Part One: What's The Worst That Could Happen
Gia stretched out her legs and her arms high above her head and yawned widely as she greeted the new day. She wiggled her toes and her fingers and smiled. She hadn't woken up feeling this great since, since…she quickly cut off that thought. Nikolas thoughts were off limits for now on.
She sighed and turned her thoughts back to the man who made her feel this way. The man who whisked her away to Milan for the weekend and tucked her away in his villa overlooking Lake Como. The man who made her forget about Nikolas for one night and really think about the possibilities of a future with him.
A lazy smile appeared on her lips as she remembered the night before. They arrived in Milan early in the evening and he took her shopping, buying her extravagant gifts that she, at first, tried to turn down but soon realized it was easier to just accept them. He'd wined and dined her, said all the right things, had everything planned perfectly. She'd never felt so treasured in her life. To think that a man like that would be interested in her, some girl from Brooklyn…it was just mind blowing.
Last night she took that final step and officially pushed Nikolas out of her life. When he kissed her last night she didn't push him away. Their lovemaking had been magnificent.
Gia frowned as she realized that he wasn't in the bed with her. She noticed that his side of the bed was cold. Maybe he was out on the balcony, she thought. She threw off the covers and called out, "Lucien?"
She picked up the filmy red silk robe that matched the red negligee that he brought her last night and slipped it on. She tied the belt and padded over to the balcony. She opened the doors and said with a smile on her face, "Lucien?"
There was a small table set up on the balcony. Breakfast was laid out for her and Lucien. She murmured. "So this is what you were up to."
She slid into her chair and poured herself a cup of coffee and waited for Lucien to return to her. She figured that he was out somewhere buying her yet another gift. The coffee was hot so it must have been delivered right before she woke up.
Looking at the view from the balcony she decided that she could get use to all this. And this time she wouldn't let a silly thing like her heart get in the way. She learned her lesson from Nikolas. Love only hurts you. She was above that now. All she wanted was a good time and Lucien Cane was just the man to give her that. That and a beautiful diamond necklace. She touched the necklace he'd given her last night with one finger. He was such a generous man, she smiled. Her mother was going to have a fit of course but this was Gia's life, not her mother's, right?
She hummed softly to herself as she sipped her coffee. She wished he would come back soon. She was starving and the smell of the food was distracting. She hated starting without him but he wouldn't mind if she had one little bite.
She'd just removed the covers and started to dig in when she heard a knocking at the bedroom door. Wondering whom it could be, she got up and went in to open the door.
Waiting for her was a servant holding a bouquet of roses. He extended them to Gia. He murmured, "For you."
"Oh, thank you." She accepted them with a smile. These must be from Lucien. "Have you seen Mr. Cane?"
"He left this for you." The servant handed her an envelope. Remembering what happened at the auction Gia's heart sank as she took the envelope.
"Oh, don't tell me had to leave." Gia murmured. Not after last night! She turned her back on the man and tore into the envelope. He better have a damn good reason for leaving her like this.
"My darling Gia,
I'm sorry that I could not be there with you when you woke up but I had to return to the States. Last night was memorable and I'm sure neither of us will forget it for as long as we live. Unfortunately that was the end of our relationship. I'm sure you will understand. I just had to find out what drove my son to stay with you and I must say he has excellent taste in women. He gets it from me."
Gia dropped to the bed, the roses fell to the floor. My son? What was he talking about? What was going on? She read on,
"I think I've gotten ahead of myself, haven't I? My apologies. The truth is, I'm not Lucien Cane. My name is Stavros Cassadine. Nikolas's father. Yes, it is true. The perversions of modern science and my devoted mother brought me back to life. Ah, motherly love, there is nothing like it.
But I digress. I am honestly sorry that this must come to an end. You were truly a delicious morsel. Uncouth and delightfully rough around the edges, I would have enjoyed smoothing those edges. In another time and another place you would have made an excellent mistress, so well do you know your place in life. My son was a fool to let you go in order to spy on his grandmother. His return to the family was all a deliberate act. But the videotape of our night together will show him the folly of his ways.
Oh, you didn't notice the cameras, my dear? Just as well. Like your photographs, you positively glow in our little movie. I thank you for the delightful time. You've served your purpose. The gifts are yours to keep. Consider it payment for services rendered.
'Till we meet again,
Stavros"
Gia threw the letter on the ground and shook her head over and over. No! No, no, no. He was lying. It was a joke. A really bad, distasteful joke. There was no way that all this time she'd been with Nikolas's dead father. Or that she slept with Nikolas's dead father. Wait, not dead father but his back from the dead father. No, not even the Cassadines were that twisted. Right? Right? They couldn't just bring people back from the dead. And if it was true then everything had been just a game. What she thought she had with Lucien was just a sick, twisted game. How he must have laughed at her behind her back. And when he pushed her to sue the Cassadines…
Gia's stomach turned and she barely made it into the bathroom in time.
~*~*~
Gia groaned and weakly pushed down the handle on the toilet. She closed her eyes as she listened to the water rush in. She was now familiar with that sound and on intimate terms with her toilet in her room at the Port Charles Hotel. She even could describe it with her eyes closed. Someone banged on the door, dragging her out of her thoughts.
Lucky called, "Gia, hey, are you all right?"
She wiped her mouth and said. "I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute."
Crap. She was used to this happening at home but this was the first time she'd ever been sick at a photo shoot. Now there were going to be all sorts of questions that she couldn't answer. She quickly rinsed her mouth out with the travel-sized mouthwash she started carrying with her. She emerged from the bathroom of the roller rink Deception rented out for the photo shoot. Lucky stood waiting for her with a worried look on his face.
She smiled broadly at Lucky. "Hi."
"Are you okay? Did you catch a bug or something?"
"Or something." Gia murmured. It was something all right.
Lucky looked at her sharply. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Listen, Gia, don't do this to yourself. You're beautiful as you are. You don't have to starve yourself and-"
Gia's eyes widened as she figured out what he was talking about. "Lucky, no! I'm not…I'm not! Seriously."
"Oh." Lucky dropped his hands and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
"I'm just a little sick that's all." Gia said. "It'll all pass soon."
Lucky shoved his hands into his pockets. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that."
Gia cocked her head to the side, "Thanks anyway. It was uh, it was kinda sweet."
Her make-up artist, Sara, came over, clucking her tongue disapprovingly. "You've smudged your make-up."
As the make-up artist whipped out lipstick and started fixing Gia's face, Lucky murmured. "Nikolas was here a few minutes ago."
"Oh." Gia said.
"Don't move." Sara hissed.
"But I sent him away." Lucky told her.
Gia waited until Sara was done before saying, "Thank you."
"Isn't it about time you talk to him? It's been months. This is killing him. He wants go get things back to normal." Lucky said.
"Normal." Gia laughed bitterly. Nothing would ever be normal again, she thought as she recalled the past few months.
After cleaning herself up and burning the letter, Gia immediately bought a plane ticket back to Port Charles. She left behind everything that Lucien had given her. Once back in town she discovered to her horror that Lucien's letter had been true. Lucien, Stavros, had played her for a fool.
She turned on the news that night and found out that just that afternoon, Chloe Morgan and Stavros Cassadine were found dead in Stefan Cassadine's study. Stefan had been charged with both their murders until it was discovered later that Stavros was responsible for Chloe's death. The story was that Stefan had walked in Stavros just as he sliced Chloe's throat. Stefan stabbed Stavros with the same knife in retaliation then held Chloe as she died. Alexis Davis and Jasper Jacks found them together. That and the fact that Stavros Cassadine had been alive at all filled the newspaper headlines for weeks.
During that time everything was thrown into chaos. Helena lost her mind and was shipped off to a remote island by Stefan once he was cleared of all charges. Nikolas gained control of the Ice Princess and used it to free Lucky of all of Helena's brainwashing. Everything was supposed to go back to the way it was. Nikolas was reunited with Stefan and Alexis and Lucky was free.
But the strain of all the lies caused Lucky to rethink his relationship with Elizabeth. They decided to 'cool things down' while Elizabeth went off to visit her parents. But everyone knew that the couple was over.
And when Nikolas tried to approach Gia and reconcile with her, she shut him down completely. She was through with the Cassadines. All they've done was ruin her life. Nikolas lied to her so he could save Lucky's life. He didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth. He'd rather trust Elizabeth than her. She was obviously not good enough. Good enough to sleep with and profess to love, yes, but not good enough to trust. And Lucien, Stavros…she couldn't even think of him as Stavros. He'd messed with her head too. He tricked her into sleeping with him. She slept with her ex-boyfriend's father! She was disgusted with herself and Cassadines in general.
Thankfully Nikolas never knew the truth about her and Lucien. The videotape of her and Lucien had never made it into his hands. Stefan Cassadine of all people ended up with it somehow and thankfully gave it to her. Knowing that Stefan had obviously seen the tape and saw her with Lucien made her feel dirty. She destroyed it and vowed never to have anything to do with any Cassadines ever again.
"Gia?" Lucky waved his hand in front of her face. "You still there?"
Gia shook her head. "Sorry, my mind wandered for a moment."
"As I was saying, I think you should give Nikolas another chance. He did a really, really crappy thing and it was wrong. He was trying to protect us all but went about it all wrong."
Gia raised her eyebrow. "Are you done being Nikolas's cheerleader? Cause it really doesn't suit you, Lucky. Nikolas and I will get together right after you and Elizabeth do, all right? And that's all I have to say about that. Now," she placed a brilliant smile on her face, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Spencer."
Lucky shook his head and picked up his camera. He led Gia over to the center of the rink where a row of shirtless body builders in roller skates waited. He nodded at them, "All right, be careful with her, guys. She's precious material."
Gia grinned at him as the guys picked her up and lay her across their arms. Lucky fussed with the lighting then came over to her. He stroked her chin and narrowed his eyes. "After the shoot, I want you to go to GH. Get a check up. You shouldn't be this sick."
Gia nodded. "Okay, Lucky. God, when did you get all mother hennish?"
"I have to keep the star in tip-top shape you know." Lucky flashed her a quick smile.
She didn't have to heart to tell him that she'd already gone to Mercy Hospital and had a check up. This morning she'd gotten her results. It was as she suspected. She was pregnant with Stavros Cassadine's child.