Everyone in the room watched Laura pace, working herself into a frenzy.
All was silent. No one knew what to say. They all knew that Elizabeth and
Nikolas were in deep trouble, and they had to be found fast, before it was
too late. They had spent the entire night there in silence, no one wanting
to even move. Now it was morning and still no one knew quite what to do.
"Oh, I'm so angry!" Laura finally screamed, making everyone jump. "How could those stupid idiots let Tom Baker escape from jail? They should have called us the MINUTE they knew he had escaped! But those stupid morons are too incompetent to do ANYTHING right, and now they could have gotten two people killed!"
The silence after Laura's explosion was deafening. Laura almost never talked like that, so to hear her screaming her head off shocked everyone. The doorbell rang and Luke very calmly answered.
"What is going on?" Audrey Hardy demanded. "Why didn't anyone call me earlier?"
"Audrey, I left dozens of messages on your phone last night," Luke replied. "Did you just now get them?" Audrey marched past Luke, looking extremely shaken. She nodded. "All right, Tom Baker escaped from jail, and now both Elizabeth and Nikolas are missing."
"Oh, dear. This is awful. I can't believe this is happening."
"It'll be okay," Zander told Audrey as convincingly as he could.
"Yeah, Nikolas is with her," Luke reminded Audrey.
"Why does everyone keep saying that? You're all GLAD he took Nikolas? What the hell is wrong with you people, ELIZABETH IS NOT THE ONLY ONE IN DANGER!" Gia was crying now. Alexis slid over to comfort her. Again, no one said anything.
**********
Lucky took a deep breath as he and Emily stepped onto the porch at the Spencer house. This was like a dream, being here at home. A dream that had become reality. And for all the wrong reasons.
Emily smiled nervously and grabbed Lucky's hand. "It'll be okay, Lucky. I know your nervous, but this is your family. Nothing can go wrong. You've been waiting for this for three years." Lucky nodded and Emily reached over and rang the doorbell. Lucky was standing so that he was just out of sight to whoever would answer the door. It was Laura.
"Emily!" Laura exclaimed and pulled her into a hug. "Oh, I am so happy to see you! You didn't have to fly out here."
Emily nodded. "Yes, I did. Nikolas and Elizabeth are my best friends. We both had to come."
Laura was confused. As she wiped tears from her face, she asked, "We?"
Lucky stepped in front of his mother and watched her register what she was seeing in front of her. A look of complete shock was on her face. "Oh my God," she whispered.
"Laura, sweetie, what's wrong?" Luke asked as he stepped behind his wife. He stopped cold when he saw his only son. This couldn't be real. His eyes were playing tricks. It was just because he hadn't slept all night. It was the stress. The stress, and the lack of sleep. His son wasn't really standing in front of him.
"Lucky?" Laura whispered, just enough for both Luke and Lucky to hear. Luke knew she saw him too.
Lucky nodded, a smile creeping up on his face. "It's really me. I'm really here."
Luke and Laura simultaneously swept their son into a huge hug, incidentally becoming a family hug. Tears fell freely down all three of their faces, and Emily's as she watched. Everyone else, curious, was standing on the other side of the door, all shocked.
"How? How?" Laura asked as they pulled apart. She brushed her hair through her son's head. "How can this be real?"
"Helena set up the fire," Lucky explained. "She's had me all this time, but I escaped a few weeks ago."
"Why didn't you come home cowboy?"
"I wanted to stay away for just a little while, I didn't want Helena to figure out where I was. I bumped into Emily one day in Chicago, I've been staying with her ever since. But when you called last night about Elizabeth and Nikolas." Lucky's face fell, as he remembered what had brought him home. The entire mood fell somber again.
"You should have let us know you were alive, let Elizabeth and Nikolas know!" Laura exclaimed. "But it doesn't matter now. I understand why you didn't. But you are here now." Laura embraced her son again, feeling like this was incredibly surreal. And at the same time cruel. God had given her back one of her sons but had taken the other.
As Gia watched the scene unfold, she couldn't help but feel angry. Here they all were, smiling and looking so happy, while her fiancée was out there somewhere, missing, possibly dead. She felt guilty for feeling that way, because she knew they had a right to be happy that Lucky was alive, and she knew that if Nikolas were here, he would be happy too.
Lucky and Emily entered the house, and Emily froze when she saw Zander. She had known that Elizabeth and Zander were seeing each other, and she had been okay with it. But she had forgotten that she would see him when she came home. Her main reason for staying away after she recovered from her paralysis. Zander returned her stare, neither of them realizing it.
"Lucky, this is Gia," Laura said as Lucky stood in front of Gia. "This is Nikolas' fiancée."
"Wow, so he actually got a girl," Lucky joked. Gia just glared at him. "Sorry, bad timing."
"I wish we were meeting under better circumstances," she replied. "Nikolas has told me a lot about you."
"Well I know that when he gets back he will tell me all about you." Gia forced a smile.
"And this is Zander, Elizabeth's..oh," Laura replied, realizing how weird this was going to be. Zander looked nervous.
"Elizabeth's. boyfriend?" Lucky asked. Zander nodded slowly. "Oh, I see."
Gia and Emily found themselves glaring at each other, the mutual feelings of hatred shining through poor attempts to cover it. The only reason they didn't start bickering with each other was out of respect to each other's relationship with Nikolas.
The four looked back and forth at each other, all feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
***********
When Nikolas woke up, his entire body was numb. His body hurt from sleeping on the hard, cement floor. Not to mention the basement was freezing. But that was the least of his worries. Tom Baker was dangerous. He was a rapist, a kidnapper, and god knew what else he was capable of. He was probably even capable of murder. He suddenly snapped his eyes shut, not wanting to think of that. The vision that came to him was Gia. Gia looked so beautiful there. She was so beautiful that he nearly started crying. God, was it possible he would never see that face again? He felt tears falling as he tried to picture Gia living life without him. She must have been going crazy wondering what happened to him. He for sure figured that they had figured out he and Elizabeth were missing together. He hated Tom for doing this to them. "Nikolas?" There was a whisper from behind him. He turned around, and spotted Elizabeth behind him, her back against the wall. Her face looked pail, and exhausted. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy. Nikolas smiled at her, "Hey," he moved over a little, so he could brush the hair away from Elizabeth's eyes, "You ok? Did you get ANY sleep at all last night?" Elizabeth stared at him, as if he were crazy, "SLEEP? Are you kidding me? When Tom Baker, MY RAPIST, is up there just waiting for the perfect moment? To rape me and then torment me to death?" "Hey, hey," Nikolas reached out, and wrapped his arms around her, "It's gonna be ok, that I can promise. I won't let Tom go anywhere near you, if I can help it. And don't even think about death, because, we are gonna get out of here before that happens." "But HOW?!" Elizabeth cried, furiously, "HOW? Explain to me HOW when we are helpless. We are LOCKED in a basement, with no weapons to our advantage! Tom however, has the key and a GUN! He is in complete and total control," she looked helplessly at Nikolas, "We might as well give up Nikolas. And get it over with. We might as well just let him win, because then I will be away from him sooner." "ELIZABETH!" Nikolas cried, "We will NOT give up that easily! We WON'T allow Tom to win! We will survive this, and we will send him back to Jail! You are a fighter, Elizabeth! We both our!" "No," Elizabeth trembled, "NO! Forget it, Nikolas. I can't fight him. He has me again. I got away from him but he has me back!" The door slammed open, and they heard an evil laugh coming from the top of the stairs, "Your right I have you again" he made his way to the bottom of the stairs. "And this time, you won't get away. This time, it will be so much better. Because you won't want to fight it," he spoke in a chilling voice. He was now standing in front of them, the gun pointed at Elizabeth this time. Elizabeth's eyes were wide with fright. She frozenly looked at him, unable to move. He moved closer to her, "You and me will have so much fun. When the time is right, that is. I have it all planned out..." he leaned closer, and gently squeezed her shoulders. She broke her trance by screaming, terrified by the feel of his touch. "GET OFF OF HER!" Nikolas screamed, his eyes were on fire, as he lunged toward Tom. Tom grabbed him, and hit him hard in the face. He yelled out in pain as he was tossed violently against the floor. He crashed loudly, hitting his head on the hard cement. "NIKOLAS!" Elizabeth screamed, she ran passed Tom, and flew to Nikolas' side. "NIKOLAS!" she shrieked. She turned him around, only to notice that he was out cold. She desperately started pressing her hands against him, feeling all over, "NIKOLAS!" she shrieked again, "Wake up!" Her body now trembling, she looked up straight into Toms maniacal eyes. His eyes were shining, as they evilly looked down at her, "Well, well. That worked out pretty well. It's just you and me now, baby."
"Oh, I'm so angry!" Laura finally screamed, making everyone jump. "How could those stupid idiots let Tom Baker escape from jail? They should have called us the MINUTE they knew he had escaped! But those stupid morons are too incompetent to do ANYTHING right, and now they could have gotten two people killed!"
The silence after Laura's explosion was deafening. Laura almost never talked like that, so to hear her screaming her head off shocked everyone. The doorbell rang and Luke very calmly answered.
"What is going on?" Audrey Hardy demanded. "Why didn't anyone call me earlier?"
"Audrey, I left dozens of messages on your phone last night," Luke replied. "Did you just now get them?" Audrey marched past Luke, looking extremely shaken. She nodded. "All right, Tom Baker escaped from jail, and now both Elizabeth and Nikolas are missing."
"Oh, dear. This is awful. I can't believe this is happening."
"It'll be okay," Zander told Audrey as convincingly as he could.
"Yeah, Nikolas is with her," Luke reminded Audrey.
"Why does everyone keep saying that? You're all GLAD he took Nikolas? What the hell is wrong with you people, ELIZABETH IS NOT THE ONLY ONE IN DANGER!" Gia was crying now. Alexis slid over to comfort her. Again, no one said anything.
**********
Lucky took a deep breath as he and Emily stepped onto the porch at the Spencer house. This was like a dream, being here at home. A dream that had become reality. And for all the wrong reasons.
Emily smiled nervously and grabbed Lucky's hand. "It'll be okay, Lucky. I know your nervous, but this is your family. Nothing can go wrong. You've been waiting for this for three years." Lucky nodded and Emily reached over and rang the doorbell. Lucky was standing so that he was just out of sight to whoever would answer the door. It was Laura.
"Emily!" Laura exclaimed and pulled her into a hug. "Oh, I am so happy to see you! You didn't have to fly out here."
Emily nodded. "Yes, I did. Nikolas and Elizabeth are my best friends. We both had to come."
Laura was confused. As she wiped tears from her face, she asked, "We?"
Lucky stepped in front of his mother and watched her register what she was seeing in front of her. A look of complete shock was on her face. "Oh my God," she whispered.
"Laura, sweetie, what's wrong?" Luke asked as he stepped behind his wife. He stopped cold when he saw his only son. This couldn't be real. His eyes were playing tricks. It was just because he hadn't slept all night. It was the stress. The stress, and the lack of sleep. His son wasn't really standing in front of him.
"Lucky?" Laura whispered, just enough for both Luke and Lucky to hear. Luke knew she saw him too.
Lucky nodded, a smile creeping up on his face. "It's really me. I'm really here."
Luke and Laura simultaneously swept their son into a huge hug, incidentally becoming a family hug. Tears fell freely down all three of their faces, and Emily's as she watched. Everyone else, curious, was standing on the other side of the door, all shocked.
"How? How?" Laura asked as they pulled apart. She brushed her hair through her son's head. "How can this be real?"
"Helena set up the fire," Lucky explained. "She's had me all this time, but I escaped a few weeks ago."
"Why didn't you come home cowboy?"
"I wanted to stay away for just a little while, I didn't want Helena to figure out where I was. I bumped into Emily one day in Chicago, I've been staying with her ever since. But when you called last night about Elizabeth and Nikolas." Lucky's face fell, as he remembered what had brought him home. The entire mood fell somber again.
"You should have let us know you were alive, let Elizabeth and Nikolas know!" Laura exclaimed. "But it doesn't matter now. I understand why you didn't. But you are here now." Laura embraced her son again, feeling like this was incredibly surreal. And at the same time cruel. God had given her back one of her sons but had taken the other.
As Gia watched the scene unfold, she couldn't help but feel angry. Here they all were, smiling and looking so happy, while her fiancée was out there somewhere, missing, possibly dead. She felt guilty for feeling that way, because she knew they had a right to be happy that Lucky was alive, and she knew that if Nikolas were here, he would be happy too.
Lucky and Emily entered the house, and Emily froze when she saw Zander. She had known that Elizabeth and Zander were seeing each other, and she had been okay with it. But she had forgotten that she would see him when she came home. Her main reason for staying away after she recovered from her paralysis. Zander returned her stare, neither of them realizing it.
"Lucky, this is Gia," Laura said as Lucky stood in front of Gia. "This is Nikolas' fiancée."
"Wow, so he actually got a girl," Lucky joked. Gia just glared at him. "Sorry, bad timing."
"I wish we were meeting under better circumstances," she replied. "Nikolas has told me a lot about you."
"Well I know that when he gets back he will tell me all about you." Gia forced a smile.
"And this is Zander, Elizabeth's..oh," Laura replied, realizing how weird this was going to be. Zander looked nervous.
"Elizabeth's. boyfriend?" Lucky asked. Zander nodded slowly. "Oh, I see."
Gia and Emily found themselves glaring at each other, the mutual feelings of hatred shining through poor attempts to cover it. The only reason they didn't start bickering with each other was out of respect to each other's relationship with Nikolas.
The four looked back and forth at each other, all feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
***********
When Nikolas woke up, his entire body was numb. His body hurt from sleeping on the hard, cement floor. Not to mention the basement was freezing. But that was the least of his worries. Tom Baker was dangerous. He was a rapist, a kidnapper, and god knew what else he was capable of. He was probably even capable of murder. He suddenly snapped his eyes shut, not wanting to think of that. The vision that came to him was Gia. Gia looked so beautiful there. She was so beautiful that he nearly started crying. God, was it possible he would never see that face again? He felt tears falling as he tried to picture Gia living life without him. She must have been going crazy wondering what happened to him. He for sure figured that they had figured out he and Elizabeth were missing together. He hated Tom for doing this to them. "Nikolas?" There was a whisper from behind him. He turned around, and spotted Elizabeth behind him, her back against the wall. Her face looked pail, and exhausted. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy. Nikolas smiled at her, "Hey," he moved over a little, so he could brush the hair away from Elizabeth's eyes, "You ok? Did you get ANY sleep at all last night?" Elizabeth stared at him, as if he were crazy, "SLEEP? Are you kidding me? When Tom Baker, MY RAPIST, is up there just waiting for the perfect moment? To rape me and then torment me to death?" "Hey, hey," Nikolas reached out, and wrapped his arms around her, "It's gonna be ok, that I can promise. I won't let Tom go anywhere near you, if I can help it. And don't even think about death, because, we are gonna get out of here before that happens." "But HOW?!" Elizabeth cried, furiously, "HOW? Explain to me HOW when we are helpless. We are LOCKED in a basement, with no weapons to our advantage! Tom however, has the key and a GUN! He is in complete and total control," she looked helplessly at Nikolas, "We might as well give up Nikolas. And get it over with. We might as well just let him win, because then I will be away from him sooner." "ELIZABETH!" Nikolas cried, "We will NOT give up that easily! We WON'T allow Tom to win! We will survive this, and we will send him back to Jail! You are a fighter, Elizabeth! We both our!" "No," Elizabeth trembled, "NO! Forget it, Nikolas. I can't fight him. He has me again. I got away from him but he has me back!" The door slammed open, and they heard an evil laugh coming from the top of the stairs, "Your right I have you again" he made his way to the bottom of the stairs. "And this time, you won't get away. This time, it will be so much better. Because you won't want to fight it," he spoke in a chilling voice. He was now standing in front of them, the gun pointed at Elizabeth this time. Elizabeth's eyes were wide with fright. She frozenly looked at him, unable to move. He moved closer to her, "You and me will have so much fun. When the time is right, that is. I have it all planned out..." he leaned closer, and gently squeezed her shoulders. She broke her trance by screaming, terrified by the feel of his touch. "GET OFF OF HER!" Nikolas screamed, his eyes were on fire, as he lunged toward Tom. Tom grabbed him, and hit him hard in the face. He yelled out in pain as he was tossed violently against the floor. He crashed loudly, hitting his head on the hard cement. "NIKOLAS!" Elizabeth screamed, she ran passed Tom, and flew to Nikolas' side. "NIKOLAS!" she shrieked. She turned him around, only to notice that he was out cold. She desperately started pressing her hands against him, feeling all over, "NIKOLAS!" she shrieked again, "Wake up!" Her body now trembling, she looked up straight into Toms maniacal eyes. His eyes were shining, as they evilly looked down at her, "Well, well. That worked out pretty well. It's just you and me now, baby."