It had already been a typically hectic morning for a single mom of two boys even before Elizabeth had make the mistake of checking Facebook on her way to work and seen the news. Everyone had a comment, including an irritating "OMG I KNEW IT" from Sarah which she almost took her to task over in a private message but ultimately decided it was best to ignore. She had tried to call Nikolas three times and left one awkward voicemail as she'd parked her car in the GH garage. By the time she stepped off the elevator at the fourth floor nurses' station she was running late, again, but she almost turned around and got right back on when she saw Felix was already waiting for her, ready to pounce. She shoved her coat, scarf and tote bag under the desk as he demanded, "Finally! Give me the inside line on the house of Cassadine, Liz, Port Charles' royal watchers need to know."
"I don't know anymore than you do, Felix." She began sorting through a stack of charts. "Just that it's royally screwed up."
"Don't tell me possibly-not-a-Prince Nikolas' 'no comment' extends to you, too."
"It was a crazy morning, I haven't been able to talk to him yet. But yeah, I found out the same way everybody else did."
"Ouch."
"No, it's perfectly understandable, I'm sure he's got a lot to deal with right now. There's no reason for me to be his first call."
"So it's come to that, huh?"
She sighed. "Pretty much." Elizabeth looked around to make sure they didn't have an audience, and then confided, "I am worried about him, though."
"So it's true? It's like finding out Diana-rest her soul-had a fling with Andrew."
She frowned in disapproval. "Not really."
"Yeah, I couldn't think of a better analogy. ...Is it true, though?"
"I don't know. Maybe not. It's probably just Helena making trouble."
"Tell me about this Stefan, at least. Seems like he was kind of a big deal around here for a while. Did you know him?"
"Barely. He raised Nikolas. They were close before...well."
"Yeah, he went cray. I googled. What about that Katherine Bell, did you know her? She sounds like a trip. Oh, what about Damian Smith?" Before she could respond, he said, "Heads up, Her Britchness at twelve o'clock."
Britt Westbourne came around the corner and stalked by them without acknowledgment. Elizabeth barely looked up from her charts to say, "No cell phones on the floor, Britt." Britt wrinkled her nose and then paced by again as she continued her call.
"Um. It's me again. Just wanted to let you know, I'm here, if there's anything I can do, anything you or Spencer might need..."
Elizabeth looked up.
"Anyway, you don't have to call me back, but I'm here if you want to talk. I know you must be devastated." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and snorted, and Britt ended her voicemail with a halting, "Okay. Um. Bye." She slipped her phone into her lab coat's pocket and crossed her arms. "Is there a problem, Elizabeth?"
"'Devastated' is a little strong, don't you think?"
"Uh, to have his whole life turned upside down? I don't think so."
"Look, I know you think you know Nikolas on some deep level because you bonded over being descended from lunatics, but this just proves that you really don't know him at all. He loved his uncle. If this is true, it'll be hard, yes, but it could actually turn out to be a good thing. So I don't think he'll be needing the 'moral support' you're so eager to provide."
Felix was supposed to have started his rounds by now, but instead he hovered in the background, observing.
"What business is it of yours, anyway?" Britt challenged. "I thought you'd officially taken yourself out of the game. You chose you or something like that, right?"
Now Elizabeth's arms were crossed. "Just the fact that you call it a game? Makes me sad for you. You're right, though. It's none of my business that you've attached yourself like a lamprey to the first man who was ever nice to you." She thought she saw Britt flinch at that, just slightly, and felt the rush of satisfaction from scoring a point. To be honest, it felt a little gross. "Anyway, I'm done fighting with you over Nikolas. It's degrading."
"Are you kidding? You started this."
"Technically it started as fighting about, not over, him," Felix pointed out.
"Thank you, Felix," said Liz.
"There's no way this conversation passes the Bechdel Test, though."
Elizabeth gave him a quizzical look, and Britt just ignored him. "You're really so jealous of our relationship that you'd resent me trying to be there for my friend."
"Yeah, I know how you want to be there for your friend. Aren't you currently dumped, though? To use this to weasel your way back in..." She loaded down her voice with faux pity. "Frankly, it's pathetic."
Britt smirked and leaned over the desk. "Is it as pathetic as cloaking yourself in some kind of righteous spinsterhood because you can't even admit that you lost?"
"Oh, first off, I didn't lose-"
"Sure."
"Second, you know even less about me than you do about Nikolas."
"Oh, I'm so sick of that. Maybe I wouldn't pass a Port Charles pop quiz, but I've actually, you know, had a life in the outside world. You invoke this deep history like it's supposed to mean something. All it means is that you're in the same spot you planted yourself as a teenager. Speaking of pathetic." Elizabeth's jaw clenched. Britt could tell she'd gotten a hit, so she fired again. "I don't need a calendar that goes back to nineteen ninety whatever. Nikolas and I have a deeper connection."
That overshot the target, and Elizabeth laughed. "Please. That's what you think a 'deep connection' is? It honestly is kind of sad, the way you cling to this romanticized idea of him, and your relationship. Nikolas isn't your prince charming. In fact, if you really knew him, you'd know he can actually be kind of a-"
With a thwack! a newspaper landed on the nurses' station desk. It was the Port Charles Press, and it was the first time Elizabeth had seen a copy of the print edition, the cover of which featured a full page photo of Nikolas and a one word headline: BASTARD. Obrecht loomed over it.
"Later," said Felix as he backed away from the nurses' station. "I've got rounds." Elizabeth heard him mutter, "It's like she can transform herself into a mist or something..." She wished she had rounds.
"Nurse Webber is right, Britta," declared Obrecht. "Nikolas Cassadine isn't for you." She waved her hand at the front page. "You really dodged the bullet on this one." A gleam came into her eye. "Which is more than Nurse Webber is capable of." She grinned at Elizabeth. "Do you get it? It's a reference to how I shot you."
Even Britt thought that crossed a line. "Mother, please..."
Liz turned to her computer, refusing to engage on Obrecht's terms. "Interesting that someone who was willing to steal a baby is getting hung up on genealogical technicalities."
"Y chromosomes are one thing, but such a loss of status? More importantly, to lose the respect of a great woman like Helena Cassadine?"
"That's right, I forgot you were a fangirl."
"I don't know, getting thrown under the bus by Helena sounds like an endorsement to me." In her mother's presence, Britt's voice seemed drained of its brashness.
"Nonsense. And if he truly decides this is a 'good thing'-" she sneered and made air quotes.
Elizabeth did turn her head at this. "How long have you been listening?" She hadn't seen her anywhere. Maybe Felix was right.
"Long enough to know you were eight minutes late, and dock your pay accordingly."
"I'd be caught up on my work right now if you and your daughter weren't distracting me."
"Let's go to my office." Britt had stepped back from the desk and was hovering several feet away, in search of an escape route.
"Fine. This one isn't amusing anymore." She put her nails down, claw-like, onto the paper and pushed it across the desk at Elizabeth. "Here. You can keep this. We're finished with it."
