Chapter Six

Elsewhere

James' hand flew toward the screen as he pointed at it. "Cheating! You're cheating Edward."

That resulted in a chuckle from the man standing beside him. "Cheating? How is Lucy trying to fill in her family member cheating?"

Angrily James regarded Ed and frowned heavily. "I'm not quite sure, Edward, but I believe that you have cheated. You have somehow interfered and that results in my taking your soul as well as your son's."

The humor upon his face slipped away quickly as he turned to fully face James. "I have done no such thing and you know it as well as I do." A smirk lit up his lips as he continued with, "You're just afraid that once Lucy sparks Rafe's memory or proves to him that Livvie is a liar and a fraud Alison and Rafe will reunite."

"Fear, Edward, is for weak men," James informed his counterpart hotly.

"Last I looked, James, you were far from a man, haven't been for a while. A lifeless capsule that carries around an evil soul is a far cry from one."

A smile curled James' mouth as he laughed. "My point exactly, Edward. My point exactly. Simple men fear, we--" he paused to think of the right word to describe himself "--exceptional beings don't. I'll let your intervention on your son's behalf slip this time. Next time you won't be so lucky."

Ed gave a wild roll to his eyes. "Why thank you for the reprieve James."

Meanwhile…

The Lighthouse

Anger was glittering in Rafe's eyes as he looked upon his cousin. "Why won't you or Alison for that matter tell me about my past?"

Lucy's head tipped softly to the side and a single eyebrow inched upward at the tone in Rafe's voice. "Do you want the truth?"

"It would be nice."

"Because, Rafe," Lucy snapped angrily, "no one wants to force feed you memories you don't remember. Livvie's done enough of that for everyone. Besides, remembering your past on your own is something monumen-"

Rafe's head began shaking as he interrupted Lucy with, "No, no. She filled me in on past together, told me how it was between us -- between Alison and me that is. She just wouldn't tell me about -me-."

A slight, saddened frown tugged at Lucy's lips. "And can you honestly say you would have believed her if she had told you? She's been telling you, everyone has been telling you, about your relationship with her and you won't believe anyone but Livvie." She watched her cousin's eyes fall from hers as she confronted him with the truth of the matter. "If she had said, 'Rafe, you were a vampire slayer,' would you have believed her?"

That had him looking up sharply at Lucy. "Yes, because I know that is true. I can remember that part of my life."

Slowly nodding, Lucy added, "Okay, well then would you have believed her if she had said, 'Rafe, you're dead'?" She knew she shouldn't have said it, she regretted saying it, and she knew she would catch heat for telling him. But by the strange look crossing Rafe's face, he didn't believe a word of it.

"Are you saying I'm dead?" He chuckled out and then smiled. "That I'm some holy apparition floating around Port Charles."

Lucy swallowed and crossed her arms beneath her chest. "Holy, yes. Apparition, no. You are very much flesh and blood."

Rafe raised his hands near his head and extended his fingers as far as they would go as he asked, "What are you talking about? Lucy this little exploration into 'what ifs' and death has taken a strange turn and I'd like to get back on the main road if you don't mind."

She knew he would have a hard time accepting it. Lucy knew she had a hard time when she first heard the news from Alison that Rafe was dead, let alone an angel. It was a lot of information to swallow when it came flying at you. But he wanted the truth and she was giving it to him, well without really giving it to him.

Exhaling a breath, Lucy stepped a little bit closer to her cousin and grinned sympathetically. "Rafe, if there is one thing the universe and Port Charles has taught me is that anything can and usually will happen. So, don't push away unbelievable theories or strange coincidences because they are just that. Besides, I don't believe in coincidences and the things that have happened around here lately have taught me not to think things are unbelievable."

His blue eyes were locked upon Lucy's face as he began to shake his head. "Are you really asking me to believe that I'm dead?" When Rafe saw that Lucy wasn't about to laugh and tell him that she was joking, he sighed. "How can I be dead, Lucy? You tell me that I'm not a ghost, so if I'm dead than how could I be standing here with you having this conversation?"

"It's easy, Rafe. It's because you're an-"

"Lucy, what do you think you're doing?" Asked a new voice.

Both Lucy and Rafe turned to find Livvie standing in the entranceway to the living room. Annoyance flittered across Lucy's face as she looked upon her step-daughter. "I'm simply doing something you should have done long before now -- telling Rafe the truth."

Her face remained an impassive canvass as Livvie walked toward her husband and Lucy. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I have been nothing but honest with Rafe."

The laughter that bubbled up Lucy's throat was anything but humorous. "Right," she murmured slowly and then glanced at her cousin. "Rafe came to me for some truth to his past -- you know the time in his life that he can't remember. I was just about to tell Rafe where he has been or should I leave that honor up to you?" Before Livvie had the chance to answer, Lucy lifted a hand to her chin and thoughtfully wondered aloud, "But then again I'd have to trust in the fact that you'd actually be honest with Rafe. And we all know that you-"

"Enough Lucy," Rafe cut in, anger prevalent in his voice. His eyes then met with Livvie's dark ones and asked, "So do you want to tell me about my past? Or should I have Lucy fill me in?"

Livvie looked from Rafe to her father's wife, an emotion glittering in her eyes that spoke of her anger at what Lucy had done. Or had been about to do. "Rafe, I really think you should remember-"

"See, that's my problem Livvie," he interrupted, his eyes lowering into a thoughtful scowl as his hands moved before him to emphasize his point. "I can't remember. I've trusted you to fill me in on my past and you have -- our past. Then there is Alison who has told me about our relationship together when I asked her, but when I ask her about myself, she refuses to answer on this principle that she'd like me to remember on my own. And Lucy was somewhat reluctant to tell me, but now she seems ready to fill me in on where it is that I have been."

Her heart was beginning to pound heavily in her chest. Rafe was going to back her into a corner and make her tell him where he has been and what he was doing. She couldn't very well lie about it because Lucy was standing right there ready to fill in Rafe with the absolute truth. Damn it. Why did everyone have to interfere with her relationship with Rafe? Why couldn't they all just leave them alone?

Lucy noticed the sudden fear creeping into Livvie's eyes and couldn't help the grin. It was strange. She knew Livvie was a troubled girl and she needed help, and at one time she had been very close to Kevin's daughter, but there was just some kind of joy in watching her squirm. Now she knew what people must have been feeling when they outed her on her lies way back in the day when she stooped down to Livvie's level.

But if Rafe allowed Livvie to tell him about his being an angel, she could put some strange spin on the story. Rafe needed to learn the truth from a reliable source, someone that wouldn't lie to him. And that someone should be…

"Uh, Rafe," Lucy began in a casual tone. "Maybe you should let me help you fill yourself in on your past." That had both Rafe and Livvie turning to look at her.

Rafe's brow drew together as he asked, "What do you mean help me help myself remember?"

"Yeah, see I was just thinking about this whole situation and this is what I came up with. You remember that you are a vampire slayer, you know your life up until a point of ten years ago, right? But either you refuse to remember the very moment up until you can't remember or you have blocked it out." Lucy smiled widely as she tucked her hands behind her back. "So, I had a wild idea that you should let Doc put you under hypnosis."

Livvie's eyes widened, as Rafe's face became thoughtful. "Hypnosis?" They both asked at the same time.

"Yeah. Doc could hypnotize you and he could help you remember what you can't. That way no one, Alison and I in particular, will be breaking a vow to not tell you about your past, and you can recall it on your own. The whole -truth- of your past in your own words and memories. What do you think?"

For the first time since waking up in the woods, Rafe actually began to feel a little bit of hope in regaining his memories. "I think it sounds perfect."

"Rafe, honey, I really think you should think this over before you hop right into this. Hypnosis can be more hurtful than helpful," Livvie pleaded.

Lucy tried to help herself from smiling, but she couldn't quite stop. "Livvie," she said in that low, sultry voice of hers, "if I didn't know any better, it sounded like you didn't want Rafe to regain his memories."

Glaring at her father's wife, Livvie snarled, "That isn't what I said Lucy."

"You sure, because that's how it sounded."

Crossing her arms before her, Livvie sweetly replied, "Well it wasn't."

"Good," Lucy began as she clapped her hands before her. "It's settled then. Rafe will see Doc to get hypnotized to see if that will help him regain his memories. That is if you are interested, Rafe."

His eyes kept moving from his wife to his cousin's face as they went at it back and forth. It had seemed odd that Livvie would warn him about hypnosis. And not that she gave him a real warning, but more like she wanted to put the kabosh on it because she feared what he might remember. That had Rafe really looking at Livvie then.

Was she afraid of what he might remember? What would make her fear him regaining his memories? Then it hit him. If he regained his memories, he might discover that everything she had ever told him was a lie. That everything everyone had said about her was the truth. That he was really supposed to be with Alison.

Rafe's body suddenly vibrated with an emotion at the thought of his life actually being spent with Alison. But the emotion didn't have a clear name, it was like it was a grouping of emotions. Anger at being lied at. Fear that he had lost Alison because he believed Livvie. And sheer joy that Alison was whom he was supposed to be with.

He wanted to know if this was how it was supposed to be. He wanted to discover the truth.

"Rafe?" Lucy questioned as she laid a hand upon his arm. When he looked at her, she asked, "Shall I call Doc?"

Giving one final look towards Livvie, Rafe turned his eyes to his cousin's face as he answered, "Yes. I want to remember my past."

~*~

to be continued…