Elizabeth stared in shock at her old friend. She quickly tried to regain her composure. "Jinxie! Oh my God," She exclaimed. The two tentatively embraced. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back to town?" Elizabeth asked pulling away.
"I wanted to surprise everyone." Jinx replied with a shrug. Elizabeth looked nervously over Jinx's shoulder. Jinx raised her brow curiously. "You expecting somebody?"
Elizabeth quickly shook her head. "No, no, come in," She said ushering Jinx into the living room shutting the door behind her. The two took a seat on opposite sides of the couch.
Elizabeth put on her best smile and offered her something to drink. "No thanks. So how are you?" She asked excitedly. "It's been awhile since we talked."
Elizabeth gave a small smile as she anxiously twiddled her hands. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had been dreading this day for years and it had finally arrived. She didn't know how she had allowed herself to keep up the secrets as long as she did. As long as Jinx stayed away everything seemed simple and perfect. She got to keep her friend and her lover. With Jinx being back it complicated everything.
"I know. I've just been so busy with the boys and all." She explained.
"Oh I 'm sure, I know firsthand how much of a hassle kids can be. I was chasing down kids before I was teenager." Jinx joked. Elizabeth chuckled uneasily. "You sure your okay, you look a little pale."
"I'm fine, I'm just getting over this stomach bug I had, but I'm much better now." She lied."Have you seen anyone yet?" She questioned Jinx trying not to act suspiciously.
"Well," Jinx began. "I did just come from seeing Luke and Lulu." Elizabeth's heart jumped, but she covered her panic quickly and plastered a fake smile.
"Really? How'd it go?" she asked trying to act concerned. Jinx's smile turned almost mischievous and her gaze shifted off to the corner.
"It went so much better than I thought it would." She told her.
"Really?" Elizabeth inquired still fishing for more info.
"Yeah, I was so afraid they would hate me after all these years, but Uncle Luke and Lulu really made me feel as if I never left."
"That's great… so you haven't seen anyone else?" Elizabeth pressed. Jinx gave her a strange look.
"Who else is there to see?" She asked curiously. Elizabeth began to stutter."I-I don't know, maybe Edward, or Nikolas." Elizabeth could barely say Nikolas' name without her heart speeding up. Jinx gave a soft gasp and nodded.
"Your right, I mean Edward is my great grandfather. I'm sure he'll want to see me. And I would like to see Nik. But I suppose I will run into him eventually since I'm moving back to town."
Elizabeth froze. "Lizzy, maybe you should lie down. I don't think you're quite over that bug yet," Jinx suggested. Elizabeth shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak and shut it. She repeated the action two more times.
"You're moving back here?"
"Oh yeah, that was the other surprise," Jinx revealed with a smirk. Elizabeth looked completely dejected. Her life would be changing for the worse if she wasn't careful. Everything was riding on how she handled this situation.
"Jinxie, there's something you should know," She began. Jinx tilted her head slightly and furrowed her brow.
"About what?" she asked with an almost childlike innocence. Elizabeth took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"It's about Lucky." She continued. She gently laid her hand on Jinx's as to prepare her. Jinx placed her other hand atop of hers.
"What about Lucky?" she asked her voice soft.
"This is going to be difficult to hear," Elizabeth stalled, still fearful over what she was about to confess.
"What is it about Lucky that you need to tell me Lizzy? It couldn't be that he's alive and has been back in Port Charles for years, is it?" Jinx suddenly said, her voice losing all trace of amicableness. Elizabeth's head shot up, her mouth dropped open in shock.
"What?" Elizabeth questioned her heart going in overtime.
"Oh don't feel bad Lizzy, I mean you only kept it from me for, oh about 8 years. Bigger secrets have been kept a lot longer. You should be proud of yourself." Jinx suggested her voice laced with sarcasm. She then jerked her hand away from hers and jumped to her feet. Elizabeth stayed seated almost in a daze. "I honestly don't know why I was so surprised, I mean about the only thing we've ever argued about was Lucky. Sure, we said we wouldn't let him come between us and for awhile we were okay, not on the best terms, but I honestly could not have fathomed what lengths you would go through to keep him and me apart."
Elizabeth slowly shook off her shock and stood up to face her former friend. "Jinxie you have to believe me, I didn't do this to hurt you," She claimed. Her face the epitome of regret, but Jinx seriously doubted any of it was because of what she'd done.
"Oh no, I know exactly why you did it Elizabeth. I knew why the minute I found out he was alive. You couldn't stand how close Lucky and I were, you made that perfectly clear before he died. You saw your opportunity to keep us apart and you jumped on it." Elizabeth shook her head denying the accusation. "Yes you did, you did Elizabeth, stop trying to pretend otherwise."
Elizabeth began to cry. "Jinxie you're my friend I never meant to-"
"To what Lizzy? Get caught! Obviously."
"No, I wanted to tell you I almost did," she professed. Jinx let out a cynical snort. "I did. But then all the stuff with the brainwashing was going on and he wasn't the same. He wasn't our Lucky anymore and I didn't want to get your hopes up and have you come back only to find out it wasn't the Lucky you remembered. You already had so much to deal with."
"Oh!" Jinx exclaimed. "So you did it for me? You only wanted to protect me?" Jinx crossed her hands over her heart. "Well thank you Lizzy. It means so much to me that you would take the time out of your distraught state and think about my feelings."
"It's true Jinxie. After he got better, so much had happened and so much time had passed I just didn't know how to tell you." Elizabeth insisted.
"Well how bout this," Jinxie put her hand up to her ear letting it act as her mock telephone. "Hey Jinxe guess what, you know your best friend who we thought had burned to death in that horrible fire months ago, well it turns out he didn't."
Elizabeth nodded, the tears on her face making a mess of the mascara she had on. "I know it was wrong Jinxie and I should have told you, I was just worried about you-,"
"Stop it Lizzy! Okay just stop it! Sell the BS to someone else, cause I'm no longer buying it okay?" Jinx shouted. Elizabeth hung her head and sniffed.
"He hates me now, you know that? He can't stand to be in the same room with me. To be fair I suppose I'd feel the same way if the person I considered to be a friend treated me like I didn't exist for 8 years, of course in my defense I didn't think he existed."
"I'm sorry." She whispered hugging herself. Jinxie ignored her, until something caught her eye. She looked closer at Elizabeth's right hand and saw red. With a false smile she gazed pointedly at the engagement ring on Elizabeth's finger.
"I guess congratulations are in order huh?" Elizabeth instinctively placed her arms down. Jinx shook her head disapprovingly.
"I suppose he has no idea you've been keeping in touch with me this whole time?" Elizabeth raised her head, fear evident on her face.
"Please don't tell him. Please Jinxie, he'll never forgive me." She begged. Jinx was quiet for a moment before she spoke.
"Well he isn't the only one," Jinx stated. She moved to the door when Elizabeth jumped in front of her putting her hands on Jinx's upper arms.
"Jinxie please, I love Lucky so much. I always have. He's the only father my kids know. If you tell him what I've done and he leaves me, where will that leave the boys? They don't deserve to lose their father because of what I did. Don't punish them please, I'm begging you." She pleaded panic in her eyes. Jinx wanted to tell her to go to hell that she didn't owe Elizabeth anything, but she thought about those boys, how her own father was MIA in her life, and how fortunate she had felt when Luke had taken her in. If Luke had suddenly disappeared from her life she'd been devastated.
"Your right, they don't deserve to suffer for their mother's selfishness." She spat out the word causing Elizabeth to flinch. "I won't tell him." Elizabeth dropped her arms let out a small sigh of relief.
"Thank you," She whispered.
"Don't. I'm not doing it for you. And I want to make sure you understand this. As far as you and I are concerned there is no more you and I got it? From now on you're as dead to me as Lucky was all those years." Jinx pushed her way past her ignoring Elizabeth's hurt look and stomped out of the house leaving a disheartened and worried Elizabeth alone.