What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 43-44

~*~Chapter 43~*~

Elizabeth has been searching for the man for hours, looking everywhere Lucky might have gone. She checked the boxcar, the site of the motorcycle shop, which hasn’t been rebuilt yet, the catacombs, the school, her house, and their church, and is now at the docks, which is swarming with police. There is the burned wreckage of what looks like a boat out in the water. She wonders what happened to it, remembering the man she ran into the other day. ‘I hope it wasn’t his,’ she thinks as she walks away, not sure where to go next. She can’t go to Laura’s house, as much as she wants to. What if he was just a strange guy with blue eyes, and she’s freaking out over nothing? What would she say to Laura? ‘I think I saw your son back from the dead.. Did he stop by?’

She shakes her head, resigning herself to the fact that it wasn’t Lucky after all. He’s been dead for a year now, and nothing will change that. She heads over to the one place where she can convince herself of that.

~*~

Lucky has been standing there, staring at the headstone, for an hour now. He knew it would be weird to see it, but for some reason he can’t tear his eyes away. After he had run away from Kelly’s he hadn’t been sure where to go. He didn’t want to go home yet, so he had gone to the boxcar for a short time, running away as soon as he heard footsteps approaching. He had then gone to their church, but the memory of what Faison had shown him was too painful, so he left after being there only a few minutes. Somehow, he had ended up here, staring down at his own grave. It was pretty creepy. He crouches down and reaches out to touch the letters in his name, not knowing that Elizabeth had done the same thing a week ago.

He looks down and sees a bunch of dead roses lying at the base of the headstone. He picks them up, wondering who they were from, and notices that they are white. His throat closes up for a moment, knowing that only Elizabeth would have left white roses. They look like they had probably been there for a week or longer. She had probably left them on the anniversary of the fire, out of some feeling of obligation to remember him, even though she had moved on. A tear runs down his cheek as he punches the marble stone angrily.

He hears someone gasp behind him and turns around, coming face-to-face with Elizabeth, his angel. He stands up, quickly wiping the tear away, still holding onto the dead flowers.

She still can’t believe her eyes. She had come here to remind herself that Lucky was dead, and here he is, standing over his own grave, holding her flowers, like some demented horror movie. She’s speechless for a moment, and then finally says the first thing that comes to her mind.

“Those were from me,” she whispers, pointing at the flowers in his hand.

He looks down in surprise, not realizing he was still holding them. He gently puts them back on the grave. “Um...thanks,” he says, not knowing what else to say. He stands there uncomfortably, looking at the ground.

Finally getting over the initial shock of seeing him there, she asks tentatively, “Is it really you?”

He looks up and meets her eyes, and she knows the answer. His hair may be longer, and he may need a good shave, but there was no mistaking his eyes. She could always see straight into his soul just by looking into them. This disheveled, skinny man in front of her was undoubtedly her Lucky. Tears spring up in her eyes as she starts to run to him, but he puts his hand out in front of him to signal for her to stop.

“Please, stay there.” he says, not being able to bear having her any closer.

She can see the pain in his eyes, so she stops. “How....I mean, why aren’t you...”

He takes a deep breath, knowing that he will be telling this story many times in the next few days. “I was kidnapped. The fire wasn’t an accident, and the body in my bed wasn’t me. It was all rigged to make everyone think it was, so no one would come looking for me. He switched the medical records and took my necklace, knowing that would be enough to ID the body.”

She reaches up and touches the subway token through her shirt. She had started wearing it underneath her shirts, because it felt closer to her heart. He doesn’t see this small gesture because he’s looking at the ground again. “You said ‘he’...do you know who took you?” she asks.

“Yeah, it was a man named Cesar Faison. He was an old enemy of the Scorpios. Everyone thought he had died seven years ago, but he hadn’t. He kept me in a room for the past year, not telling me why, just saying that everyone was convinced I was dead, and that I was stuck there with him forever. It turns out I was being kept underneath Wyndemere all this time, and that Helena was behind it all.”

Her hand flies up to her mouth in surprise when she hears this. “You’ve been here all this time?” He nods. “Then how did you get out? Did he let you go, did you escape?”

“My dad finally figured it out and came to get me. Faison and Helena escaped on her yacht, but Dad had rigged a bomb on it already, so they didn’t get too far before it blew up. They’re dead now.” He’s still looking down at his hands, unable to meet her eyes.

She remembers the boat she saw at the docks, thinking that must be the one he’s talking about. “I saw the boat tonight. I remember wondering who had been on it, if it was the nice man I met on the docks a few days ago.” she says, more to herself than to him.

He looks up in surprise. “What man?”

Elizabeth looks down at her hands this time. “I was walking along the docks the other day, not watching where I was going, and I bumped into someone. I thought it was Nikolas, since the same thing had happened before..” Lucky’s eyes cloud over in anger at the mention of his brother’s name, but she doesn’t see it. “..but it wasn’t. I backed up a little when I saw it was a stranger, but he just smiled at me and apologized. He seemed very nice, and he had this cool accent..” Lucky tenses up, afraid of where her story is going to lead. “He asked me what was wrong, and for some reason I told him. I felt comfortable around him for some reason. He told me that he had been through the same thing, and that it would get better. He patted me on the shoulder and walked away, and for the first time that day, I actually felt good. I turned around to see where he went, and saw him getting on a boat. When I saw the boat today, I hoped it wasn’t him.” She looks up and sees Lucky staring intently at her.

“What did he look like?” he asks, afraid that he already knows the answer.

“Well, he was older, his hair was light brown, but was turning gray, especially at the temples, and it was down to his shoulders. He was kind of tan, and he smelled like cigars. Why?” She realizes then why she felt so comfortable around the man: the cigar smell had probably reminded her of Luke.

Forgetting his anger towards her, he dashes forward and reaches for her, cradling her face in his hands. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

She’s stunned for a moment by the feel of his touch, but manages to answer. “No, I told you, he was very nice to me. Why do you look so freaked out all of a sudden?”

Realizing what he had just done, he lets go of her face and backs up a step, but doesn’t break his eye contact with her. “That man was Faison, the one who had been holding me.”

Her eyes fill with terror at the realization. “But..he was so nice to me..” she stammers.

Lucky shakes his head. “So is the devil, when he wants something. Look, he knew who you were. He’s a sick man, and he probably go some sick pleasure out of pretending to be a caring stranger to you. He would show me videos of you all the time, and he had threatened to hurt you if I ever tried escape. Otherwise, don’t you think I would have done anything to get out of there?”

She steps forward and grabs his hands, seeing how upset he is. “Oh, Lucky, I’m so sorry. I should have known. I mean, I did know, at first, but...”

He looks at her, confused. “What are you talking about?”

Elizabeth stops to gather her thoughts for a moment. “The night of the fire, I woke up feeling like something was wrong. I tried to call you, but your phone wasn’t working. I got dressed and ran over there right away, worried that something had happened. When I got there and saw the fire, I freaked out. I think I was the first one there, but Bobbie showed up right after me. I kept asking if you were okay, if you had gotten out in time, because I couldn’t accept that it was you in there. Then Lt. Taggert came up to me and Bobbie with this in his hands,” she says, pulling the subway token out from under her shirt.

“He told us it was found on the body, and I just lost it. I think my legs gave out and he caught me. All I remember is saying over and over that you weren’t dead, that I’d be able to feel it if you were. But, I knew you wouldn’t go anywhere without this, so I finally accepted it. I guess I was right, after all. Anyway, I was still in denial then, and I begged him to let me keep it, so that I could give it back to you when you came back,” she laughs through the tears that are now running down her face. “I probably sounded crazy, but he just smiled and promised to return it to me when they were done with it. A few weeks later, they had ruled the fire as accidental, caused by my candles, you know, the ones I asked you to light before we went to sleep?” she laughs again. “I remember that I blamed myself for a while. I was convinced that I had killed you, because I gave you the candles, and I asked you to light another one that night.” Lucky’s eyes start to water, not realizing before that she carried around that guilt.

“Anyway, a few days later, Taggert stopped by Kelly’s and gave it back to me. I’ve worn it ever since.” She takes it off and holds it out to him. “I may have been delirious at the time, but I did promise to give it back, so please take it.”

He nods, amazed that she still has it, and that she had been wearing it all that time. She puts it over his head and smoothes it down over his chest with her right hand, tears forming in her eyes again. He looks down at it, feeling his own tears starting, and sees the ring on her hand. He had forgotten for a moment what he had seen at Kelly’s. He backs up suddenly.

“I..I can’t do this.” he says, and then turns and runs off again, leaving her shocked and alone.

~*~Chapter 44~*~

Nikolas knocks on the door of Laura’s house. He had waited for Liz to come back with his ring for about an hour before deciding to come here and see his little sister. He had left a note with the other waitress at Kelly’s saying that he was here in case she came back looking for him.

He’s surprised when Luke answers the door. “Uh..hi Luke. I thought I’d stop by and see LuLu, but if this is a bad time, I can come back.” he says, backing up to leave.

Luke smiles. “No, it’s fine. Please come in.” Nikolas looks at him strangely before walking inside. Ever since Lucky’s death, the two men had come to a sort of truce, but Luke was never more than just civil to him, and he never smiled at him like that. He wonders what was going on.

“Nikolas, it’s so good to see you,” Laura says, rushing over to hug him. “We were going to call you and ask to you come over tomorrow, but I guess tonight is just as good, right Luke?” she asks, looking at her husband. He nods, and they all go over to the sofa. Nikolas is extremely confused now, wondering what on Earth they’re babbling about.

“LuLu’s not here, she’s at Amy’s,” Laura explains, “but we need to talk to you about something. Do you have time now, or do you have to go somewhere?” They had decided to tell Nikolas about his paternity in the morning, but since he was already here, they might as well get it over with. If they waited until tomorrow after him being here tonight, he might get angry with them for not telling him right away.

Before he can answer, the door opens and Lucky storms in, runs up the stairs, and slams the door to his room. Luke and Laura exchange a small smile, having forgotten how good it was to have him back under their roof, even when he’s upset. “Should I go check on him?” she asks her husband.

“No, just let him be. He needs his space right now.” Luke answers.

Nikolas is looking at the two of them like they’re crazy. “Who was that strange guy that just ran in here? Does he have anything to do with what you had to tell me?” He hadn’t recognized him as Lucky, and his first instinct was that Laura had yet another son that no one had known about.

Luke and Laura look at each other, trying to decide who should break the news to him. Luke decides to explain.

“That was Lucky.” He raises a hand when Nikolas starts to talk, signaling him to let him speak. “We found out about a week ago that he was still alive. He was being kept prisoner by a man named Cesar Faison...” he goes on to explain the kidnapping, but leaves out the Cassidine involvement until the very end. “He was being held at Wyndemere, and Helena was behind it.” he finishes.

The three were unaware that Lucky had come out of his room and was listening from the top of the stairs.

Nikolas is speechless for a moment, before getting angry. “Helena...she’ll pay for this. Where is she now?”

“She’s dead, son.” No one catches on that Luke just called him ‘son’ because it’s not uncommon for him to use the term when talking to someone Nikolas’s age. “She tried to get away in her yacht with Faison, but I blew it up. We don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

Nikolas is once again speechless. He had wanted her dead as much as anyone for as long as he could remember. Now that it had finally happened, he wasn’t sure how to feel. He suddenly thinks of something and becomes afraid. “My father..is he...”

“Stefan is fine. He was at the hospital the whole time,” Laura says before he can finish his question. “But, I’m sorry to say that we suspect he had a part in the kidnapping as well.” Telling Nikolas about Luke wasn’t going to be easy. Ever since he had found out that Stefan was his father, he had become very close to him. It will be difficult for him accept that he wasn’t even related to him. Maybe knowing he was involved in Lucky’s ‘death’ will make it easier.

Nikolas’s head is swimming. Another thought hits him. “Wait...how long have you known about Lucky?” he turns to Laura. “That day when you and LuLu ran into us, with Foster...did you know?” He can’t bear to think that they were comforting each other while all the time she knew he was alive.

She shakes her head. “No, I didn’t find out until a few days later. I don’t think I could have kept it from you and Emily that day if I had known. You were both so sad. How is she, by the way?” she asks, trying to change the subject before he asks any more questions about Stefan.

He smiles, remembering that day, how they had almost kissed. “She’s good. We’re going out for her birthday tomorrow.”

Lucky’s ears perk up at this. Emily?

There’s a knock at the door. Laura answers it this time. “Elizabeth!” she exclaims, as Liz walks in, looking very flustered.

“Hi, Laura. Is Lucky, is he here” she asks hesitantly.

Laura smiles. She knew that Lucky would have found Liz right away. “He’s in his room, but he seemed upset, so we thought it best to give him some space for now. This must all be very hard for him.” She hugs Liz, knowing how she must feel right now.

Lucky watches all of this from his hiding place at the top of the stairs, unsure if he should come down or not.

Liz looks around the room for the first time since she came in. “Oh, Nikolas! I’m glad you’re here,” she says, walking over to him and giving him a hug. “I guess you heard by now.” He nods, still reeling from the news. She reaches down and pulls the ring off of her finger, handing it to him. “I’m sorry I ran off like that. I was going to return this tomorrow, but I guess you’ve saved me a trip.” she says, smiling.

In all of the excitement, he had forgotten about Emily’s ring. “Thanks. I knew you’d realize that you still had it on sooner or later. But, since Em’s birthday is tomorrow, I’m glad it was sooner.” They both laugh.

Laura walks up to them and looks at the ring. “Wow, Nikolas. That’s beautiful.” She stops, looking at him nervously. “It’s not a....”

He laughs, remembering Liz’s similar reaction. “No, it’s just a regular ring. I had asked Liz to try it on, to see if it was close enough in size, and then she ran off with it!”

“Ran off?” Laura asks, confused.

“I saw Lucky outside of Kelly’s and freaked out. I went running after him, and forgot I was still wearing it!’ she explains. Just then, there’s a noise at the top of the stairs, and they all look up. Lucky is standing there, staring down at them, with an odd look on his face.

“It was for Emily?” he asks quietly. Nikolas and Elizabeth nod, not sure what’s wrong with him. Before they know it, he’s running down the stairs. He heads straight for Elizabeth, and catches her in a fierce hug.

“Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” he keeps saying over and over again, sobbing uncontrollably.

She relaxes, happy to finally be in his arms, even though she has no idea what he’s apologizing for. “Shhh...it’s okay. You didn’t do anything to be sorry for,” she saying, smoothing his hair, trying to soothe him..

After a minute, he pulls back slightly to look at her. “No, I was horrible to you earlier. I...I thought you and Nikolas...” he breaks off, unable to continue.

It finally hits her, why he had been so aloof before. He must have seen Nikolas giving her the ring, and her hugging him, and thought the worst. “Oh, Lucky, no. Nikolas is going out with Emily. We’re just friends. I would never....not your brother...not so soon. God, Lucky, I wasn’t anywhere near over my grief yet. I cried every day, everything still reminded me of you. How could you think that I would get over you so quickly?” she asks, hurt that he would assume the worst like that.

“I’m sorry. It’s just...Faison would show me these videos of you and him hugging all the time, him climbing in your window,” he stops, remembering something. “Wait, if you’re not going out with him, why did you kiss him in our church?” he asks accusingly. Luke and Laura look at each other. This was the first they had heard about this.

Liz is shocked that he saw that, and can’t speak. Nikolas decides he should defend himself this time. “I went to the church to try and get an idea of what to do for Emily’s birthday. Liz was sleeping. She started to have a bad dream, so I went over to try and wake her, but I couldn’t right away. She finally woke up, sort of, but she was still dreaming I guess, and she thought I was you. That’s why she kissed me. As soon as she realized who I was, she stopped. I’ve never seen her look so horrified before.” He and Liz both laugh at the memory.

Lucky shakes his head. “I can’t believe he played with my emotions like that. I hated you for the longest time,” he says to his brother, ”I couldn’t believe that you would go after her like that, and I was kind of hurt that you got over me so quickly,” he finishes, talking to Elizabeth this time.

She hugs him again, “Oh, Lucky. I love you, you’re my soulmate. I don’t think I would have ever gotten over you!” she sobs.

“Really?” he asks, still finding it hard to absorb that Faison was tricking him all that time.

“Of course,” she says, looking into his eyes again. “Part of me died that night. The best part. I don’t think I would have ever gotten it back. I was like a zombie this past year. I went to school, and worked at Kelly’s, but that’s it. Nikolas and Emily were always there for me, and they helped me a lot - so did your parents, but nothing was ever the same. I was never truly happy. Not until today, when I saw you at the cemetery and knew that you were alive.”

He is choked with emotion, and has a hard time finding his voice. All he can say is, “I missed you so much!” She laughs a little and wipes away one of his tears. “I missed you too.”

Finally coming back to his senses, he lowers his face to hers and kisses her, forgetting that his parents and his brother are watching. For now, she is the only person in the room, and he never wants to let her go again. He puts all of the emotion of the past year into their kiss, all the desperation and hope, all the love and desire. He has dreamed of this moment for so long, and now that it’s finally here, he doesn’t want it to end.

She feels her knees going weak. He has never kissed her like this before, both passionately and tenderly at the same time, with so much love, so much warmth. She returns the kiss just as insistently, finally feeling whole again. She feels like he is literally breathing the life back into her, giving her back all the love that she thought she had lost.