Authors note: I meant to have this up sooner but RL is a ….. Well suffice it to say between work (boss), hubby and realizing that we have to have the little one's bday party a week earlier than we originally thought (read, 2 weeks from today) the last few days have been quite hectic.
Hope ya'll like. Tell me how you like it.
Chapter 7A shrill whistle sliced through the air in the room, startling the raised voices into silence. Leo took his thumb and forefinger out of his mouth as the four turned to look at him. He smirked and shook his head, his eyes filled with mirth as they caught Jason's gaze. He nodded before taking a slow sip of his drink, enjoying the silence and the look of consternation on both Alexis' and Sonny's face. Finally he sighed before gesturing to them.
"You know, all of you yelling at once isn't going to settle anything. Even though it is very amusing." He stopped momentarily expecting one or more of them to complain. When no one did, he continued. "Why don't we take this one at a time so the questions and explanations can be done with."
"We don't have time for this," Jason stated. He was standing next to Leo, his arms crossed at his chest. He had been watching the explosion and tiring of the conflict. "Who Elizabeth's mother is, isn't important. Not now at least." He uncrossed his arms and walked across the room to Elizabeth. Reaching her he took her hand and looked into her eyes for a moment. He broke his gaze and turned to Sonny. Before he could begin to speak, Elizabeth interrupted.
"No Jason. I think we need to get this out in the open. I'm sure Sonny and Carly have questions. We may as well answer them and get this out of the way before we go on to other things." She turned cold eyes upon Sonny. "Well, what do you want to know?"
Sonny stood simply staring at the couple in front of him. He was still trying to process that Elizabeth was Alexis' child. And that everyone in the room except he and Carly knew.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes when she realized that Sonny was only present physically. She sighed and decided not to worry about him. "Carly, why don't you sit down. We'll answer your questions as best we can." She knew this would be difficult for the blonde. They had been close for many years and to find out that Elizabeth had deliberately kept things from her would be upsetting.
Carly once again sat down in the chair she had collapsed onto earlier. Her eyes displayed a deep sadness and pain when she raised them to look at her best friend.
"I don't know where to start." She stated simply, her voice shaking. "We're upset. You kept us out. I mean, this isn't just a little thing. It's not. Oh I found a distant cousin or something. This is major. And you never said anything to us. We're family…" She trailed off. After taking a deep breath and quickly blinking away the beginning of tears, she continued. "At least we always considered that you were part of our family. I always thought you believed it too."
"I do. You are." Elizabeth's voice cracked. "You've been more of a sister to me than Sarah ever was."
"Then tell me the whole story." Carly pleaded. "Make me understand."
Elizabeth took a deep breath. She turned to look at Leo and Alexis and received encouraging smiles from both. She grimaced as she quickly composed her tale before beginning her explanation.
"One of the reasons I originally came to Port Charles was because I found out I was adopted. It was shortly before my parents left for Europe. I was looking for them for some reason." She laughed lightly. "I don't even remember why. Anyway I found them but before I could enter the room I realized they were discussing what to do with Sarah and me since we couldn't go with them. They were sending Sarah here to stay with our grandmother. They were trying to figure out what to 'do' with me. My father was saying he didn't want me coming here and being a 'burden' to Grams since I wasn't really her granddaughter. That he had spoken to the neighbors and that they had agreed to take me in, cheaply."
Sonny suddenly realized that Elizabeth was talking. Cheaply? What the hell is she talking about, he thought to himself. He shook himself and began to listen to her as she paced.
"Since my parents didn't care about me or think much of me, I decided to find out what I could. After they left me with the neighbors I skipped. I had already decided to try to find my real parents. I mean, what the hell. They couldn't have been any worse than the Webbers. I came to Port Charles to find out if Grams had any answers. She was pretty shocked at first that I knew I was adopted. She thought that my parents had told me. I wasn't about to tell her otherwise. I convinced her to tell me what she knew since Jeff and Renee were out of the country. She didn't know much, unfortunately; just my real birth date, my mother's first name and where I was born. Not enough for me to do anything. I figured I'd save up some money and try to hire an investigator to start searching. But then my life blew up in my face."
She stopped to gather herself. She shuddered, the memories of that night in the park playing vividly in her mind. Everyone in the room knew what she was referring to. It had affected everyone in some way. Jason wrapped his arms around her, letting her know that she wasn't alone. Sonny tried to control his anger at what had happened to her. Carly attempted not to remember that night; how they had found Elizabeth. How angry she and Jason had been at Lucky for ignoring Elizabeth and not noticing until too late that she hadn't arrived at the party. Alexis clenched her hands into fists, recalling how the girl she had met had no relation to the one she had heard so much about. Leo took a large swallow of his drink. He hadn't known Elizabeth all those years ago, but he had witnessed the nightmares that sometimes still plagued her. He was glad to have been instrumental in bringing part of the nightmare to an end. Of ensuring Elizabeth that Tom Baker would never hurt her or anyone else again.
Jason closed his eyes momentarily, opening them up again when he felt Elizabeth begin to move away from him. "You don't have to go on," he whispered to her.
She leaned back and smiled at him. "Yes, I do. I'm okay. It's over and he can't hurt me anymore." She reached up to place a soft, quick kiss on his lips before turning to face Sonny and Carly once again.
"Well, you know what that did to me. Finding my parents wasn't really a priority for a long time. Oddly enough, Sonny, it was you that helped me decide to find them again." She grinned at him, noticing the bemused look on his face.
"Oh, it wasn't directly but you were the one that introduced me to Alexis. You're the one that told me who Alexis was. I figured that if anyone could help and understand exactly why I needed to find out, it would be her. So, one day I went and asked for her help." Elizabeth paused, looking at her mother.
Alexis smiled and nodded. She took up the narrative from Elizabeth. "The story Elizabeth told me about the Webbers was shocking. I couldn't believe that her parents would treat her like that. When she gave me the little information she had about her birth, it startled me. Well, it's obvious now why that was. I didn't say anything to her since I had to make sure. It was almost too good to be true. But I knew it wasn't someone's idea of a joke on her or me since no one knew. It didn't take long to verify that she was my daughter."
"How long have you known?" Sonny looked solely at Alexis.
"Three years."
His eyes darkened as they turned from Alexis to Elizabeth. "And you never told us? You never told Carly, your best friend."
Carly put a hand on her husband's arm. "Sonny, don't." She saw the hurt in his dark eyes. Hurt more for her than for him. Hurt that her best friends would keep such an important part of their life from her. "It wasn't necessary, Sonny. They didn't have to tell us, tell me. It was between them and had nothing to do with us."
Alexis once more spoke up. "Actually we didn't tell anyone at first because of Helena. I didn't want Elizabeth to be a target in Helena's vendetta against me. That was the reason I gave her up in the first place."
"Helena's been dead for two years." Sonny reminded them, his gaze growing colder by the minute.
"I know," Alexis replied. "But by then so much had happened."
"And," Elizabeth interrupted, "I didn't really think it was anyone's business. No one knew here knew I was adopted so what difference did it make."
Alexis stared at her daughter in disbelief. She knew that was not the truth. That Elizabeth had so wanted to share the news that she had found her mother with Carly and by extension with Sonny. And she knew exactly what Elizabeth was doing now. Taking the brunt of Sonny's anger away from the person it should be directed at.
"Elizabeth," Alexis shook her head slowly, "don't. Don't lie because you don't want anyone upset with me." Alexis walked to stand in front of Sonny. "She never told you because I asked her not to. Because I never wanted her to have to deal with the problems that came with being a Cassadine."
Jason silently watched the exchange between four of the people that he considered family. No one here knew, she said. She left off the except for Jason. He remembered when she told him why she originally came to Port Charles. And how she was sure that one day she'd find her real parents and be able to tell the Webbers just what she thought of them. He smiled recalling when she did just that.
"You know what?" Carly questioned loudly, interrupted his thoughts and the conversation between Alexis, Elizabeth and Sonny. "What does this matter now? Elizabeth, you didn't mean to hurt us by keeping this from us, did you?"
"No," Elizabeth blinked at the bluntness of Carly's question. "It's just by the time everything with Helena was over with, it no longer seemed that important. I didn't see myself as someone's daughter, I was just Elizabeth."
Carly smiled warmly at her friend, who seemed fascinated by her own feet. "See, Sonny," she raised her brows at her husband. "You know Elizabeth wouldn't lie if asked something directly. I'm not upset at her, or at Alexis. So the question is are you going to hold a grudge about something that isn't really that important. Does it matter who her mother really is?"
"Carly, it's not that Alexis is her mother." He looked at his wife knowing the glint in her eye that he wouldn't win any argument over this. He sighed before continuing. "No it doesn't matter. I guess I was just upset that she didn't tell us."
"And you of course need to know everything about her and Alexis because…" she trailed off, amusement evident in her voice.
"Fine," he grumbled knowing that she was about to call him a control freak. "I'm upset and I have no right to be. Happy?"
"Yup," she grinned. "Elizabeth, I'm sorry about our reaction; it was just a shock."
"I'm sorry too." Elizabeth raised her eyes back Carly. "Forgive me?"
Carly jumped and gave her a hug. Pulling back she smiled. "There's nothing to forgive. It was up to you whether to tell us or not, and to tell us only when you thought you should."
"Thanks." Elizabeth was glad that Carly had taken this so well. She knew that no matter what Sonny thought or felt it was Carly he would take his queues from since they were friends long before he entered their lives.
"Well now that that is resolved we need to get back to the real problem at hand. And how we're going to handle it." Jason interrupted the moment between the friends.
"What problem?" Sonny asked his voice cold and harsh as he addressed Jason. "And why should I help you handle it?"
Leo sighed as once again the air in the room was filled with tension and unease. Will this morning ever end, he thought to himself, preparing for the next round of revelations and explosions from the group that could collectively be considered his family.