What Happened to Forever?

Chapters 9-10

~*~Chapter 9~*~

Lucky sits on his bed thinking about Elizabeth, as usual. 'How could she? For that matter, how could he? I know I wanted her to move on, but not with my own brother! I thought we were becoming friends, like real brothers almost. I'm barely in my grave, and Prince-boy starts moving in on my girl.'

He gets up and starts pacing around the room, becoming more and more agitated. 'Okay, fine. So Nikolas wants Elizabeth. He's scum, I can deal with that. I trusted a Cassidine, I should haven't expected this But how could she go out with him? What happened to us being soulmates? Did our vows mean nothing? I die, she cries a little, then, what? Lucky's gone, but hey, his brother's kind of cute! I think I'm gonna throw up.'

He sits down on the bed again, trying to control his anger. 'No, Elizabeth would never do that. There must be a mistake. The videos are just misleading, that's all. Faison must be taking them out of context on purpose, to make me mad. Then why was Nikolas climbing in her window?' "Argh!" With that, he throws himself down on the bed, sobbing. He can't stop the memories from flooding him. All he can see is Elizabeth, smiling at him, dancing with him, kissing him, pledging to love him forever. Suddenly, forever seems a lot shorter.

***The Control Room***

Faison watches the scene, pleased that his plan is working. Sure, it took longer than he expected, but as they say, patience is a virtue. Soon the boy will be so hopeless and disenchanted with his former life, that he will have no choice but to join forces with them. A few more strategically timed videos of his loved ones moving on, and they could move on to the next part of the plan.

He feels a hand rest lightly on his shoulder. "You know this won't work, don't you?"

"Now why do you have to be so cynical? Look at him. He's depressed. He's in pain. It's perfect." He turns in his chair and looks up at Helena, who shakes her head.

"I've gone along with this plan of yours for a year now, and I can't keep quiet any longer. Your plan may be fine in theory, but this is a Spencer we're dealing with. He is fiercely loyal to his family, and no matter what they may or may not do, he will not turn his back on them or give up hope. He may be low right now, but he'll snap out of it. He always does. We need a different angle."

Faison frowns. "And what would you suggest? Force him to cooperate? We both know that isn't going to work. Brainwashing is the only way."

"Unfortunately, that way isn't possible here. He's too strong-willed. The best way to get a Spencer to do something against their will is good, old-fashioned threats. Look how well it's worked so far: threaten his girlfriend, he stops trying to escape. Whatever we do, it needs to be soon. We're fortunate that everyone has accepted his death so completely, but we shouldn't push that luck. We need to act."

Faison sighs. He knew this would happen sooner or later. Helena was not a patient woman. On the other hand, she did have a point. The boy was taking far too long to crack. Deep down he knew she was right: their original plan just wouldn't work. "Alright, so what is your plan?" Something told him he wouldn't like this.

Helena smiles, "It's very simple, really. Show Luke that his precious cowboy is alive. The terms will be clear: Ice Princess for his son. We get the diamond, we kill the boy. The Spencers lose him all over again. It's beautiful, really."

"Yes, but you know Luke is too smart to hand over the diamond before the boy is in his arms. How do you plan on pulling this off?"

She laughs. "Oh, you underestimate me Cesar. I have developed a drug that takes 24 hours to kill a person, and there is no cure. Once it's in the system, it's only a matter of time. That way, we poison the boy, turn him over to the happy Spencer clan, get our diamond, and get the hell out of Dodge. By the time they know what him them, it'll be too late. Plus, Luke only knows you as Herr Krieg, and no one has any clue that I'm involved, so it's perfect!" She throws her hands up in victory.

"But you forget one thing, my dear. The boy knows who I am. How do you plan on getting around that?" As foolproof as her plan seems, he knows that there's always a catch, and Luke Spencer always finds the catch.

"Okay, fine, so he knows who you are. You're supposed to be dead, remember? even if they do believe him, they'll never find you. And we've kept him in the dark about me, so we doon't have to worry about them linking us together. You worry too much. Just admit it: this is a good idea. And it's going to work." She says, then leaves the room.

~*~Chapter 10~*~

Felicia is now pacing the room. "So, we have a week before Faison calls you. How are we going to figure out what he wants by then?"

"We already know that darlin'. He wants my diamond. The question we need to be asking is why, and what else is he up to?" Luke is still relaxing in his chair, chewing on the end of his cigar.

"Alright, let's see......okay, when was the first time he contacted you?" Felicia is now in full PI mode, her mind is going a mile a minute.

"You mean the first time ever, or the first time with this particular request?" Luke can kind of see where her line of questioning is going, but he's not quite sure what she's looking for yet.

"Both. Then we'll figure out which is more important."

"Well, we've been dealing for a few years now. I don't remember exactly how long. In fact, I can't even remember anymore if I found him or vice versa..." He pauses to think, then continues. "I do, however, remember the first time he contacted me about the Princess...it was about a week after Lucky...after the fire. I remember because I was too upset to deal with him, and I told him I didn't want to do business with him anymore."

Felicia's heart is racing now at what this implies, but she doesn't want to get Luke's hopes up. He's been through so much, and he's finally starting to get his life back together. The last thing she wants to do is make him relive that pain again. As she tried to think of a way to voice her hunch, Luke has the same revelation.

Luke suddenly stands up. "Wait! Let's get this all out on the table. My son dies. A week later, Krieg..Faison..whoever...suddenly wants to do business again. He keeps bugging me for a year, even calls me on the anniversary of the fire, which is a whole week ahead of schedule, something he's never done before."

"Okay, but this could all be a coincidence. Keep that in mind. Do you have any kind of proof that this could have something to do with Lukcy?" Felicia is trying desperately to be the voice of reason, but with little success. Once Luke gets an idea in his head.....

"Whoa.....I just remembered something. The first time, after the fire, he had the nerve to pick up this picture," he points to the photo of Lucky that he's looke at so many times that past year, "and commented about how much he resembled me or something. There's something else, too, that I'm not quite recalling. Damn! If only I could remember..." He trails off, rubbing his head as though it will bring the memory back.

Felicia suddenly yelps in surprise. "Oh my God! I just realized something! When I was listening to your conversation before, I noticed that he said something about feeling 'Lucky' today. I remember because I noticed how you got quiet all of a sudden. Maybe he said that on purpose."

As soon as she says this, Luke jumps out of his chair and grabs her up in a big bear hug, swinging her around in circles. "That's it! That's what's been bugging me all this time! Every time he calls, he uses the word 'lucky' at least once. How did I not catch on to that? All this time, and it was right under my nose."

As the realization slowly hits, that his son may actually be alive, he turns serious again. "I should have known. I should have been able to tell that he wasn't really gone. All this time I've been seeing these visions of him, and chalking it up to grief, to an inability to accept that he was really gone. How could I be so stupid?" He sits back down as the tears finally come.