Always, Alison

Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't claim to.

Rating: Somewhere between PG13 and R -- perhaps some language, adult content, adult situations

Summary: Alison decides to put an end to Livvie's reign of lies.

Author's note: Livvie hasn't gotten pregnant by either Rafe or the Avatar.

Chapter One

The smug smile. The triumphantly evil twinkle in her dark eyes. The adoring way she looked up at the man that was now her husband. The protective way her hands pressed against her flat abdomen, as if she were protecting the child within her.

It was enough to make Alison sick.

The night she had walked away from Rafe, Alison thought maybe with time she could move on from the love that was her whole life. Out of sight, out of mind -- right? It shouldn't have been so hard with as big as Port Charles was, but it suddenly seemed so very small. Because every time Alison turned around there was Livvie, her once best friend, shoving into her face what she had lost.

Correction: What Livvie had stolen from her.

Alison's blue eyes fell away from the scene Livvie was making with Rafe and focused on her tablemates in the Recovery Room. Jamal and Jack exchanged brief looks before they too looked toward Livvie hanging all over Rafe.

"I never did like that guy," Jamal breathed out, which had Jack nodding his head beside him.

"Jamal," Alison warned in a soft voice as she glanced at Rafe's face. He appeared as though he wanted to be anywhere than where he was. And he seemed really uncomfortable with the way his wife was behaving. "It's not his fault Livvie tricked him."

A frown turned down the corners of Jamal's lips as he gazed back at Alison. "When are you going to stop making excuses for the guy? Everyone has a choice whether they want to lead or be led. I'm guessing it didn't take much for Rafe to want to be strung along."

"I have to agree with Jamal," Jack piped in, seeing the look on Alison's face and recognizing it as annoyance.

"Well, who was asking either of you anyway?" She mumbled and sighed heavily. "He came back with like no memory and Livvie took advantage of that. She fed him a pack of lies and he had no idea what was truth or what wasn't. Rafe is a very trusting man, he had like no reason to believe Livvie would be dishonest with him."

Jack sat back in his chair and shook his head. "She is a very convincing liar. Who better to know that than me, right?"

Alison raised her hand and pointed at Jack. "See and Jack has his memory. Imagine what it must have been like for-"

"Okay Spunky," Jamal amended in an even tone. "I'll back off."

"Thank you, Jamal," Alison whispered and then shot Livvie and Rafe another look.

"I'll concede that he's not entirely to blame for this situation." When Alison when to interrupt him, Jamal held up his hand and shook his head. "But the guy had some say in what was going on between him and Livvie, and you won't change my mind on that. So, I guess the only thing left now is to ask what are you going to do about this?"

That had Alison looking away from the couple to her former boyfriend. "What do you mean?"

"I mean about Rafe and Livvie. What are you going to do to get your boy back?"

Alison glanced from Jamal to Jack and then down to her hands folded upon the tabletop. "I'm going to do nothing."

"Nothing?" Both Jack and Jamal asked at the same time.

She nodded her head slowly. "I know what type of man Rafe is and what having children and a family means to him. I'm not about to destroy his dream for him."

"This isn't his dream," Jack began, which had Alison's eyes meeting his. "This is some fantasy Livvie has cooked up and she's been spoon feeding it to him. With what you have told Jamal and myself about your relationship with Rafe, do you honestly think he would be with her if she hadn't trumped up everything she's told him and everyone else?" Jack fell silent for a moment, thinking about a conversation he had with Livvie from the past, while he drummed his fingers on the tabletop.

"What?" Jamal asked, noticing that look on his friend's face.

Jack looked over at his ex-girlfriend as he recalled more of the talk he had with her once not so long ago. "Nothing. Well, no, it's not nothing. I just remembered when Alison and Rafe first hooked up Livvie was endlessly telling me how wrong Rafe was for Alison, how he would hurt her, that he would leave her and she wanted to prevent that from happening. She seemed to have a hate-on for this guy. And now we're supposed to believe, from her, that there was this grand love affair going on between her and Rafe while she was dating me and Rafe was with Alison?"

Jamal listened as Jack spoke and then sighed heavily. "I don't know what to say, buddy. If what Livvie is saying is true--" Out of the corner of Jamal's eye he saw Alison's eyes widen and her mouth open to correct him, but he hurried on before she could interrupt him. "--IF things went down like Livvie said, then maybe that was her being jealous of Ali still being with Rafe."

"You don't honestly believe that, do you, Jamal?" Jack asked, his disbelief at what Jamal had said written all over his face. "How can any of us believe a word that comes out of Livvie's mouth? Especially since she tried to set up Alison for Kevin's murder -- and he wasn't even dead!" His gaze drifted over to his ex-girlfriend's face and he frowned. "You want to believe her, because she's so convincing. There's just something in her eyes when she speaks. They plead with you that you believe her even though she knows you know she's lying. Then there's the tone of her voice. It says she knows she's lied in the past but this time she's telling the truth and you just gotta believe her." Jack looked back at Jamal and chuckled wryly. "It's hard not to."

Alison swallowed hard and wondered if this was how it was for Rafe. All the times Livvie sat down and told him of their non-existent past together, how much in love they were. Had Rafe ever felt like Jack had? What about the times Rafe discovered Livvie in one of her many lies? Had he listened to Livvie try to explain her way out of the lie and knew she was still lying but desperately wanted to believe that this time she was telling the truth?

If this were the case, was Jamal right? Was Rafe choosing to be led around by Livvie because he wanted to be?

Jamal noticed that Alison was lost in her thoughts or in some sort of daze. So, he lifted his hand before his face and snapped his fingers a few times. "Ali, you in there? Earth to Ali." When he saw the soft shake of her head and the blinking of her eyes, he knew she had come out of where ever she had been. "You all right?"

Her blue eyes fell upon Rafe's face and she felt her heart clench painfully in her chest when she saw him smile at something Livvie had said. "There is an old adage somewhere that says something like someone can't be taken or stolen from you unless they had wanted to go in the first place."

"Ali," Jamal said sympathetically as he laid his hand upon Alison's.

She quickly pulled her hand out from beneath Jamal's as her eyes filled with anger. "No, Jamal. It's not like that. What Rafe and I have is special and untouchable by anything--" Alison's angry gaze landed upon Livvie's back. "--or anyone for that matter."

Jack found himself grinning in spite of the situation they were all in. Something about the sudden spark in Alison was infectious; it had been a while since she seemed so -- well, determined. It was as though once they had heard Livvie was pregnant the fire in Alison went out. But now, now it seemed to be back.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Jamal asked, cutting into Jack's thoughts.

Alison tapped her fingers upon the tabletop and bit her lower lip. What was she going to do about it? She had gone on and on about how nothing could ever stand between herself and Rafe. Now was the time to prove it. "I-I'm--" she began after she released her lip and looked at her two closest friends. "--I'm going to get Rafe back by proving that Livvie is like a fraud and make sure she gets the help she deserves."

Jack lifted his beer to his mouth and muttered so very quietly, "I don't think there is any type of help for Livvie except a padded room."

~*~

To Be Continued…