Chapter Twenty Seven

Lacey worried her lower lip pensively and tried not to think of the nearly two dozen ways Jo Masterson was possibly manipulating her boyfriend at that very moment. Instead, she glanced over to her younger sister who had, through much pleading, arm twisting and finally outright bribery, agreed to keep Lacey company at the hospital while Danny and Jo said goodbye to "their" baby. Lacey grunted to herself with the thought. She still had plenty of theories tripping through her mind on that particular subject but, given the tenuous circumstances, Lacey was intuitive enough to recognize that now was not the time to bring them up.

"Thanks for sitting with me again," Lacey told her sister sincerely, "I think I'd probably go out of my mind if you weren't here."

"Uh-huh, " Clara replied, clearly too engrossed in reading a dated issue of People magazine to spare Lacey even a second glance. "No problem. What are sisters for? Just remember I like my cash in small bills." She snapped a warning look over the top of her magazine at Lacey. "And no quarters!"

The reply incurred a mildly exasperated eye roll from Lacey. Still, even distracted and self-absorbed, Clara proved to be better company than none at all. The last few days had been more than intense. By now, Lacey was running on pure adrenaline and hadn't been allowed a single second to figuratively catch her breath. After she had spent nearly a day and a half huddled with Danny in the freezing wilderness fearing for both of their lives, their subsequent rescue had only provided them both with fleeting relief. Tension inevitably rose again when Judy Porter and Vikram Desai, having been made aware of their children's harrowing ordeal, made their way to the Pennsylvania hospital.

Her mother, after she had expressed tearful relief and gratitude that Lacey had survived with little more injury than mild hypothermia and some superficial abrasions, summarily began to question the wisdom of Lacey's involvement with Danny. Confiding to Judy that Danny might have possibly been the victim of a plot hatched by his own aunt certainly hadn't helped matters either. In fact, it only solidified Judy's belief that Danny was "too dangerous" for Lacey. After that, her mother grew a wild hair about Lacey keeping her distance which, in turn, only made Lacey more determined to stay by Danny's side. Her innate distrust of Vikram Desai only strengthened that determination, much to her mother's consternation. It made for a very strained mother-daughter reunion.

And then the news had come about Jo's accident and things had quickly gone from bad to worse. Judy Porter was barely able to absorb the startling revelation that her daughter's boyfriend was having a baby with another girl when she was informed in that very same breath that the mother had suffered a terrible accident and the baby had died. It was the worst possible scenario that Lacey could imagine. There was little she could do to stop her mother from forming several unflattering opinions of Danny. Further, Lacey wasn't given too much time to contemplate how the news would affect a still healing Danny because her mother was continually haranguing her about the poor judgment she'd shown by getting involved with Danny in the first place.

Before Danny could even receive the all clear to be released from the hospital, Judy was insisting on taking Lacey back to Green Grove, obviously intent on separating her daughter from the young man who had seemed to cause her so many problems in such a short time. Her strong arm tactics definitely hadn't gone over well with Lacey, who stubbornly refused to leave Danny's side even if it meant incurring her mother's righteous anger. At the time, Lacey hadn't been able to imagine the emotional hell Danny must have been going through and she hadn't wanted to leave him to process it on his own. In the end, however, it was Danny himself, still numb from the news about Jo, who had convinced her to go. Things were already bad enough, he'd reasoned, and she shouldn't make it worse by alienating her mother.

Ultimately, because it was her desire not to upset Danny further, Lacey acquiesced to her mother's demands that they return home. However, on the long drive there, Lacey had made it more than clear to Judy that she had no intention of ending her relationship with Danny and, if necessary, would move out before she allowed her mother to interfere. While she had been expecting a fight following that declaration, Judy had surprisingly resigned herself to the idea. She made it clear that while she didn't like the idea of Lacey and Danny being together and harbored misgivings about Lacey's choice to stand by him, she would respect Lacey's choice. "That boy comes with a lot of baggage," she said, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," she had then added in final warning.

Lacey found herself thinking about that now. Just what the hell had she gotten herself into? She loved Danny. They shared an incredible bond that had been strengthened by thousands of years, a love that had defied time and death. He was a part of her soul and she couldn't excise him from her heart even if she wanted to do so. Still, she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that there was a part of her that was thoroughly frustrated with him now and it seemed that part grew bigger and bigger as the minutes passed.

Predictably, Danny had become obsessed with "being there for Jo" since the moment he found out about her and the baby. All consideration of her possible deception was instantly forgotten. Instead, he took the blame for what happened to her squarely on his own shoulders. He had lamented not being there when she needed him and pretty much descended into a vat of guilt and self-loathing when he contemplated her going through such a heart-wrenching ordeal alone.

Though Lacey had pointed out to him again and again that Jo hadn't been alone, that her parents had been at her bedside the entire time, Danny seemed to believe that helping Jo navigate through her grief should have been his responsibility alone. Lacey hadn't been surprised then when he called her early that very morning to tell her he was coming home and then asked her in the same sentence to meet him at the hospital. He knew he wasn't going to make it in time for the delivery but he definitely wanted to be there for the aftermath. According to Danny, Jo needed him and he, in turn, needed Lacey and so she, in turn, was essentially stuck. And thereby was the source of Lacey's unending frustration.

She couldn't understand how Danny had seemingly put aside all the possible lies Jo may have told him, particularly about the baby. Did none of that matter anymore because the baby had died? Maybe it shouldn't matter, Lacey reasoned to herself. Maybe Jo had suffered enough with the death of her baby. Maybe she should, like Danny had apparently done, just let it all go.

Lacey contemplated the answers to those questions carefully but when she thought about being pressed into Tutankhamun's mattress with Ankhesenamun's fingers wrapped around her throat, helpless to protect herself or her unborn child, Lacey couldn't give in. Lacey couldn't let it go...not when her every instinct screamed that AnkhensenaJo was still every bit the deceitful, conniving, murderous bitch she'd always been. Danny couldn't see it. He had forgotten or explained it away or convinced himself that Jo was somehow a different person. But Lacey? She would never forget...and she would never forgive. Jo had used a dead child to manipulate Danny once before in another lifetime. Lacey would be damned if she stood aside and watched it happen all over again.

For now, however, she recognized the wisdom in holding her tongue. Too mired in guilt and grief, Danny would be in no frame of mind to listen to her reasoning on the matter right then anyway. He so filled with determination to help Jo that he hadn't really stopped to give any attention to his own well being, not even proving that his aunt was trying to murder him. And, since he wasn't thinking about himself, it was up to Lacey to do that.

She would wait for an opportune time and give him some space to absorb all that had happened in the last few days but after that she would remind him of the need for the truth. He had to see Jo for who she really was otherwise he would always be vulnerable to her machinations. He might never be able to sever ties with her and his inability to do so in that first lifetime had proved deadly. This time he simply had to do it. There was no other choice. Unfortunately, Lacey couldn't shake the niggling fear that convincing Danny of that might be easier said than done.

The sudden snap of a magazine hitting a nearby table abruptly jolted Lacey from her brooding thoughts and she glanced up to find her sister regarding her with a bored expression. "I don't want to sound insensitive or anything," Clara prefaced, pretty much alluding to the fact her next statement was going to be the height of insensitivity, "but...exactly how long does it take to say goodbye to a fetus? Danny's been in there for hours! Shouldn't that kid be in the morgue by now?"

Lacey shrugged, not quite as impatient as her younger sister but not at all offended by her question either. While the baby's death had been tragic and sad there was also no undoing it. After saying goodbye, bestowing sweet kisses, holding the child and possibly taking pictures, what else was there? Those very questions had been buzzing around in her head since the moment they began approaching hour four but Lacey was loathe to admit that aloud.

"Jo was only a couple of months away from delivery," she reasoned aloud instead, "If the situation was different and she had actually gone into premature labor, the baby might have actually survived. When you lose a child, the idea of sending them off to a morgue can't be easy."

Clara grunted. "You're a way better person than me."

"I just know what it's like to lose a baby," Lacey murmured.

That admission caused Clara's eyes to flare wide. "Do you? Since when?" Lacey realized her misstep only a split second before Clara started firing questions at her. "When did it happen? With who? Was it Chris or Danny? Did you have an abortion? Oh my God, Lacey, does Mom know? Tell me you didn't go through something like that alone!"

"Clara! Get it a grip." When her sister, at long last, closed her mouth, Lacey prevaricated, "I...I wasn't talking about me personally but rather the patients that have come through the hospital when I'm volunteering."

She didn't exactly know how to explain to her sister that, in another life, she had once been brutally murdered while pregnant and that lost child was the one she found herself grieving. Clara would think she was certifiably nuts. Lying, therefore, seemed to be the easier way to go. Thankfully, Clara didn't question her about it any further, her fertile mind already veering to another topic entirely.

Clara scooted closer to Lacey, her tone dropping to a whisper when she asked, "So how do you feel about all of this?"

"How do I feel about what?"

Annoyed by what she thought was Lacey being deliberately obtuse, Clara made a face. "You know what I'm asking you. Now that Jo's not pregnant anymore, you and Danny shouldn't have any more obstacles to being together."

"What are you asking me right now? Do you think I wanted the baby to die?"

"Did you?" Lacey responded to that with understandable reproach. "Calm down," Clara soothed, "It's just you and me here, Lacey. I'm not judging you. Jo has been a pain in your ass since the beginning. I won't think less of you if that's how you felt, even if it was only for a little while."

"No! I didn't wish for that baby's death, Clara!" she retorted, aghast, "What kind of heartless monster do you think I am?"

"I don't think it makes you heartless or a monster to not want your boyfriend tied to another woman by a kid, especially if that woman is a manipulative bitch," Clara replied mildly, "I think it makes you human."

"That doesn't mean I wanted the baby to die," Lacey argued weakly.

"But it did. And now you and Danny can be together without this Jo girl being a shadow all the time."

"It's so much more complicated than that, Clare."

"I know that." Clara reached over for a copy of Us and flipped it open. "The next couple of weeks are probably going to be pretty rough with Danny being all delicate and sensitive but you'll be there for him. You'll kiss his booboos or whatever and then after that," she considered in between perusing the magazine articles, "it should be smooth sailing for you."

Lacey was still shaking her head over her sister's simplistic summation of events when their solitude in the L&D waiting room was abruptly altered by the arrival of a newcomer. She started to spare a polite glance at the stranger before reaching for her own magazine to pass the time and immediately froze. Lacey's heart rate accelerated slightly as she realized the face that greeted her was a vaguely familiar one.

The young man was good-looking, tall, lean and blonde but his looks weren't what captured Lacey's attention. It was the expression of abject misery on his face. His blue eyes were made all the more so by their red rims and the current sallow cast of his complexion. It was obvious that he had been crying. But even with his mildly bloated features and scruffy five o'clock shadow, Lacey had no trouble placing the young man. She had seen his face plenty of times in Danny's photos.

"You're Archie," she determined softly when he took the empty seat directly across from her.

Startled by that pronouncement, Archie straightened in his seat and favored Lacey with a curious frown. "I'm sorry...do I know you?"

Lacey thrust her hand forward in greeting. "I'm Lacey," she said before inclining a nod towards her younger sibling, "And this is my sister Clara." The two exchanged cursory "heys" before Lacey added, "I recognize you from Danny's pictures."

Archie relaxed then and reached out to shake her hand, the corner of his mouth lifted in a slight smile. "Oh, so you're the girlfriend I've heard so much about," he concluded in a murmur.

"Yep. I'm the girlfriend," Lacey confirmed, "We...uh...actually met once but you probably don't remember." Archie squinted at her as he tried to recall the moment in question. "You had come here to the hospital," she reminded him before adding rather meaningfully, "...to see Jo."

His expression closed off a little with that. "Oh...well, you know Danny, Jo and I go way back. Lot of history there."

"Is that why you're here?"

He bit his lip, as if attempting the staunch the emotion welling up inside of him. "Yeah. Jo needs all the support she can get right now. She's pretty bad off."

"But you're out here in the lobby," Lacey observed, "Why aren't you back in the room with her?"

"She and Danny needed some time alone to talk," he answered gruffly, "Besides things were getting a little tense between Danny and me. I'm sure you already know that we're not on good terms at the moment. Jo doesn't need the added stress so I decided to get out of there for a while."

"Seems like you care about her a lot."

"I do."

"What about Danny?"

"What about him?"

It was impossible to mistake the edge in his question. "I don't know, I just think it's sad that you and Danny are fighting at a time like this," Lacey remarked in a thoughtful tone, "He's going through a lot right now. He could use all of his friends around him. He needs support too."

"I doubt that includes me. Things are pretty complicated between Danny and me," Archie said, "Sometimes people grow apart."

"But not you and Jo," Lacey observed rather astutely, "I didn't realize that you and Jo were so close to each other. I've always been under the impression that you two only tolerated each other for Danny's benefit."

Archie's countenance became positively stony then. "What exactly would you know about it?" he snapped irritably, "You've been in Danny's life less than six months! You're hardly an expert!"

"You're right. I don't know Danny as well as you and Jo. I guess I'm just trying to understand why you and he barely speak anymore while Jo seems to have your unflagging support."

"It's not easy being Danny Desai's friend, okay!" Archie retorted defensively, "He tends to put the people who love him through hell. Jo and I both know how that feels. We've both been on the receiving end of his crap more than once. I guess we've more or less bonded over Danny's jerkiness in the last couple of years."

"So what? You two get together and rag on Danny behind his back? Some friends you are!"

While it was clear that Archie was irritated by her judgmental tone, he made a conscious effort to maintain his cool. "Look, I get it," he murmured, "Your relationship with Danny is all new and shiny and you're in that phase where you believe that he can do no wrong, but...Danny has demons. A lot of them and he's screwed up in ways you can't imagine. When you have to deal with years of that, then you can come at me about what kind of friend I've been to him!"

"If he's 'screwed up' as you say, maybe it's because he can't trust the people who claim to love him!" Lacey hissed angrily.

Clara suddenly set aside her magazine and shifted to her feet. "And on that note," she announced, "I think I'll go get something from the vending machine." Over the course of Lacey and Archie's increasingly volatile conversation, Clara had been becoming more and more uncomfortable. When she recognized that things were about to truly get ugly, however, she decided to bow out rather than linger as an unwilling witness. "You two seem like you have a lot to hash out, so I'll leave you to it."

When she was gone, Lacey found herself under Archie's penetrating scrutiny. "Are you always so judgmental of people you barely even know?"

"I'm only speaking out of concern for Danny."

"He's a big boy!" Archie retorted, "He can take care of himself!"

"What happened between you two?" Lacey wondered aloud, "Danny once told me that you were his best friend and one of the people he trusted most in this world. What happened to you?"

"Trust is a two way street, Lacey."

"You're saying that you don't trust Danny? Really?"

"I'm saying that you don't know him as well as you think you do! You sure as hell don't know about the crap he's put me and Jo through!"

"Like what?"

"Who do you think sobered him up when he would go on three day benders or scraped together the money to bail him out of jail when his family would leave him there to rot?" Archie grated, "Jo and I have always been better friends to Danny than he has been to us!"

"I'm not saying he's perfect..."

"No, you're just trying to paint him as the victim to my villain," Archie interrupted harshly, "and that's not remotely how it went down."

"So you tell me how it went down," Lacey challenged, "Because, from Danny's perspective, you just suddenly stopped talking to him."

Archie leaned back in his chair with a weary sigh. "Maybe I just got tired of his crap."

"That's it?" Lacey snorted, "Years of friendship flushed down the tubes because you 'got tired of his crap?'"

"Sorry if that's not good enough for you," he replied with a shrug.

"It has nothing to do with that. I just happen to think you're lying."

He fixed her with a sharp glare. "Excuse me?"

"I think there's more to the story than what you're saying," she went on sagely, "You don't sound like someone who just wanted to cut ties with Danny. You sound like someone who resents him."

"You don't know me," Archie scoffed, "And you sure as hell don't know him."

"You keep saying that but, I'm starting to believe that it's Danny who doesn't know you!" Lacey retorted, "Or Jo, for that matter."

Archie tensed with the veiled accusation. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I think that you and Jo are a lot closer than you're letting on," Lacey said, "It means I think that was your baby she lost, not Danny's."

In that split second a look of uneasy horror flitted across Archie's chalk white features before he quickly masked it behind an inscrutable facade. "Does Danny have any idea how insane you are?" he uttered, "I hope you haven't gone to him with that crap!"

"Don't deflect," Lacey replied softly, "We both know it's true." As his expression hardened even further, she abruptly switched her tactics to cajolery. "Come on, Archie, there's no one here but us right now. You can drop the facade. Your kid just died. Don't you want to be free to grieve for him? Don't you want to be able to claim him as your own? Are you really going to let Jo take that away from you?"

He glanced away from her, his jaw tight. "You're sick."

"I'm right," Lacey countered tersely, "And you know it."

Archie glowered at her. "What I know is that Jo lost her son! What I know is that she's devastated!" he grated, "This is not the time to voice some vicious theory about her kid's paternity just because you feel insecure! If you can't muster up some sympathy for her, at least have some for Danny! He lost a kid too, you know!"

"And what about you?"

"I told you to drop it," Archie warned darkly, "I'm serious, Lacey. You hurt Jo and I hurt you."

Lacey reared back in surprise, stunned by the menace underscoring his statement. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm promising you. I'll do whatever I have to do to protect her."

"You sound like you love her," Lacey murmured without thinking.

"And what if I do?" Archie challenged in retort.

Without preamble, his challenge triggered a long forgotten memory in Lacey. She could distinctly remember standing on the outskirts of Tutankhamun's royal court and watching in shock as the man she loved mercilessly plunged a dagger into the belly of his boyhood friend. However, what stood out in her mind wasn't the conflicted expression of sorrow, grief and anger that had haunted Khaten's features at the moment when Ka crumpled at his feet but the keening cry of a mournful Ankhesenamun as she had cradled Ka's dying body in her arms.

She could see the way Ka had clung to her hand desperately as the lifeblood leaked out of him. No one had needed to tell her in that moment that Ka and Ankhesenamun's marriage union hadn't been born out of convenience alone. It was clear from Ankhesenamun's inconsolable grief that she had loved Ka, just as it was clear from the way Ka had looked at her as he was dying that he had loved her in return. That was the reason Lacey knew unequivocally as she looked at Archie right then that she was staring into the eyes of Ka's reincarnated form. The realization shook her to her very core.

"Oh...my...god..." she uttered in disbelief as the truth settled upon her heavily, "It's you. It's happening again. I can't believe it's happening all over again."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Archie sighed impatiently.

Lacey stared at him with a mixture of shock and astonishment, feeling as if she were only truly seeing him for the first time. "You've hated him for centuries, haven't you?" she whispered aloud mournfully, "Is that what carried you through? Is that how you're here right now?"

Archie snorted. "Now you're just being weird and melodramatic. This has nothing to do with hating Danny! I'm not thinking about him at all! I want to do what's best for Jo."

"Tell me the truth! Do you know who he is?" Lacey pressed, "Who she is? Is that why all of this is happening again? What are you after? Is this some sick attempt at revenge?"

"Now, I know for sure that you're crazy," Archie muttered, half in exasperation and half in genuine concern, "Look, I don't know what the hell it is that you're going through but keep it to yourself. Stay away from Jo." He shifted to his feet in a clear evidence of dismissal. "She doesn't need your drama right now."

He exited the lobby just as Clara returned with an armful of snacks. "Whoa," she said as Archie stomped past her, "Did the temperature in here just drop 20 degrees or what?" However, her wry humor dissipated entirely when she looked down at Lacey and noted her sister's stricken expression. Lacey looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her body was visibly trembling.

Clara immediately dropped her chips and cookies into the closest chair and knelt down before her sister, grabbing hold of both Lacey's hands. "Are you okay?" she fretted softly, "What did that asshole say to you, Lacey?"

Recovering her composure was a difficult task and Lacey failed miserably in the attempt. Unconvincingly, she replied, "N-Nothing. He didn't say anything."

"Stop lying," Clara admonished, "You look like you've been kicked in the stomach. What happened just now?"

Lacey stared at her with vacant eyes. "Have you ever had the feeling that something horrible was going to happen and that there was nothing on earth you could do to stop it?"

"I don't understand what you're asking me."

Sensing her sister's growing confusion and worry, Lacey forced a smile. "Forget I said anything. Archie was being a jerk and I let him get to me," she lied shakily, "I'm fine now."

But Lacey was far from fine and she knew it. She doubted she would ever be "fine" again. She was too consumed with fear and dismay that the past, every dark, tragic, painful bit of it, was destined to repeat itself in the present.