

“Oh, Luke...” Laura whispers, pointing at the coffee table. It’s covered with photographs of Lucky and Elizabeth and other momentos. They walk quietly back to the master bedroom, hoping that Lucky is there, and that he’s sleeping. He needed to rest, and by the looks of things, he had probably been up all night.

The door squeaks slightly as Luke pushes it open, causing them both to flinch. Lucky is sprawled out on the bed, his face buried in a pillow. He stirs when he hears the door open. “Elizabeth..” he mumbles, still asleep.

“We better go before we wake him up,” Laura whispers, backing out of the room. One of the floorboards creaks, and Lucky quickly sits up. “Elizabeth?!” He stares wildly at the doorway for a moment, then realizes that it’s just his parents. “Oh, hi guys.”

“Lucky, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you, we were just worried about you. Why don’t you go back to sleep?” Laura says soothingly, her heart breaking to see him in such anguish.

Lucky pulls the pillow he had been sleeping on into his lap and cradles it. “No, stay. I won’t be able to fall asleep again, anyway.” He leans down and buries his face in the pillow again, inhaling deeply. “This is hers. She always insists on sleeping on this pillow, says it’s more comfortable than mine.” He smiles a little at the memory and inhales again. “It still smells like her. I can almost fool myself into thinking she’s here.”

Laura moves over to the bed and sits down next to him. “Don’t worry, we’ll find here. She’s got to be out there somewhere.” Lucky just nods numbly and stares off into space. Luke comes in and sits on the other side of him, unsure of what to say.

“Do you need anything? You want us to make you something to eat, or order something?” Luke asks, rubbing Lucky’s back.

“No, I’m not hungry. There’s only one thing I need, and unfortunately, you can’t give her to me.” He sighs and gets off the bed. He’s halfway to the bathroom when he just stops and stands there, frozen in place.

“Cowboy?” Luke asks tentatively, worried about him. He walks up behind him and touches his shoulder gently, trying to get him to turn around. Lucky just stands there. Luke tightens his grip on his son’s shoulder, and can feel him trembling. He walks around to face him, his face crumbling when he sees Lucky silently crying. He pulls him into his arms, feeling his body immediately go limp. He tries to hold him up, but he’s dead weight, and he has to sit down on the ground or else he’ll drop him. They sit there, Luke holding Lucky in his lap, while Lucky cries. Laura watches from the bed, her own tears streaming down her face.

“Dad,” Lucky sobs. “I don’t know how to go on without her. I can’t... I can’t even imagine a day without her, let alone the rest of my life. What am I supposed to do if we can’t find her? How am I supposed to keep living?”

Luke tightens his grip on him as a tear escapes his eye. “Oh, Cowboy, don’t think like that. It’s going to be hard, and it might take a while, but we will find her. She can’t have just disappeared, she’s out there somewhere. It’s only a matter of time. You just have to stay strong for her, don’t let the grief take over. That’s what I did after the fire, and if it weren’t for Felicia, I may have never found you. Don’t make the same mistake. You know she’s alive, so keep faith that she’ll come back soon.”

Lucky sniffed and sat up. He nodded. “I know. I tried, but it’s too hard. All I can do anymore is think about her. Where is she? What’s she doing? Is she hurt, is she scared? Who has her? The questions won’t stop. I look at pictures of us, and it just hurts more, but then when I stop, I miss her so much that I have to look again.”

Laura walks over to them and crouches down to their level. “Honey, I know it hurts right now, but it’ll get better, I promise. Just keep taking it day by day.”

“I don’t want it to get better, Mom! I just want her to come back! Don’t talk like she’s never coming back, I can’t take that right now. I can’t...” He breaks off into sobs again, and Laura looks helplessly at Luke. They remain silent as Lucky cries. After a few minutes, he sighs and pulls himself out of Luke’s lap, standing up. He wobbles a bit, but manages to keep his balance.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.”

“Lucky, we’re your parents. You never have to apologize for anything to us! Why don’t you try to rest some more. You look beat,” Laura says, wiping a tear off of his cheek and smoothing his hair away from his face.

He nods and slowly makes his way back to the bed, grabbing Liz’s pillow and laying down with it. “Thanks for being here. I think I needed that.”

They go to the door, ready to leave as he starts to fall asleep. Just as they’re turning to walk out of the bedroom, he gasps and grabs his chest. Luke rushes to his side, afraid that he’s having a heart attack or something.

“Cowboy, what is it? What’s wrong?”

Lucky swallows, his eyes wild. “Elizabeth... she’s in pain. I don’t know how, but I just got this huge ache in my chest, and I felt this wave of terror pass over me. I know it has something to do with her, I can feel it. Someone’s hurting her, Dad!’

Luke sits down next to him and hugs him again, trying to calm him down. Was he right? There was no doubt that the two of them had a deep connection, but was it that strong that he could feel her pain like that? He looks up at Laura, who seems just as spooked by the whole thing. She fully believes that he had felt something about Liz. After all, there was a time when she could always feel when Lucky was hurt or in trouble.

“Luke, we better go call Mac and see if he has any leads,” she says softly.

Luke nods, laying Lucky, who had fallen asleep in his arms, back down on the bed. He covers him with a blanket and they creep out of the room. “Baby, I don’t know what else to do for him. I’ve never seen him like this before.”

She hugs him. “I know, I’m worried too.”

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