What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 23-24

~*~Chapter 23~*~

Helena walks into the control room to find Faison watching the monitors. Lucky was sleeping.

“Why do you sit here and watch him like that, even when he is asleep? He’s not going anywhere, not after the numerous threats you’ve made about his little girlfriend.”

“What can I say? The boy interests me. He was singing earlier. A rather heartbreaking song. Did you know he could sing? Quite well, in fact.”

Helena smirks and chuckles. “Such a shame that he’s going to be dead soon. Which is why I’m here. We need to get our plan into action soon. When did you tell Luke you’d be in contact with him?”

“By the end of the week, but I was thinking of dropping in sooner. I think he has come to expect that from me, so it won’t come as a total surprise.”

She sighs, “Must you go to him in person? It’s way too risky. Too many people in Port Charles could recognize you, and then the whole thing will be ruined!”

He shakes his head. “No, I must do this personally. The phones aren’t any safer. He could record the call or find some way to trace it, even though I have a block installed. Like you said, he’s very resourceful. Don’t worry, I always make sure he’s alone before dropping in.”

“Okay, do what you will. What do you plan on telling him? You can’t mention Lucky yet, just tell him that you have something very valuable to offer as payment, and that he will find out what it is when he drops off the diamond. I realize he will argue and try to refuse your terms. Threaten him if you must, even better, threaten that trash he calls a wife, or his daughter. Just don’t bring up the boy yet. If he knows ahead of time that Lucky is alive, he will do everything he can to rescue him, and we can’t afford that, got it?”

Faison looks angrily at her. “What do you take me for, a fool? Of course I know better than to let on about his son too soon! I have everything under control. You just mix up your little death potion and everything will be fine.” He turns back to the screens and sees that Lucky is tossing around in his sleep. “Oh, look, he must be having a bad dream. Whatever could have caused that?” he asks sarcastically.

“Are you still torturing him with those videos of her? Why bother? It’s not part of our plan anymore.”

He turns back to her and smiles. “But it’s so much fan. The look on his face when he sees her with that grandson of yours is priceless. Anyway, it keeps him subdued. The more depressed he is, the less he tries to escape.”

They both look back at the surveillance monitors and watch as his nightmare progresses.

***Lucky’s Room***

As soon as he fell asleep, Lucky had begun dreaming about Elizabeth. In the dream, he had managed to escape from Faison, and he had made his way back to Port Charles. He didn’t want to put anyone in danger, so he was keeping a low profile. He had looked in on his parents, first Luke at the club, who was sleeping in his office, an empty bottle of scotch in his hand, and then Laura, who had just put LuLu down to sleep at Wyndemere and was drinking port with Stefan in the living room. So far everything was as Faison had told him. He then heads off to Elizabeth’s house, bracing himself for the worst.

When he gets there, he climbs up to her window, and peers inside. The room is empty. She must be out. He decides to go to Nikolas’s cottage, hoping that she isn’t there, but afraid that she is. He’s happy to find the cottage empty. She’s not there, but then again, neither is Nikolas. They must be together somewhere. Unable to figure out where else they might be, he decides to go for a walk, hoping that he’ll see her somewhere along the way.

After what seems like an hour of walking around town and along the docks, he finds himself in the park. He’s looked everywhere else and found no sign of her, so this is his last resort. He heads for the fountain when he hears her voice. She sounds happy. He smiles for a moment and comes upon a gap in the trees. He sees her, sitting on a bench, looking more beautiful than he remembered, wearing a short red dress. He wants so badly to go to her, gather her in his arms and never let her go. Knowing that would be too dangerous, he stays back in the bushes. He can’t help wondering if this was where her rapist had watched her from, then immediately pushes the thought from his mind. A moment later, her companion comes into view. Not surprisingly, it’s Nikolas. He sits next to her on the bench and reaches out, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. He then cups her chin in his hand and brings her face closer to his. Lucky looks away, not wanting to watch any longer. He can’t bear to watch her kiss his brother.

All of a sudden he hears a loud thud, followed by the sound of Elizabeth screaming. He looks back and sees a man grab her off of the bench. Nikolas is unconscious on the ground. Lucky is frozen in fear, unable to run to her aid. Her attacker turns towards the bushes where he is hiding, as though he knows he is there, and smiles. It’s Faison. He finally snaps out of his trance and breaks through the bushes, but it’s too late. A car suddenly appears and Faison gets in, pushing Elizabeth in ahead of him, slams the door, and drives off. Lucky is left standing by the fountain, too late to save her once again. He looks down and sees something sparkle at his feet. He leans down and picks it up, his breath catching in his throat when he sees that it’s her charm bracelet.

Lucky bolts up in bed, his heart pounding, his clothes drenched in sweat. He’s relieved when he realizes it was just a dream, but is then filled with hopelessness, knowing that he will probably spend the rest of life in this horrible room, that is, until Faison decides to kill him.

~*~Chapter 24~*~

Laura wakes up slowly, and finds herself face to face with her husband. She smiles, momentarily forgetting the events of the past year, until she notices that she isn’t in her bedroom. She sits up, rubbing her eyes, looking around the room. It’s morning, and she’s on a couch in Luke’s club, Luke is sitting there looking at her like she’s about to attack him or something.

“What am I doing here?” she asks, racking her brain, trying to remember what happened the night before. Suddenly it comes rushing back, the telephone call from Stefan, then Luke’s, then the news about Nikolas. She gasps involuntarily.

“You fainted, Angel. I figured you’d be more comfortable out here on the couch than in my stuffy office. You’ve been out like a light all night.”

She smiles. He hasn’t called her Angel in over a year. She had forgotten how much she liked that nickname. “Did all that...about Nikolas...did that really happen?”

He nods solemnly. “Yeah, I’m afraid so babe. As much as I’d like it to be some bad dream, it’s true. I’m not sure how to handle it yet. I’ve gotten so used to hating him, it’s going to be hard to break that habit.” He sees the look on her face and keeps going before she can say anything. “But, old feelings aside, he is my son, whether I like it or not, and I will do everything in my power to accept him as such.”

Laura beams at him, so happy to hear him say that. She sits up and hugs him, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they might have a chance to be a family again. When they part, she asks the question that’s been weighing on her mind ever since he showed her Nikolas’s file - the one question he was praying she wouldn’t ask.

“Why did you have that file on him? I mean, why now? Is there something going on I should know about?”

He sighs. As much as he had wanted to keep the news from her until Lucky was rescued, he had sworn to himself that if he ever had a chance to repair their relationship, he would never lie to her again. ‘No time like the present’ he thinks.

“I needed some ammo against Helena, because I think she’s up to something. I called Alexis to find out if she knew anything, or if she might have something I could use. She said she did, and offered to bring it over. Well, I’m no doctor, so nothing in those records made any sense, so I called Barbara. She looked through them and noticed something strange. She couldn’t figure it out until she saw Lucky’s chart on my desk and made the connection. She asked if I had copies of our records too, so I got them out of the safe for her. She saw that mine and Stefan’s were the same, that his was really mine, and there you have it.” He had let the part about Lucky’s file slip, and prayed that she didn’t catch it. Unfortunately, Laura was too smart for that and she had noticed.

“Why were Lucky’s medical records on your desk?” Now she was really confused. ‘What is Luke up to now?’ she thinks.

“Laura, I didn’t want to tell you this yet, because I didn’t want to make things any harder for you. I wanted to wait until I knew he was safe before saying anything....”

“He? Wait until who was safe? Luke, tell me what you’re talking about!” Laura was starting to get scared.

“Hang on, babe. I will. Let me finish. You’ve had such a hard time dealing with Lucky’s death, and I didn’t want you to have to go through that pain all over again. On the other hand, I swore to myself a year ago that I’d never lie to you again, so here goes......Cesar Faison is still alive. He’s been masquerading as a diamond dealer named Herr Krieg, and I’ve been doing business with him for a few years now - “ he sees her open her mouth to interject something about the diamonds and stops her “I said, let me finish - anyway, to make a long story short, Felicia recognized his voice when I was talking to him on the speakerphone the other day, and we think that he’s behind the fire. We compared the coroner’s medical records to the copy I have from when we were on the run, and they didn’t match. Baby, our boy isn’t dead. He’s alive somewhere, and I think Faison and Helena are behind it.”

Laura just sits there and stares at him in disbelief for a moment, and then faints