A/N: Sorry folks - something's going on on this site - I didn't even notice it had labeled this story "complete" - it's definitely not. Thank you Guest for pointing it out. Thank you all for still reading and enjoying this story - please, do read on and feel free to drop a comment when you can.
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"Why did you lie?"
Nikolas was passing the study on his way from the stables, the brisk morning ride having worked its usual magic to open his senses and invigorate his blood, when he heard what was definitely shaping up to be a heated argument between his brother and his friend. Every day this week, like clockwork! Those two behaved worse than the children in the house, constantly bickering and snapping at each other. Changing course to enter the study instead, he paused with the gloves he'd just removed and stuck them inside his belt, catching sight of Lucky looming over Elizabeth, who was seated at the desk on her laptop. The paper he held was being shaken up and down in front of her and the anger in his voice was clearly displayed in the hard lines of his face.
"Answer me, dammit! How could you have lied about this?"
Elizabeth was startled when Lucky stormed into the room in attack mode, causing her to almost jump from her seat when his voice boomed out at her.
"What the hell's the matter with you? Why are you yelling at me?"
"Yes, brother - I'd like the answer to that question as well. Can we at least pretend we know how to use our indoor voices before breakfast?"
Lucky was fuming and he couldn't care less about propriety or manners in that moment, not after what he'd just learned from opening the previous day's mail. Slamming the paper down in front of her, he took a step back when the urge to physically shake her started taking strong hold.
"I always knew you could be vindictive and selfish…you want what you want and to hell with anybody in your way, but this? How could you do this?"
Nikolas was growing really concerned. His brother was angrier than he'd seen him in years and he wasn't making any sense, but the look on his face was so stricken it worried him greatly. When Elizabeth took the paper from the desk and turned ashen before his eyes, he knew something was very wrong.
"What is it?" When neither answered him, he pointed to the paper she dropped to the desk like it burned her at the touch. "What is that, Elizabeth…what does it say?"
Lucky took the steps back to stand by his brother, gesturing towards his ex with disgust lining his face. "It says, brother, that Jake is not Jason's son…" he took the angry steps back in Elizabeth's direction, "…isn't that right, Elizabeth? It says that you are a goddamn filthy liar, aren't you?"
"WHAT?" Nikolas expressed the shock before it had registered fully, caught off-guard by the one thing he hadn't expected their fight to be about.
"Oh, yeah. Jake isn't Jason's - why don't you tell him, Elizabeth?"
The scorn dripping from his icy voice slapped her hard across the gut and she grabbed it as though it were physical, the loss of breath it left feeling very real. Lucky had it in black and white before her - the truth she had thought to take to her grave, the truth nobody would ever discover because of fortune's gift of comparable physical features that would forever prevent any doubt from surfacing. Yet, here in front of her, in the middle of the biggest fight being waged against her and everything she's wanted, laid the truth for all to know. Her voice would not sound the first time she tried, so she tried again, startled by the cracked quality that eventually emerged.
"How…where did you get this? I-I mean, what is this? What…" Her voice trailed and she pushed the chair back but remained seated when her legs would not obey to stand and face her accuser.
Lucky grabbed the paper from the desk and shook it angrily before her face. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare pretend you don't know what this is! How could you do this?" He slammed it back to the desk again. "Why? I demand to know why you did this?"
Shock still running through him, Nikolas stepped slowly to the desk and took the paper in hand, reading for himself and feeling his mouth fall open at the words that had set Lucky in a maddening tirade. He looked to his friend, seeing how shocked and speechless she'd been rendered and he knew he needed to defend her.
"She didn't know, Lucky. Surely you can see she had no idea?" He pointed towards Elizabeth as he pled with his brother to calm down. "This is obviously as much a shock to Elizabeth as it is to you…to all of us."
Lucky turned his back to them and shook his head at the ceiling before facing his brother again. "She's always had you so completely fooled it's laughable." He pointed at the woman who was still staring blankly at the page lying on the desk, "That Bambi look of hers is nothing but a ruse…I spent years falling for it and it burned me every single time! You really believe she doesn't know? She was the only one who saw the results of the first test…the one she used to lie to me and tell me Jake was mine…to tell Jason he wasn't the father…apparently that was the truth! But the truth didn't suit her purpose for tearing Jason away from Sam - noooo - the mobster was yearning to be a father and she was the sweet, innocent nurse with the big doe eyes and 'help me' stare that made every man want to rescue her. She could stick it to Sam for having Jason, and to me, for screwing Maxie! She knew!"
"Alright, calm down, calm down!" Nikolas soothed his brother's shoulder and looked over at Elizabeth who sat up straight and pursed her lips, her hand rubbing against her stomach like she was going to be sick. She looked white enough to barf right there in their presence. Rushing to the cabinet, he poured a drink of seltzer and hurried back to her. "Here - drink this!"
Elizabeth looked up into the eyes of the one friend she had left, reaching her hand to take the grateful drink and sighing when his strong hand covered her shaky one to help the glass to her lips. She gulped the liquid he held in place, charging her mind for the answers that would get her out of this situation. She never expected this day to come, which was why she could think of nothing that would work. Clearing her throat as Nikolas removed the glass, she gave it her best shot.
"Lucky, what is this - what are you saying?"
"You know damn well what it is! You've been lying to us all these years, robbing me of my rightful relationship with my son, pawning him off to another man trying to use him to get what you want - how sick is that?"
She pointed feebly to the offending paper, "I don't know where you got that nonsense but it isn't real. You know the truth…Jacob is Jason's…I don't know how many times you must hear that to believe it."
Nikolas was curious. "Just where did you get that, Lucky?"
Lucky answered his brother, his gaze boring through his ex' face waiting for her reaction to his next words, "From the hospital - where else? I was at the family house the other day, checking up on the work being done, and I got a little nostalgic going through the rooms, remembering when it was filled with laughter and happy people. Came across a box of old photos and there was one in particular that knocked me on my ass!" He reached inside his back pocket and produced the photo, handing it to his brother, his gaze still wary on her increasingly stricken face.
Nikolas felt his brow crease at the sight of the smiling little blond boy in his hand. "There was a photograph of Jake in the box, so?"
"Look at it again, Nikolas. Notice how old the paper is? Look at how baggy those jeans are…not exactly the kind they wear now, are they?"
"Oh!"
Nodding, Lucky ripped the photo from his brother's hands and dropped it in Elizabeth's lap. "That's right…oh! Take a look, Elizabeth - is that Jake?"
Gingerly lifting the photo for a better view, Elizabeth's breath stopped again when she saw what they did. The boy in the photo was a dead ringer for her middle son, only…
"How funny is it that Jake looks like my twin at that age, huh?"
Nikolas knew now why he was so angry. "So when you saw that photo of a younger you who looked just like Jake, you did what, had a paternity test done?"
"Precisely! See, I knew when she first told me about the baby, I knew she was lying about something but I never thought it was that. She told me I had a baby coming and that gave me the strength to fight the demons that were keeping me hooked on those damn pills back then. I believed her, but I knew there was something else. Then later, when she recanted and said Jake was Jason's I didn't want to believe her but I did - I mean, why would she lie about something that made her look like a complete whore? But it was all a string of lies, wasn't it, Elizabeth? Each one coined to suite your immediate need at the time? Telling me he's mine sobers me up so you don't look like the married slut who screwed around on her husband and left him in his time of need to chase after some other girl's guy. Telling Jason he's the father kept him from marrying Sam and brought him back to the fold, where he stayed in worship because you were giving him something nobody else did…but he was too dangerous…you're not exactly a gangster chick now, are you? But you'd never give up your hold on him when you could have him pining after a family with you, even if he moved on, you'd always have that hold on him, and why not - I was willing to claim Jake and give you the family portrait you needed to show the town. Didn't matter if I never knew he was really mine when you had me on the hook just as much as Jason, both of us forever duking it out to be Jake's dad…Elizabeth gets her cake and she eats it too! Brava!"
"Elizabeth?" Nikolas was stunned. He didn't believe it at first but the more Lucky ranted the more he did - everything he said playing out before him with perfectly connecting dots - her ashen silence further confirming every syllable. "Elizabeth!"
"I didn't do anything, Nikolas. If a mistake was made it was on the part of the lab - the results I read said Jake was Jason's…I don't know where Lucky got this paper from."
"I had him tested again, Elizabeth - surely that's obvious? When I saw the startling resemblance I knew in my gut he was my son and not only on paper - he was my flesh and blood - so I swabbed him and took it to GH because I just had to know. Imagine my shock when they confirmed not only was he mine but that these new results matched the ones on file…you know…the first ones that only you saw?"
It was over. Nothing she said now would make a bit of difference because they'd never believe her now. After all these years, they had her completely cornered. The tears that welled her eyes and streamed her face were for once not manufactured and timed just right. She leaped animatedly from the chair and threw her arms in wide angry gestures.
"Fine! Alright - YES! Yes, I did it! I lied!" The sobs rocked her upper body and she spluttered on, "I lied, okay - I lied!" Running for Nikolas, she leapt inside the one set of arms she knew would never be closed to her, sinking into them when they embraced and held her to him where she rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed harder.
Lucky seethed at the picture before him, seeing exactly what she was doing and unable to stop her without looking like a complete eel. Gritting angry teeth, he bit back the scalding retort and crushed the paper he'd grabbed from the desk. She would use his brother just like she used him, just like she used Jason, Ric and countless others, and she would never feel bad about it or ever have to answer for it. Turning his back to them, he gritted again.
"Nikolas, man…I really wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Do what - comfort a friend when she's distraught? Come on, Lucky, this is Elizabeth…she wasn't trying to be malicious, we know that."
Spinning angrily, Lucky gaped at his brother, "We do? Don't you see what she's doing? She got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and instead of owning it and taking her punishment like a big girl, she's doing what she always does - run into the arms of a knight." He held the clasped paper in their direction, "She did this! She used people and she doesn't care that she was deliberate and hurtful, and you're giving her a free pass for it."
"I'm doing no such thing. She didn't mean to hurt anybody Lucky, you know she has the heart of an angel. Things got away from her and she got to a point where she couldn't take it back…we've all been there…we get in over our heads and then things get blown out of proportion. Where would we be if somebody hadn't forgiven us?"
"Forgive? People who seek forgiveness usually own their bad behavior and try earnestly to make amends! She's been using Jake again and again to go after people and to keep a man tied to her. That's not someone who's sorry and seeking forgiveness. As usual, you're completely blinded by her little innocent act and look - you've already picked up the gauntlet to fight for her honor…and she hasn't even come clean to the other injured parties yet." Lucky shook his head at his duped brother and pointed angrily at is ex, "I'll tell you one thing though…this farce doesn't touch my son in anyway, anymore! Our house will be completed in a few days and he's coming home with me where he belongs. You don't so much as look in his direction without my permission from now on…you will never use him again!"
"Lucky, come on…"
"I'm serious, Nikolas - keep her here all you want but you keep her away from my son!" He moved to the door, angrily ignoring his brother's call and her dramatic tears, anxious to breathe air not tainted by the deceitful woman's presence.
Nikolas ran his hands smoothly over her back, cooing her to calm and ease the tears. "Don't cry, Elizabeth. He's just angry right now…he'll be more rational when he calms down."
Elizabeth sniffled and eased herself from the arms she would always be able to count on, wiping the tears from her face with the back of one hand. "I'm sorry, Nikolas, really I am. I didn't want to hurt anybody, I just wanted Jason. I told Lucky the truth when it counted…when he needed to sober up, I gave him the truth to hold onto - that should count for something, shouldn't it?" She sniffled again and implored him with panda eyes.
"I know you weren't trying to hurt them but you have to see why Lucky's so angry, don't you?"
"I know he has the right to be angry, but to keep me away from my son? How is that fair?"
Nikolas guided her to take a seat on the sofa and sit next to her. "He'll calm down and see how that would not benefit Jake, but you need to give him room to work through his justified anger. You didn't mean to hurt him but you did, so give him some space and do as he says for right now."
She brought her face to her hands and sobbed into them. "Jason - oh my god, Jason is going to be so mad! Oh, my god!"
Nikolas rubbed her shoulder gently. "You can't manage how they react to the news, but I'll be there when you tell him if you want." When she lurched into his arms again he closed them tightly around her. "It's going to be okay. I've got you." He soothed her gently, thinking about how angry the mobster was going to get, maybe more than Lucky even…then he remembered the one person his dear friend should probably fear the most when she found out. His cousin was going to skewer her alive!
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"Sam, it's only seven…we can still hit the slope before we go." He was watching her pull the jeans on in a hurry suddenly, but he wasn't quite ready to relinquish their blissful solitude.
"Are you kidding? We have to go, Jason…" she pulled the tee over her head and hurriedly pushed her arms through, "…you have to see Danny! Get up - get dressed!"
Jason smiled from where he still lolled in the sleeping bag, remembering the night Kelly Lee stopped by the penthouse to tell them the paternity test showed he was Danny's father. He'd never felt a thrill that distinct and surreal his whole life, and that night spent holding Sam as she slept peacefully for the first time since their botched honeymoon, he'd stroked his son inside her until he dozed off himself. That was the first time they'd truly felt like a family since Baby Lila.
"What?"
He looked up at Sam eyeing him dubiously. "What?
"You have this goofy look on your face - what are you thinking about?"
Jason rose from the bag and reached for his jeans on the floor. "I'm thinking you're absolutely right - I need to see my son. I need to see my sons." He paused in the middle of reaching for his jacket, then straightened up to look at Sam. "There was a time I never thought I'd ever be a father, Sam…Michael was as close as I expected to get. Then Jake arrived and despite all the chaos my stupid actions had created surrounding him, it floored me that a piece of me had entered this world. Even when I made the gut-wrenching choice to let another man do my job so I could keep him safe, I was still floored because he would always be mine. When I thought he'd died, it was Baby Lila's pain all over again…and then we made Danny. He's our miracle, Sam. People kept him from us and they kept us from reveling in every second of his miraculous conception, I missed his birth, they tried to convince us he'd died too…but our baby survived them all. He survived cancer without me there to play the role I'm supposed to in his life! Both of my sons miraculously survived everything that's been thrown at them by people who should've known better…and they're waiting for me. You're right, baby - let's go home."
Grinning wide, Sam grabbed her scarf and looped her neck as she followed him from the tent. "Jason, wait - what about all this stuff?"
He took her hand and pulled her towards the trees. "Leave it! We're coming back to snowboard that ravine. Unfinished date, remember?"
Slapping his sleeve as he pulled her behind him, Sam hastened to keep up with his long strides. The excitement to make it back to town was palpitating between them, perfectly capping their wonderful night beneath the stars.
"Dating's a lot more fun than being married - I may stay single forever, now."
He squeezed her into his side as they hurried past the hot spring and made their way to the bike. "As long as you do it all with me, Mrs. Morgan - married or single - I'll take it!"
"Damn. There goes my plan to see if Lucky wanted to join the list." She threw her head back and chortled out loud when he sent her a deadly look. "Too soon?"
"That's not remotely funny and if he keeps sniffing around you, watch me send him to pay Franco a visit!"
They were using their boots to sweep the freshly fallen snow from around the bike.
"Stop it - that's not funny."
He started the engine and let it idle while they got on. "What's funny is you think I'm joking."
