"Marry you? Marry you?" Elizabeth repeated.
"Yes, marry me." Nikolas said angrily. "I asked you to marry me."
"I, I, I, I don't know what to say." She stammered. She tried to avoid eye
contact with him and looked out the window.
Nikolas turned her face back to him. "You don't want to marry me?"
"I… this is all so sudden."
"Elizabeth, we've been together for 3 years not 3 days."
"Yes but, um, I can't believe you asked me that Nikolas!" Elizabeth
exploded.
"What's wrong with me asking the woman I love to marry me?"
"There's nothing wrong with it, its just… you didn't show me a ring." She
said unexpectedly.
Nikolas glared at her and dug into his pocket. "I have the ring with me.
Here." He slapped the ring box into her hand.
With trembling hands she slowly opened it. She gasped when she saw it.
"It's beautiful." She whispered.
"It's perfect for you." Nikolas whispered. "I know how you liked the color
red. Even though you don't wear it anymore because of…"
The ring was a decently sized ruby surrounded by diamonds. It wasn't gaudy
or overdone. It was just right. Elizabeth started to cry.
"Elizabeth? What's wrong?" Nikolas asked, very worried. He started to bring
her into his arms when Elizabeth shook her head and moved away.
"I just can't marry you. This ring is beautiful but I can't."
"Why?" Nikolas asked anguished.
"I don't know. I just feel like I can't. I didn't expect this."
Nikolas decided to reason with her. "Look, why don't you think about it
overnight? All right? We'll talk in the morning. Take the ring with you.
Maybe it'll influence your decision." He tried to joke.
"I can't take this ring." She tried to give it back.
"Take it." He insisted.
Elizabeth nodded. She knew how stubborn he could get. "Okay."
"Good."
~*~*~
Bobbie could hear Jerry calling her from the bedroom but she couldn't make
herself answer.
"Who was on the phone, Bobbie?" She didn't answer.
"Bobbie, luv, we really don't need all these suitcases for one weekend.
Actually, we don't even need one." Jerry laughed. "Bobbie? Where are you?"
He started looking for her and found her in the kitchen still holding the
phone. He placed his hands on his hips. "There you are. Why didn't you
answer me when I called you?"
Bobbie looked up at Jerry, not really seeing him.
Jerry got worried. "Bobbie? What is it? What happened?"
"I…I have to call Luke." Bobbie finally said softly. "I have to call Luke
and Stefan. Yes, Stefan, needs to know."
Jerry stared at her bewildered. Bobbie never mentioned her ex-husband. "Why
do you need to call you brother? And Stefan?"
Bobbie looked up at Jerry sadly. "Because all hell is about to break lose."
~*~*~
Sonny grinned up at Carly, who stared at him in shock. "What?" was all she
could manage.
"I miss you Carly." Sonny's eyes slowly looked her up and down in that lazy
way of his that always made her feel naked.
Carly tried to ignore the small thrill that went through her. She backed
away and fought the urge to cover herself with her hands. "Sonny, you
aren't trying to tell me that you came all the way here just to say you
miss, by which I'll assume you mean my body and the sex."
Sonny stood up. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the sex. Yes, we were
good together, Carly however what I meant was you. *All* of you. I miss you
and me. I miss our talks and the way you understood me like no one else
ever did." With each word he took a step closer to Carly.
She started backing up and held her hands in front of her to gain some
space. "This is a little sudden, actually it is four years too late.
Remember? We broke up four years ago?"
Sonny grabbed her hands. "We didn't break up, you left me. I didn't want
you to go. Remember?"
Carly nodded. "Yes, I left you but I had finally realized that we together
for all the wrong reasons. You were still mourning Brenda's death and
Jason's being killed completely changed my world, he *was* my world. We
were reaching out for something, anything, to keep us alive. That's why we
were together but I knew that we couldn't last, that we weren't right for
each other."
Sonny said softly. "I thought we could last. I thought we were right for
each other. Sure, we may have gotten together for all the wrong reasons but
that's not what kept us together for two years and you know it."
"It had become a routine. It wasn't real. It was just some sort of script
that we acted out everyday. You did your thing and I did mine. We lived
together but we weren't together. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
It wasn't real. It was something to pass the time."
"Carly, enough with the excuses. We had something and you know that."
Carly sighed. She couldn't come up with something to get him to back down.
"Sonny, don't do this to me. I'm with Alex now and I'm happy."
He slowly stroked the side of her face. "Garcia is not man enough to keep
you happy and you know that I am. I know you, Carly, almost as well as I
know myself and don't ever forget that." He was just about to kiss her and
Carly knew that this time she wouldn't resist. But luckily a voice called
out.
"Mommy? Mommy, I'm thirsty."
"I have to take care of my son." She whispered. Carly wrenched herself out
of Sonny's arms. "I'm coming, Michael." She called.
Michael walked into the living room to see what was taking his mother so
long. He sleepily rubbed his eyes. His face brightened when he saw Sonny.
"Uncle Sonny!" He cried and ran to him.
Sonny caught him and brought him up for a hug. "Hey, Mikey. What are you
doing up?"
"I got thirsty. Why are you here, Uncle Sonny?"
~*~*~
Elizabeth dragged herself into the apartment and dropped down on the couch.
She opened the ring box and sighed.
"Why? When things are just getting good, he does something like this?" She
asked no one in particular.
"What'd who do?" Emily asked her. Her voice came from the kitchen. She
walked into the kitchen.
Elizabeth sat up, surprised. "Emily! I didn't know you were here. I thought
you were staying at Sly's."
Emily made a face. "Sly's roommate decided to throw a party with his losers
friends so we came back here. I'm making a snack for Sly; he's still
hungry. You want some?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "No, thanks."
Emily noticed that Elizabeth looked unhappy. "Did something happen between
you and Nikolas?"
"Yeah, something happened." Elizabeth laughed softly. "I know why he was
acting all weird tonight."
"What was the reason?"
"Emily? Where's the food, babe?" Sly's voice called out from her room. "I'm
starving."
Emily rolled her eyes and yelled back. "In the kitchen! You want it, go get
it!" They could hear Sly grumbling as he walked into the kitchen.
She glanced over at Elizabeth. "Men. Now do you want to talk about what
happened between you two?"
"Not tonight. Why don't you go deal with Sly? I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Elizabeth stood.
"If you sure? Because I'm here for you if you need me. Sly can wait."
"No that's okay." Elizabeth cringed as she heard something fall in the
kitchen. "You better go stop him from destroying our kitchen."
"All right. We'll talk tomorrow then." Emily started to walk back saying.
"Sylvester Eckert! What are you doing to my kitchen!"
~*~*~
Carly folded her arms and waited for Sonny to answer Michael's question.
She wanted to see how he could explain to a 5 year old, what he was doing
at their house after midnight. She knew he wouldn't dare say, "I'm here
because I want your Mommy back in my bed."
"Well, I," Sonny looked to Carly for help. She smirked at him.
"Are you gonna spend the night like Uncle Alex does?" Michael asked when he
didn't get an answer.
"*Uncle* Alex spends the night?" Sonny fixed Carly with a hard stare.
"Yeah, all the time." Michael said innocently.
"Not all the time, Mikey." Carly quickly corrected. That look in Sonny's
eye told her he was not pleased with this information. "But he is here a
lot."
"Is that so?" Sonny demanded. He stared hard at her.
"It's no business of yours but yes." Carly said coolly. She returned the
stare with one of her own.
Michael continued to go on, not noticing the looks that were passing
between the two adults. "I hope you stay, Uncle Sonny. You make the best
pancakes. Uncle Alex's pancakes are okay but yours are the best!" Michael
grinned.
Sonny's grinned. "Maybe if you ask your mother nicely, she'll let me stay?"
"Mommy, please? Can he stay?" Michael pleaded.
Carly was not pleased with Sonny's tactics. She grabbed Michael out of
Sonny's arms and placed him back on the floor. "No, he cannot stay. We have
to get up very early tomorrow to say good bye to Grandma Bobbie and Jerry,
remember? And I'm sure Sonny would like the chance to sleep in, wouldn't
you?" Carly shot a look at Sonny that dared him to disagree.
Sonny knew when to back down. "Yes, you're right. But I'll come back later
on tomorrow and see you then. How's about that?"
"Cool!" Michael grinned.
"Great." Carly mumbled. "Okay, it's time for Uncle Sonny to go. Say
goodbye, Michael." She held onto Michael's hand and they walked over to the
door.
"Bye."
"Why don't you go on and get into bed, Mikey?" Sonny suggested.
"But what about your water?" Carly asked. She knew that without Michael
there, Sonny would try something.
"I'm not thirsty anymore. 'Night." Michael went back to his room.
Sonny wasted no time. He yanked Carly into his arms and laid a soft tender
kiss on her that made her legs go weak. "Dream of me." He whispered and
then he walked out.
~*~*~
After Jerry had finally gotten Bobbie to explain what she meant by all hell
breaking loose, he called up Luke. He wasn't going to call Stefan because
he really didn't like the guy. His attitude just made him want to punch his
lights out and he could never understand word he said.
Jerry had said only two words to Luke on the phone. "Victor Cassadine." And
Luke was on his way.
The doorbell rang and Jerry, who had been sitting next to Bobbie on the
couch, went to answer it. Luke strode in and went over to Bobbie.
"The Aussie said Cassadine." Was all he said.
Bobbie looked at Luke and then at Jerry. "I thought I told you to call
Stefan also."
Jerry and Luke wore identical frowns. "Vlad doesn't need to know what's
going on." Luke told her. "He could be in on it."
"But what if he's not? Don't you think he should know?" Bobbie insisted.
"Then we'll deal with that when we know for sure. Now, Barbara Jean, are
you sure it was him? "
"Luke, I would recognize that voice in my sleep. Luke, we have to stop him.
He says he's coming for Carly and Michael."
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Jerry demanded.
Luke glanced up. "It seems that Victor Cassadine is alive and my niece and
great nephew could be in a lot of trouble.