The New Face of Deception

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Teaser: General Hospital/All My Children Crossover. Lucky Spencer has come to the realization that Liz isn't the love of his life. Greenlee Smythe has left town after the whole Leo/Laura/Jake disaster. Also featuring various cast members from both shows.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, nor am I making any money off of them. They are the sole property of ABC and whoever else owns them.

Distribution: Contact me at Manson5050@aol.com with the website address, and I'm sure I'll be more than happy to share my story!

Background info: Branches off at the beginning of November 2001. In GH, everyone has just defeated Stavros and Helena, with the exception of Gia, who left town before finding out that Nikolas's behavior was all an act. In AMC, branches off the morning of Leo and Laura's wedding. Jake has just broken it off with Greenlee, who leaves her office before her father shows up. If anyone is confused about what's going on because you only watch one of the shows or you don't really know the history, feel free to email questions to me at Manson5050@aol.com.

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Prologue

            Lucky Spencer sat on the porch of his mother's house staring at the phone in his hand, the phone he'd just gotten off of after the hardest two hours of his life. He was a jerk. It was as simple as that. He'd broken the heart of the girl who'd always been there for him, the girl he'd promised to spend the rest of his life with.

            He knew it was hard for Liz to understand. He hardly understood it himself. But as hard as it was, as awful as he felt for putting Elizabeth through all that he had and then breaking her heart on top of it, he knew it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

            They weren't right for each other. Yes, he still loved Liz. A part of him always would. But they weren't each other's soul mates. They weren't "the ones," the loves of each other's lives.

            It was kind of ironic. On the same day he finally remembered loving Liz, he realized that he'd never really loved her at all. Not in the way he should. If they were meant to spend their lives together, if they were meant to be each other's "always and forevers," no amount of programming could have made him forget. No rock could make a person forget that kind of love, no matter how powerful the Ice Princess supposedly was.


            As the memories bombarded him the night before, as wave after wave of feeling hit him, as Liz's voice filled his head, one question above all else had plagued his soul, "How did this happen?" How did Helena erase all of this? How could so many memories just vanish into thin air? How could he have forgotten something that was so much a part of his life? Why wasn't he happier that he had finally remembered everything he'd ever felt for Liz? Why wasn't what he felt for Liz more than what it was? How had he let things between them spiral so far out of control? How could he possibly tell her it was over?


            He'd managed to do it. Over the phone. He couldn't even do it face to face. As if Lucky didn't have enough things to feel guilty about, he'd had to break up with the girl who'd been his everything for years over the phone. As much as he'd wanted to explain things in person, as much as he'd wanted to make this a little less painful for her, there was no other way. It could be months before it was safe enough for Liz to return home, and he couldn't let her spend those months thinking he'd be there when the time came.

            Lucky felt lost. Everything he'd held true for so long suddenly wasn't. His "future" was now a thing of the past. But as guilty as he felt, as lost and uncertain and confused as he might be, one feeling overshadowed all else on that monumental day: freedom.

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            Greenlee Smythe inhaled deeply as she clasped her hands tightly on her lap. The events of the day, thus far, were surreal. She'd always been impulsive, but this was over the top, even for her. Everything that had happened that day was just so unexpected. Nothing had turned out the way it was supposed to.

            Her day had started out normal enough. She'd walked into her office at Enchantment, stood there for all of five seconds, and that's where it all came crashing down. Erica stormed into her office, threw down a newspaper with the previous night's disaster plastered across the front page, and fired her. Then Jake had come by pronouncing he was throwing her out of his loft and, essentially, his life.


            So she'd waited. Waited for Erica to come back and say that this was like all of the other times, that she wasn't really fired. Waited for Jake to come back and say he still loved her, that he understood why she had done what she'd done. She might not still be in love with Leo, but a part of her would always care about him, and that part of her couldn't let him condemn himself to a life of misery without putting up a fight.

            Most of all, she'd waited for Leo. Waited for him to call of the wedding, waited for him to come begging for her forgiveness, waited for some sign that he'd seen the light and realized how much of a psycho Laura was. Waited in vain, because it never happened, not any of it. Erica, Jake, Leo...they'd all just written her off without a second thought. Well, if they thought she was just going to crawl away with her tail between her legs and her trust fund in the bank, then they were wrong. Dead wrong.

            She was Greenlee Smythe, G-d damn it! She hadn't survived this long in life by letting people walk all over her. If Leo wanted to marry that psycho and believe Laura over her, that was his problem. Whether he realized the truth one month from now or one year from now, he'd eventually understand that all she'd ever tried to do was help him. Whatever misery he went through in the mean time was his own dumb fault. She was done bending over backwards trying to help Leo du Pres.

            But Leo wasn't really the one she was mad at. Jake Martin was the lucky recipient of the vast majority of her anger, because however much she'd expected Leo to come to his senses, he'd never actually said anything to make her believe that. Jake, on the other hand, had just declared his love for her. Two seconds later, he'd dumped her. If he had that little faith in her, in their love, in the possibility of what could have developed between them if only given the chance, then he'd obviously never really loved her in the first place.


            Good riddance. She was better off without them. For once in her life, Greenlee was going to do the smart thing, the non-self destructive thing, and just walk away from Leo and Jake, the two guys who'd caused her more pain than they'd ever even know. Her former boss, on the other hand, had another thing coming.


            If Erica thought she could trick her into signing an unfair contract, order her around, treat her like a gopher, and then just fire her, she obviously underestimated her former employee. Erica Kane had finally met her match. She'd realize that soon enough.


            All of this had hit Greenlee out of nowhere. She'd had a revelation, an epiphany, if you will. She was through with being the world's punching bag, the person everyone knew and hated. She was on her way to a new life, in a new place with a new job and a fresh start. Everyone would know her all right, but this time they'd love her.

            Leo, Jake, Erica, and everyone else who'd ever screwed her over or treated her like dirt would be kicking themselves before long. Pretty soon, all of Pine Valley would take notice, because no one got the better of Greenlee Smythe. With all these thoughts, feelings, reflections, regrets, and plans swirling around inside her head, causing a jumble of confusion and intermittent moments of insanity, one feeling took precedence over all else on that monumental day: freedom.

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Please feel free to email me at Manson5050@aol.com with any questions, comments, criticisms, compliments, advice, etc.