This is for the

Presumed Dead Challenge at Soap Fan Fiction

One Shot

Daddy Came Home

March 2008

"Do not say a word, Lansing."

Beneath the hand clamped on his mouth, Ric struggled to speak anyway. He had been sticking his key in his front door, completely focused on the task, and didn't notice the man slide around the corner of the house. His heart beat fast in his chest. He didn't want to die...he had so many sins to pay for and Ric feared the Devil would not be kind to him.

"Mmm," he choked out

The man hissed into his ear, "I said don't speak. In the house, now."

Giving Ric a shove, he pushed him through the now unlocked door. Before Ric even turned around, he knew who the man was and why he had come here. It was a day he was waiting years for and yet he had almost convinced himself that it was never coming.

"I look damn good for a dead man, don't you think?" Zander asked

He advanced toward Ric, causing the older man to stumble back and few steps, and then Zander jabbed him in the chest. "Your word, Mr. District Attorney Man, is not worth two cents. I kept my end of the bargain..."

"And I kept Sonny from finding out the truth about you," Ric stuttered. He wanted to sound hard- dangerous, deadly even- but he just didn't have it in him to pull it off.

Zander exploded with barely contained fury."Screw Sonny! I gave up my life for your grand scheme to bring down your big brother. I came to this town, changed my name, worked for that man, and then stuck around years after while you tried to pull all your strings together and make something work! Then, when Sonny decided to show you half an ounce of compassion, you call it all off and have my death faked."

"It got you out from under it all. That's what you said you wanted after Cameron died."

Zander laughed, bitterly. "Cameron? It's just me and you here, Richie. Call the man his real name. He died for you, you could do at least that much. Or don't you remember the agent you put in harm's way in this town...thinking you could get Sonny to be his patient and then spill his secrets. Telling the Agency that it was all about bringing down the mob but really it was about you needing to know the way big brother's mind works. You make me sick. I should kill you right now and put you out of your own misery."

Ric sneered, "You got out. What more do you want from me?"

"What more? What more?" Zander punched him, a hard right hook to his eye. Ric fell to the ground. "You were supposed to take care of Elizabeth! To watch over my son. You were her husband. I trusted you."

Zander crouched down and grabbed hold of Ric's shirt, dragging him close. "But what did I hear? You didn't do a very good job, did you? You turned out to be quite the sick little freak."

"She's fine...she's happy."

Zander pulled out his gun and stuck it to Ric's forehead. "With Jason Morgan! You think I want my son raised by a hit man?"

Ric closed his eyes. Of course. I should have realized, he thought, The engagement announcement had been in the papers just this morning.

The rage coursing through Zander was still red hot. He had read the online version of the Port Charles Herald and then immediately jumped on his bike. It had been hard to stay away, missing his child, when he believed Lucky was raising him as a Spencer. But Zander knew his son would be safe and happy-more than he could offer when his job was working for an agency that put his life in danger every time he got a new assignment. But Jason raising Cameron...no, that was an entirely different story.

Jason's life was a threat to everyone he loved and when push came to shove, Zander had seen with his own eyes already, Jason would choose Carly and her kids first. That would leave Cameron unprotected and low on the list of the mobster's priorities. His son deserved better than that and he would get it.

Zander got to his feet and moved backwards away from Ric. He let out a few harsh breaths. Ric stayed on the ground. He looked at him, from beneath his already bruised and bloody eye, and asked "Are you going to kill me?"

"No, you are going to bring me back to life."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Two days later and Ric had worked a deal out with the Agency. Alec Scorpio would once again claim the alias that he used doing his Port Charles assignment and become, for all extent and purposes to the world, Zander Smith.

He didn't have any real family left in this world. His mother Miranda was killed years before, and his father Malcolm never knew of his existence. He was recruited straight out of high school- his genes speaking for him in the eyes of the WSB. Since then he had been many different men, died many different times in different cities, so many times he almost couldn't remember them all. But the one thing he never forgot was the moment Liz told him he was a father, and the one where he told her that she could raise their child without him.

Zander knew he would have to approach her carefully because she had watched him be gunned down. There was no way she would have guessed the bullets were blanks and the blood came from a dye pack. The official story now would be that he was put in the witness protection program cause he had information on Faith Roscoe. But Ric had bungled the case and Zander was never called to testify. People would believe because Ric was known for never being able to bring down the mob, no matter what he tried.

Zander put on a jersey jacket, pulling the hood up over his head, and kept his eyes hidden behind sunglasses when he left his hotel room. There were many people around town he needed to see...Alexis, her girls, Maxie...but first he needed to reconnect with the mother of his son, and finally hold Cameron for the first time.

Maybe he did not deserve that. It wasn't that he didn't know he was no better than the other agents he knew- Frisco Jones, among them- that had left there families far behind in the name of the almighty job- saving the world one assignment at a time. But he still felt he had no choice.

There was no other way to know that Cameron wouldn't ever live in a Penthouse that had bulletproof glass on the windows and guns stashed in every room, for the day the door was knocked down by a man looking to kill his stepfather. And that day would come...over and over, probably, if Zander didn't step in right now.

XXXXXXXXXX

He knew that Liz had guards. They followed her to work, the store, daycare, and her grandmother's home. The only time she was alone was when she was working on a patient in there room. So Zander waited till she went in to take the vitals of a man in a coma, then he slipped in the door behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder, with an easy smile on her face, that fell away in an instant. In a nervous voice she said, "Visiting hours are over. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

"Elizabeth."

She dropped her paperwork, the clipboard banging hard as it hit the ground.

Before she could say anything, he took off his hood and sunglasses. Holding one hand out, he said "Don't be scared. You aren't seeing things."

"Yeah, I am. I must be. Cause you are dead."

He smiled. "Well, death is a relative thing sometimes. It doesn't always stick."

Her breathing changed. She went from holding her breath to hyperventilating.

Zander rushed toward her. "Okay, okay, just sit down. Take slow and steady breaths. I didn't want to do this...upset you...but there isn't really any good way to break something like this, is there? Hey, honey, I'm home...just a little late for dinner..."

She punched him in his stomach. "Go to hell. Take your smile and your jokes and your returned from the grave life and get out. Wherever you were all these years, instead of being here, that is where you need to go back to. I'm happy now. He's..." she whispered her child's name "Cam is happy."

"And you both weren't happy with Lucky?"

Her eyes darted away.

Zander added, "No one forced me to stay away. I was in the witness protection program. It hurt...sometimes it killed...not being able to ever look in Cameron's eyes...but I knew my boy had a good man for his father."

Liz nodded, with tears in her eyes.

He went on, "Until you divorced him."

"It didn't work out. Don't you dare judge me."

"I'm not," he said. Then softly added, "I'm not. It had to take an amazing amount of strength to raise Cam without any support from me but... Jason..."

"You don't get to say a word about him!" She pushed away from him and walked toward the door.

He said, to her back, "Yeah, I do. I get to say that I don't want my child in that man's home. I came back to claim my son. I will never take him from you.."

She spun around. With shaking words, she whispered, "You couldn't if you tried."

"But I will also never let you move in with Jason. Never. You will only do that over my dead body and look at me," their eyes locked on each other "I'm not so dead anymore."

XXXXXXXXX

Liz's mind was racing. She didn't know what to think or feel about this. There were days she wished her oldest child could have met the man who fathered him, and other times when it felt like he had all he needed with Lucky. But now she had all but pushed Lucky out of both her boys life. She regretted that, a thousand times each day, but the anger between him and Jason was palpable and not healthy for the kids to be around.

She said to Zander, "You know that Jason can have you..."

"Dealt with? Yeah, I know. But he won't. Because he knows little boys need their fathers. And you know that, too. You remember me...us...we were friends once. I was that guy in love with your best friend and willing to do just about anything to make her, or you, smile. I am still that guy...somewhere deep inside. I left because I had to. I came back because I had to. Let me see my boy. Please. I am begging you."

For a long moment, they stared at each other. Then she said "He's downstairs in the daycare center."

XXXXXXXXX

He watched as Liz carried their son out into the hallway. "Cam, this is Zander. Can you say Zander, sweetie?"

"Z...der. Zan...er."

Smiling, he said "That's good. Hello, Cameron. I've been waiting a long time to meet you. You are one handsome little man."

Zander's chest felt tight, like he could barely get a breath in and out. Never had he experienced this before- this instant, soul consuming unconditional love for another person.

He knew now just how undeserving he was of this moment. He hadn't earned it. He hadn't fought for it. Lucky is the one that did that. But Zander was here now. To see that his son got the best life he could. A safe one surrounded by love and the feeling that he was treasured.

"Can I hold him?"

"I don't know if that is such a good idea.."

But Cam reached out his arms and went gladly over to Zander. He touched Zander's dark hair and said "Long."

"Yeah, I could use a haircut."

Liz asked, "You staying in town long enough to get one?"

"I'm staying for good."

She left out a long breath, and then whispered, "Yeah, I thought so."

After a moment, she said "I need to get back to work."

She took Cameron away from him.

Zander said, "I'll see you around, okay? We can be buddies, Cam. Would you like that?"

"I like trucks!"

"You like trucks? Well, I'll buy a truck for you to ride in then."

Liz said "He means the toy ones."

"I'll buy one of those, too." Zander said to Cameron. "Good bye, little man."

"Bye, Zan..er."

Once Liz took Cam back inside, Zander walked up to the glass in the door and looked inside at him. Then he said something he never thought he would be able to, not aloud at least, "Daddy loves you."

And though no one heard him, and maybe Cameron would forever think of his father as Lucky Spencer, it was still true that Zander Smith was only alive because he had a little boy in the world who needed him to be.