Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. The powers that be at General Hospital do. They just don't use them very well. There are some original characters in here as well.
Feedback: Is greatly appreciated. If you like it tell me why, if you don't, please tell me what you don't like. It's how I learn.
Author's notes: A lot of the characters on GH will be in this fic, if you don't see them right away give me time. I like fic's with a lot of characters in them, so that is how I write them.
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What If…
Chapter 5
~Warehouse~
"You didn't? But Lucky, lived over the bike shop for a while, and those two were inseparable. How could you not have met her?" Sonny asked surprised sitting on the edge of the desk, watching as his normally still friend pace the room.
"I know. I've been thinking about this all night. When Elizabeth visited Lucky, she always used the outside stairs. She never went through the shop. I saw her from behind dozens of times, but I never spoke to her."
"What about Kellys? She worked there for years."
"Sonny you know how I am. If it's not business, or it's not someone important to me I block him or her out. She was just a body bringing me food. Sure I suppose I talked to her, when she took my order but she didn't register or stay with me because she wasn't important or…" Jason broke off suddenly.
"Or she wasn't a potential threat to you," Sonny finished for him.
Jason nodded and after a long time he went on "Since the accident, I kind of have a swiss cheese memory. People don't make much of an impression on me unless they fall into one of two categories, business or someone I care about." He dropped wearily in the chair looking at the floor. Christ he hated talking about the accident, even with Sonny, he hated bringing up the fact that he was considered brain damaged.
Sonny felt for Jason, he knew his friend was hurting and was embarrassed. "Your memory is fine Jason. You probably have a better memory than most people. What you have is a selective memory, you've trained it to function in a good way. A way that I wish mine would work sometimes."
Jason looked up sharply, staring hard at the man he considered his father in many respects and sighed he wasn't lying. He nodded his thanks, and then walked to the window again, looking out over the docks.
"Come on let's get some air, and I'll fill you in on my plan," Sonny said grabbing his coat and opening the door.
Jason pulled himself out of his thoughts and followed him.
~Kellys~
Nikolas sat there stunned, he had tried to convince himself, that it had been a trick of the dim lighting at Jakes that made Rory look like Elizabeth. But when he focused on her now, with the sunlight streaming in around her through the door, he knew that it wasn't true. He was looking at Elizabeth. He glanced at Emily when her hand tightened on his, he saw her pale again as she stared too.
Rory looked in their direction, and saw Emily and Cassadine, she quickly scanned the room for any sign of Lucky, and was relieved when she found none. She smiled slightly at them and began to move towards the counter. When she passed the blonde, who had dropped her tray, she heard her speak the name Elizabeth again.
Pausing she sighed heavily and focused up at the taller woman. Damn'it why couldn't she be tall like that, she wondered for the millionth time in her life. "I'm sorry my name is not Elizabeth, it's Rory." She said with a small smile, feeling like a shrimp. She moved on then to the counter taking a seat beside a beautiful girl with braids.
'Nikolas, God, it's like looking at a ghost," Emily breathed in slowly, her eyes boring holes into Elizabeth's, no Rory's back.
"I know Em, I know." He said praying his brother was nowhere near Kellys at the moment.
"Hi! I'm Gia."
Rory turned and looked at the woman next to her, she noticed only curiosity in her eyes instead of the shock she was getting depressingly used to seeing.
"Rory."
Tammy had managed to pick up the dishes and took them to the counter, she took a deep breath before stepping behind it, to face the woman. "M-may I get you something?"
Rory focused on her, noting her ashen expression and determination, "Ham and cheese omelet, don't kill any potatoes, just give me a side of bacon, extra crispy, and a tomato juice." She rattled off her order.
Tammy sucked in a breath that was Elizabeth's favorite breakfast when she allowed herself to indulge in more than a muffin. Shakily she nodded and went into the kitchen
"I've got to talk to her." Emily said quietly getting to her feet slowly. Nikolas rose too, keeping her hand in his as they crossed to her.
Rory felt their approach but kept her eyes fixed on the order thing hanging in the opening. What were those things called she wondered, order spinners? Around the worlds?
"Rory," Emily began.
"Hello Emily, Cassadine," Rory answered stubbornly staring ahead. Were they twirly whirly things? The help I'm getting dizzy watching things? What were they called?
"Will you look at me please?" Emily asked.
"Will you not faint if I do?" Rory answered back, her mind was running out of ideas anyway.
"Yes, I don't make a habit of that." Emily shot back testily.
"Good. You scared your brother to death," Rory retorted spinning around to face her. That's it Order Spinners she thought.
Emily inhaled sharply, "Don't worry I don't plan on it happening again. I have no idea what was on that floor but it was in my hair when I woke up."
Rory smiled, "You don't want to know what's on a bar floor Em."
Both Emily and Nikolas reacted to her smile and the slang use of Emily's name.
"What?" Rory asked noting their reactions, "Not the Elizabeth thing again. That little twit is going to dog me during my whole stay here isn't she?" Rory grumbled.
Emily let out a laugh as she thought of Elizabeth calling herself a twit crossed her mind. Rory shot her a look and then laughed as well.
She cocked her head at Nikolas, "Your awfully quiet today Cassadine, your stuttering problem get to be too much for you."
Gia let out a laugh at that.
Nikolas glared at the both of them "My name is Nikolas and I do not stutter," he answered her regally.
"Better watch out he slipping into his Prince mode. If your not careful he'll order you to the dungeons or something," Gia chimed in from beside her.
"Prince?" Rory asked looking at Gia.
"It's a long story, that I'm sure his highness here will dictate to you some time. But right now the Prince needs to turn into a chauffer and take me to work like he promised." Gia answered getting to her feet and stepping in between Emily and Nikolas, forcing a glaring Emily to step back out of her way.
Gia ignored the glare and pulled on Nikolas's arm to get him to move. "Nice to meet you Rory," she said with a smile, "Emily," she said in a much frostier tone.
"But.." Nikolas began when Gia jerked his body towards the door.
"But nothing Princey, you promised."
Giving up he took Gia's arm and headed towards the door. "I'll talk to you later Emily and uh...um…you to Rory," he finished as Gia tugged him out the door.
"She always like that?" Rory asked studying the door.
"What, rude, argumentative, controlling, bitchy, sarcastic, selfish?" Emily asked sitting in the seat Gia had just vacated, "Yes."
"Don't hold back now Emily, tell me how you really feel," Rory quipped with a smile.
"Sorry she just gets to me. I have no idea what he sees in her." Emily broke off catching Rory's look, "Okay I know what he sees in her. But she is not the only beautiful woman in town."
Rory smiled at Emily, "You two don't get along I take it?"
"It's kind of hard to like someone, when the only reason you know them is because they blackmailed you," Emily said with a sigh, facing the kitchen. It was much easier to talk to Rory if she didn't have to look at her.
"Oh she was the one."
That caught Emily's attention, and she turned to look questioningly at Rory, bracing herself for the uneasiness she was sure to feel as she looked at her.
"Jason mentioned it to me. He was really worried about you, when he found out you had been kidnapped. Then when he found out about the blackmail, and everything else, let's just say Gia should be glad he didn't meet her then."
"You know about all of that?"
"Yes Emily, I know because Jason and I were in Florida when Sonny got a hold of him, to tell him that you had been kidnapped by that guy Zander. He left immediately to find you, which he did, and well you know the rest."
"Oh," Emily said quietly, remembering that crazy time last summer.
Rory waited a minute watching Emily out of the corner of her eye, she was still pale, "Emily are you okay seeing me? I mean you don't have to stay if I'm making you nervous."
Emily turned to look at her again, it was a little easier this time. "No I'm okay it's just strange. You look so much like her, and I miss her so much, I really want to talk to her, especially now."
"Well I'm not her Emily, but I would like to be your friend, if you let me. I could use a friend in this town. But even if we don't manage that, I would like to be able to be around you without you losing all of your color every time you see me," Rory broke off when Tammy set her plates before her, "Thanks…" she let the question hang in the air.
"Tammy, I'm Tammy," Tammy answered with a weak smile, this was so weird.
Rory nodded and dug into her food. Emily watched her eat with enthusiasm just like Elizabeth would when she let herself. Sighing she watched Rory tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, in an old habit of Elizabeth used to have as well.
Wrenching herself from her thoughts, she made herself speak, "I'd like to be your friend Rory. I like your attitude, you remind me a lot of…" she broke off with a frown.
"Who, Elizabeth?" Rory asked biting into a slice of bacon.
"No actually I was going to say Lizzie."
Rory looked at her questioningly.
"Never mind, I do need to go now, but I would like to talk to you again and get to know you. Also I would love to hear about how you met my brother."
Rory brightened at that and smiled slyly, "Jason doesn't like me to tell that story, so of course I always do."
Emily laughed and got to her feet, "I'll talk to you soon," she said and then she was gone.
Well that went pretty good, Rory thought continuing to eat, but who is Lizzie? Don't tell me there was yet another person she was going to be confused with in this town?
Rory heard the door open behind her as she took a big bite of her omelet, "Elizabeth." She recognized the voice and she groaned, part of the omelet went down her throat wrong. Sputtering she started coughing her eyes watering. When she got control of herself, she turned to glare at Lucky who had moved beside her. "Would you quit doing that!"
~The Docks~
Sonny and Jason strolled along the docks in the direction of Kellys, Johnny followed remaining a few steps behind, his eyes continuously scanning the area.
"So why do you want everyone to know I'm in Port Charles," Jason asked finally, moving the problem with Rory to the back of his mind.
"Because your like a ghost. No one ever knows where you are, you just sort of come and go with no word. Heck most of the time even I don't know where you are."
Jason nodded, not seeing where this was heading, "You have the special cell number, you can always reach me on that."
"I know I can reach you, I want the traitors to think they can reach you as well." Sonny said stopping to look out at the water towards Spoon Island.
"You think someone might approach me?"
Sonny snorted at that "No, Jason everyone knows your too loyal to do that. Hell you gave the business back to me, and took a step down without giving it a second thought. No, no one will try to get you to turn on me." He answered with a sigh.
"Then why do you…" Jason broke off when he saw his sister heading over to them.
"Jason." Emily's cheerful voice carried over to the two men. She stepped up quickly to give him a jug. "Hi Sonny."
"Emily how are you?"
"Fine."
"And Zander?" Sonny asked.
"He's fine," Emily said briefly changing the subject. "I'm sorry am I interrupting something, I can come back."
"No that's fine Em," Jason answered quickly, holding her arm, "Are you okay?" he asked noting her paleness.
"Yes, I just ran into Rory at Kelly's that's all." Emily continued quickly "We didn't fight or anything Jason, it's just weird seeing her."
"Listen, I'll let you two talk, I'm going to go and talk to Rory." Sonny said, "Jason I'll talk to you later."
"Thanks Sonny," Emily said smiling at him.
The two men nodded at each other and then Sonny and Johnny walked away.
Jason took Emily's arm and led her to the bench, "So how have you been?" he asked waiting for her to sit.
"Good." She answered automatically.
Jason said nothing and just looked at her. Sighing Emily looked away from him, "Okay things are a little weird, but with the family when aren't they?" She offered hoping he would let the subject drop.
"So things are still tense between you and them over the whole Zander thing? I thought they had backed off, and that was why you moved back home."
She got to her feet and moved closer to the water, "They did," she said hugging herself against the cold breeze coming off the water. "Their still not happy about it. Grandfather calls him a deviant every chance he gets, but," She broke off with a sigh staring at Windamere.
Jason just sat and watched her from the bench, waiting for her to continue.
"They don't have much of a choice, I made it clear to them, that if they want me in their life they would have to back off Zander. Once Alexis got the charges dropped, and Sorel was convicted they eased up. Oh Zander won't be invited for dinner anytime soon, but that's a good thing in out family," Emily finished brightly turning to look at him with a smile that Jason knew was fake.
She saw his look, and quickly turned around to stare at the water, desperate to fill the silence before he could question, she jumped into the void. "Did I ever thank you for the money you sent me when I moved out? I don't know how you knew, but it really helped. You always seem to know when I need help. You show up out of the blue and I know things will be alright."
"Em what is it?" Jason asked softly getting up and crossing to her. He took her arm to turn her to him, and saw the tears in her eyes.
Without a word, Em wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as the tears began to fall. "Let it out Em," he murmured running his hand over her hair. What was going on with her?
~Kellys~
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Lucky answered sitting down next to her.
Rory looked over, he seemed sober, and she noted with perverse satisfaction that he had a swollen lip, and a big bruise on his forehead. She could read the headache he had in his eyes, which were calm at the moment.
"Okay." She said turning back to her food, and reaching for her glass, her sleeve slid up exposing the bruises on her wrist.
"I'm sorry I hurt you. I would never intentionally hurt you. I hope you know that," he said earnestly.
"Alright." She had decided that she was going to be good and not provoke him. The best way to do that she thought was to not look at him, and keep to one-word answers. It would be hard, but she was going to try. She figured that if she kept her mouth full there were less chances of her shooting it off at the wrong time. Deciding this she took another bite.
Lucky was silent as he focused on her. Rory kept eating and refused to look at him. The minutes dragged on, and the intense way he was staring at her was beginning to get to her. Count she ordered herself, when she noticed she was running out of food.
"What's my name?" She demanded suddenly. Well hell, so much for good intentions.
Lucky was startled out of his study of her, "Elizabeth." He answered automatically.
She set her cup down with a bang, and got up from the stool. Lucky stood as well facing her. "I told you last night while you were drunk, and now I'm telling you while your sober. MY NAME IS NOT ELIZABETH." She said loudly glaring at him, "Tammy may I have my bill?" she turned to her when the woman walked out of the kitchen.
"Sure thing sweetie." She answered her eyes darting from Lucky to Rory, "You okay Lucky?"
Lucky ignored her, "Of course your Elizabeth. I know you better then anyone, I could pick you out of a crowd with my eyes closed."
Rory cursed and slapped a $10 on the counter, "Keep it" she said and stalked out the door.
Lucky followed her out into the small courtyard in front of Kellys he took hold of her arm, stalling her in her tracks.
"You trying to give me matching bruises?" She asked looking down at his hand holding her arm, and then back up at him.
Immediately he let her go, but shifted in her path, to block her escape. "I'm sorry, it's just I don't want you to leave again."
She glanced around and realized she had gotten herself into the very situation she had promised Jason she would avoid. She was alone with Lucky.
"Please, I won't touch you, just don't go."
Sighing she looked up at him, "Look I'm not trying to hurt you. Jason has explained to me that you lost someone important to you. I'm sorry that I remind you of her, but you need to stop this, I am not Elizabeth, my name is Rory."
Sonny entered the courtyard from the dockside just in time to hear her last words. "Hello Lucky, Rory," he called out making his presence known.
Lucky glanced over at him, and then Rory turned around to look at him and Sonny felt like he had been punched. He had thought when Jason mentioned Lucky's and the others reaction to her, that it was in reality just a strong resemblance they were reacting to. But this was so much more than just a resemblance, she was a mirror image of Elizabeth, a little older but still a perfect match.
Relieved, Rory smiled crossing to him finally a familiar face that didn't think she was someone else, "Hi Sonny." Her smile faded when she saw the way he was looking at her, his eyes registering the same shock and confusion that everyone else had. "Not you too," she said sadly, at the same time that Lucky seemed to regain his focus.
"You knew!" Lucky yelled, "You knew she was alive and you didn't tell me?"
Rory turned to look at Lucky and Sonny stepped past her to stand between her and Lucky. "You need to calm down Lucky."
"Calm down, I thought you were my friend. Why? Why didn't you tell me Elizabeth was alive?" Lucky yelled advancing on Sonny. Johnny moved to intercept him but Sonny waved him off.
"Johnny, take Rory to Jason," he ordered.
"No." Lucky yelled and came closer, Sonny held up his hand to stop him.
"Boss I don't think I..." Johnny began.
"Do it Johnny."
Johnny turned to Rory and gestured in the direction of the docks, nodding slowly she turned and left, Johnny moved up beside her to lead the way.
Lucky again moved to get around Sonny, but Sonny stepped in his path. "That is not Elizabeth, Lucky. You need to stop following her."
Lucky looked at the man he had known for years, the man who had went camping with him and his dad, the man who was there when he got his ear pierced, the man who helped him when he got in over his head gambling, the man who had bought an earth worm farm from him, the man who had made sure he got home safely many times in these past two years, and tried to reconcile it with the knowledge that this man was also the man who was in someway partially responsible for keeping Elizabeth from him.
"Why Sonny? Why did you do it?" Lucky asked with tears in his eyes, "I thought we were friends. Why would you want to destroy me?"
"Lucky I am your friend. I never tried to hurt…"
"Is this because of my dad? Because he ended his partnership with you?" Lucky interrupted.
"Of course not. Lucky I have known you for almost half your life. You know that I would never hurt you like that. That woman is not Elizabeth, her name is Rory Nichols, her and Jason have been…"
"Jason," Lucky latched on to the name, "Is that it? Jason saw her and decided he wanted her and so you what? Helped him take her from me? Is that what happened Sonny?"
"No Lucky, damn'it that is not Elizabeth," Sonny yelled slamming his hand on a table.
"Well it doesn't matter, it won't work, whatever your plan is, and it won't work. I know she's alive now and I won't rest until she is back with me. If you or Jason tries to get in my way." Lucky stopped then and looked Sonny dead in the eye, "Well I am a Spencer, you better remember that," and with that he turned and walked away.