AN:
Sighhh... I have no words. Honestly. This last month has been crazy for both myself an my beta. Thankfully it's seemed to calm down. Good news is ch 5 is nearly ready.
This chapter was so fun to write. I like how it all came together. We're finally getting to the good stuff.
As always any question feel free to ask.
~Kelly~
Chapter Four
"Matt? What... how... It's so good to see you." she managed to say after a moments pause. Elizabeth wondered if this was what her dad wanted to talk about. Somehow she doubted Matt being back was what he was so worried about telling her.
"It's good to see you too."
Julian tried not to enjoy the stunned look on his daughter's face. It felt good to surprise her with something like this. However he knew Jake and Jason were going to get him a totally different reaction. "I'm going to take Cam inside and let the two of you catch up."
"We're going to talk about that ice cream," Elizabeth warned as they headed inside.
"Of course."
"I tried to warn him."
"You... you know Julian?"
"Yeah..." Matt trailed off uncomfortably. He really wanted to hate Julian for making him come back to Port Charles. Running a hand over the back of his neck he said, "He sprung me from prison somehow. Honestly I was too relieved to ask. Your dad's been good to me the last few months."
"So you know about that?" She asked, only slightly surprised that her dad was honest with Matt about his business. She did have to wonder what Julian's real reason for getting her friend out of prison. Her dad rarely did anything without at least three motives. He was kind of annoying that way.
"Julian's been pretty upfront with me about a lot of things."
"It sounds like you like him."
Matt thought for several seconds about the question before responding, "I don't know about all that, but I do think he's a good boss. Better than Patrick that's for sure."
"Speaking of your brother... have you seen him yet?"
"Not yet," he admitted easily. Of everyone he knew Elizabeth would understand why he hadn't come back to Port Charles, even if she didn't like his reasons. Patrick on the other hand, probably not so much. The last thing Matt wanted was another fight with his brother. "I was hoping to put off seeing either one of you for... well honestly as long as possible."
"Matt..."
"I know. Believe me I've been told several times that Lisa's death wasn't my fault."
Elizabeth shook her head not sure he really believed that. Lisa had nearly killed her and she felt nothing but relief the woman was gone, "It really wasn't. After everything she did, I'm not sorry Lisa's dead."
"Me either."
"Well I guess that's a start."
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Sonny tried not to scream as Kate tuned him down. What did it matter if he was with Olivia a few days ago? All he cared about was that his Kate was back. He wanted nothing more than to be with her again. However the stubborn woman refused to cooperate. "I don't understand why you're fighting me on this. You know we were meant to be together."
"No, I don't know that," She replied calmly. Kate knew that losing her temper would only make things worse. All she really wanted was for the man in front of her to leave her alone. Something she knew Sonny wasn't likely to do on his own. "What I do know is every time my back is turned you go running to my cousin."
"Look, Olivia understands how things are. She's there for me when I need someone. But Kate, I love you."
"I'm not so sure about that anymore Sonny."
"We were about to get married, and you're just going to throw that away?" He demanded to know angrily. Damn Olivia for not being able to keep her mouth shut. What was it with woman and betraying him?
"Sonny!" Carly yelled, rushing into his office.
"Perfect, another one of your exs." Kate muttered rolling her eyes at the interruption. Actually she was grateful that Carly showed up. The brash woman served as another reminder why she could never be with Sonny.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was invited unlike some people."
"Now look here..."
Sonny shook his head at the fight that was about to break out. "Carly, stop fighting with Kate."
"Whatever," She muttered, tossing her blonde hair. Carly had no idea what Sonny saw in the uptight woman. But she couldn't seem to get rid of Kate for good. "It's not like she's going to stick around this time anyways."
"Did you come over for a reason? Or just to snipe at my guest?"
"Now I don't know if I wanna tell you."
"Of course you want to tell him." Kate scoffed knowingly. The other woman was a shameless gossip. "That's why you came running over here, isn't it?"
"One of these days... fine I'll tell you. Apparently, Elizabeth is Julian Jerome's daughter."
"That's not possible." Sonny frowned at the news. Julian Jerome was trying to destroy everything he'd built. There was no way he was going to let someone steal it away from him.
"According to Sam it is."
"When did all this happen?"
"At Kelly's earlier today." Carly said eagerly. She knew that Sonny wasn't going to react well to the news. She almost couldn't believe that Elizabeth had spent years lying to them. Almost. That bitch had done nothing but ruin her life since Jason met her. "She and Julian were talking when Elizabeth's kid ran up to him. The two clearly knew one another."
"That doesn't mean Elizabeth is a Jerome."
"The kid called Julian grandad. Besides that, he practically admitted it was true to Alexis."
"Damn it. This is the last thing I need," Sonny practically growled. Who knew how much inside information Elizabeth had given Jerome over the years? If Jason wasn't dead he would have killed him for this mess. "I can't believe Elizabeth lied to us all these years. Where the hell is her loyalty?"
"Thank you, Sonny," Kate muttered reaching for her purse. It was like she was seeing who Sonny truly was for the first time. She didn't really know Elizabeth well, but she seemed like a decent person. Plus Carly seemed to hate her so she couldn't be too bad. No matter what, Elizabeth didn't deserve to have Sonny plotting against her.
"Wait, for what?" Sonny asked, confused.
"Proving to me that it could never work between us."
"Kate, you don't mean that. Come back so we can talk... see what you've done."
"Me? If anyone is to blame it's Elizabeth. She's the one who's been lying."
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Sam paced the penthouse living room. On the coffee table was a stack of files about Derek Wells, aka Julian Jerome. The man was insane, hell the whole family was. Not Helena level insane but close. Still, none of the information gave her insight to her father.
Unlike Alexis, the man didn't seem to care they were family. He didn't want a connection to his little girl. Too bad he hadn't been a match to Danny. That would have been the perfect connection to exploit. Damn it. Why couldn't things go right just once?
She could feel her con start to fall apart. Why did Alexis have to have such terrible taste in men? Sonny, Ric, Julian. All three men were connected to the mob in some way. It was almost sad. Still, it was the woman's poor judgment that made her an easy target. Honestly Sam had never planned on running this con so long. But coming to Port Charles had been like hitting the jackpot. Finding out about Alexis's lost child had just been icing on the cake. Between her and Jason she was connected to the most rich and powerful families in town.
Her life had been perfect, until Saint Elizabeth had ruined it. She's spent months, years even trying to repair the damage Elizabeth had caused, but nothing was ever the same. Even after she married Jason and got pregnant. The other woman haunted her.
And now that bitch was trying to ruin everything again. After all these years she was suddenly claiming to be Julian Jerome's daughter. Well, Sam didn't buy it. She was too weak to be a mob boss's child. Julian was just another man to fall for her lies and manipulations. Well Sam was just going to have to stop her. Maybe permanently this time.
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Elizabeth practically pushed Matt into the house. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that he was even there. Of course, anything was better than him being trapped at Pentonville. She couldn't believe her dad hadn't mention anything about getting Matt released to her. It was just like him to keep something like this a secret. Matt was probably no help either. Elizabeth hated how guilty her friend felt of Lisa's death.
"Matt, come play Legos!" Cam said the moment he saw the other man. "Grandad got me Iron Man."
"I see you took my advice."
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at both men and asked, "You're to blame for the Lego invasion?"
"Just the Iron Man," Matt said, holding up his hands in surrender. His friend could be feisty when it came to her boys. From the look on her face he could only imagine how overboard Julian had gone. "I told Julian it was Cam's favorite."
"You're as bad as he is." Elizabeth teased playfully.
Matt let out a short laugh. He'd forgotten how much he enjoyed being around Elizabeth. "I'm guessing you don't mean that as a compliment." He smirked.
"Oh, go play Legos," She muttered, waving them both upstairs.
"Yes ma'am."
"I've never seen Matt that relaxed," Julian spoke up from the couch. It had been interesting to see the younger man interacting with Elizabeth and Cam. Knowing they had each other to lean on made him worry a little less. "Being back in Port Charles obviously agrees with him."
"Maybe. I'm certainly glad he's back. Is this one of the things we needed to talk about?" She asked cautiously. Matt being free was a good thing, and she couldn't imagine Julian worrying that much about her reaction about it. Elizabeth knew there had to be something else.
"It's part of what I wanted to tell you."
Elizabeth frowned at the admission. She hated when people kept secrets from her, especially Julian. Her dad didn't do anything half way, and that included secrets. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
"That depends on..." Julian paused, unsure how to even start. He'd made so many mistakes with his daughter. Even if he had thought it was for the best at the time. "Well, a lot of things to be honest. First I wanted to say I'm so sorry, Elizabeth. Staying away was the worst thing I could've done."
"When you pushed us away it hurt so much. Even if part of me understood why."
He shook his head vehemently at Elizabeth's easy acceptance. It made Julian want to hit someone. Starting with himself. His little girl had been so disappointed so often it was like she almost expected it. "No, don't do that. You have every right to be angry. What I did was wrong and no excuse is good enough. All I can do is apologize and promise it'll never happen again. Family sticks together."
"Promise?"
Julian hated how fragile she sounded at the moment. So many people had let Elizabeth down. While he couldn't change the past, he could do better in the future. "I swear. Besides, the whole town probably knows you're my daughter by now."
"Probably. You know she's going to be a problem, right?"
"I'm counting on it." He said, all warmth suddenly gone from his voice. Julian had plans for Sam McCall. Naturally those plans hinged on what the con woman decided to do next. As long as she left his family alone, Julian didn't care much about his fake daughter.
"Okay, I'm not going to ask." Elizabeth laughed a little bit nervously.
"Smart girl. I'd hate to have to lie to you."
"As long as you promise it'll never happen again, I forgive you for acting so stupid before."
"That's good, but you might want to wait until I tell you everything." Julian said nervously. He knew Elizabeth was going to be angry for all the pain he'd let her go through. And honestly he couldn't blame her. However Julian had needed to do something to protect his grandson from Helena Cassadine.
"You're starting to scare me."
"I don't mean to. Do you remember when Jake died?"
Elizabeth nodded with a frown. Losing Jake was the worst thing to ever happen to her. She still hadn't even begun to recover form the devastating loss. "It's all I can think about some days. I miss him so much."
"I'm sorry you went through that, Peanut. Truly. If there had been any other way..."
"What are you saying?"
"Jake isn't dead. One of my men found out about Helena's plot and grabbed him." Julian said in a rush bracing himself for Elizabeth's anger.
"And you just, what, decided to keep him from me?" She demanded incredulously.
"It wasn't like that," Julian promised, trying to calm his daughter down. Unfortunately, Elizabeth had his temper. Something he regretted at the moment. However he had to get her to at least hear him out. "I had to be sure that he was safe from her. That all of you were."
"Where is he? Where's my son?" She demanded, barely able to process what Julian was saying. Of course Helena was behind Jake being hurt. No one else was evil enough to harm a child. Well, almost no one else. A few other names immediately popped into her mind, including one Sam McCall.
"On his way to Port Charles. In fact, they should be landing pretty soon."
At the news all off Elizabeth's anger drained away. "Really? My baby is coming home?" She asked, pulling Julian in for a hug. Suddenly nothing mattered except the fact Jake was coming home.
"Really."
"I know I should be furious with you but I'm too happy at the moment."
"For what it's worth, I hated hurting you," Julian said, pulling away slightly. While he was happy Elizabeth wasn't angry right now, he knew should would be at some point. Especially since he had one more secret to tell her. "There is one more small detail."
"Come on Dad. I'm not sure I can stand another shock." Elizabeth grimaced.
"And I sympathize, but I'd rather you hear it from me first."
Elizabeth took a deep breath and tried to prepare herself for whatever her dad was about to say. Honestly, unless it was about Jake she wasn't sure she even cared at the moment. Having her little boy alive was a miracle. Nothing else could top that. After a few moments she said, "Okay, I'm ready. What is it?"
"Jake isn't the only one on the plane. Jason is alive too."
