Prompt: I was never a member of the Nazi party! I had nothing to do with the war! I didn't even know there WAS a war! We were in the back...across from Switzerland! All we heard was yodeling! The Producers

Part Twenty-Five

"We have got to get her back."

"And what do you suggest we do, Jeffery?" Alesandra Webber gave her husband a cool stare, flipping her dainty wrist in question. "Lizzie is as stubborn as your mother. We have done everything that—"

"We obliviously haven't done enough." Jeffrey shot back.

"Why even bother," their son Steven chipped in, "The girl is an embarrassment to the family. It's been heaven since Lizzie left."

All four family members nodded their head in agreement. Sarah, the middle child of the Webber children, made a face as she stared at the bottom of her blond hair, seeing split ends. "I'm sure we could find some other way to fix this."

Jeffrey stood up from his leather chair and strode to the liquor cabinet, pouring himself a hefty amount of his finest brandy—his last bottle. "Don't you think we have tried to figure out other ways, Sarah?" He chided. "If there were any other way to… fix this temporary problem it would have been succeeded now. But Joshua and Lizzie are our only hope."

Steven made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. "I cannot believe that the fate of this family lies on the shoulders of Lizzie." He spat her name out as if it were a curse. Elizabeth had been the bane of Steven's existence since they were children. Following him around everywhere he went, annoying him to no end with her endless stream of chatter. He ignored her when he entered adolescence, but it was when she hit her teenage years that his friends began to notice her. He and Sarah were closer in age and had the same friends. Their group was complete and just the way Steven had wanted it, until his friends began to ask him questions about his youngest sister, pestering him to invite her to their parties, wanting to be in her company more than his.

It didn't matter how many times he had made her look like a fool, his friends were still interested in her, causing his dislike for her to grow. She was a humiliation to their family, a mistake when his parents had indulged too much one night and ended up with her nine-months later.

But it was when Lizzie had gotten the one thing he had always dreamed of that his dislike had turned to hate. She got their grandmother's love and approval when he was nothing more than a spoiled brat in her eyes. Steven knew he was cruel to his sister, but he couldn't help it or seem to care.

She was the black sheep of the family.

"Are you sure she's not adopted?" He blurted out and received no answer, known to make such comments on more than one occasion.

"Lizzie has got to marry Joshua or we are ruined." Jeffrey didn't know how many times he had to say it, but it didn't seem to sink into his family's mind that they would be the laughing stock of the country club if their plan didn't follow through.

It was in this moment that Jeffrey decided to play dirty. "Steven, how would your friends react if you showed up to your next golf game with used clubs? And Sarah, how do you expect to keep paying for your weekly spa visits and stylist?" Jeffrey held back the urge to roll his eyes at her sharp gasp of dismay.

Turning, he faced his wife. "And how will you be able to face the ladies of the club when you throw the yearly gala from a trailer living room!"

"No!" Alesandra screamed, horrified at the thought of her yearly gala being ruined and her "friends" thumbing their noses down on her. She rushed over to her husband, grasping his arm. "We have to get Lizzie to marry Joshua."

"And I know just how to make her."

All four Webbers turned to stare at the newcomer as he entered Jeffery's den.

Jeffery raised an eyebrow, Alesandra smiled in anticipation, Steven rolled his eyes looking positively bored, and Sarah stood tall, batting her eyelashes at her sister's ex-fiancé.

It still bothered her that Lizzie had got to him first. It didn't matter that Sarah had had him; several times in fact, it was still an ego blow that her baby sister was able to steal the attention of Steven's best friend before she did when they were in high school. Sarah wanted Joshua from the moment she met him and was close to getting him until Lizzie grew up and became… mature. Lizzie becoming Joshua's girlfriend was the main reason Sarah had hostility towards her sister.

If only she could marry Joshua.

But that wouldn't work. The deal was straight forward and would only work if Lizzie was the one to marry the man of Sarah's dreams. Oh well, Sarah thought, letting her gaze slowly drift over Joshua's form as he walked into her fathers den. She would just have to have an affair with him after he married Lizzie.

Jeffrey cleared his throat, embarrassment rising in his cheeks as his hand grasped hold of Joshua's extended one in greeting. It embarrassed the hell out of him that this… man was the only way to get his family out of debt before everyone found out about it.

"It's as we suspected," Joshua faced all four, staring at Sarah the longest, letting his gaze wander over her body. "She's living with the mobster."

"Figures," Steven snarled. "Leave it to Lizzie to go completely against the family by shaking with a criminal."

Joshua shrugged. "She's been living there for weeks since you froze all of her accounts and got her kicked out of her apartment."

Jeffrey took a long sallow of his brandy, finishing off his glass. "How were you able to find this out now? We've been trying for weeks to figure out where she has been."

"I told you about how I ran into her and that man. Well, I have been trying to get it confirmed that she was staying with him but that place has more security than the president." A smirk appeared on his lips. "But I found a rather… charming secret weapon."

Sarah frowned at the sexual look that passed over Joshua's face as he spoke of his charming secret weapon. He caught her look and gave her a wink. A smile full of sexual promise replaced her frown.

"Who is she?" Steven asked, trying to sound as bored as possible.

"Someone who has an in with the Corinthos/Morgan association. She was able to confirm that Lizzie has in fact been living with that man," Joshua growled, still annoyed with the barbarian that Elizabeth chose to leave with over him. "And she also said that she would be able to give me information as to when would be the right time to approach Lizzie."

All but one of the Webbers smiled at the possible victory. Steven sucked his tongue, glaring at his one time best friend. "You know, we would never be in this situation if it weren't for you. Why, out of all the woman you could have had, did you choose Lizzie? You could be with Sarah right now for Gods sake."

"You know that won't work, Steven. My grandfather had made his requirements for my inheritance quite frank. For some reason he took a liking to Elizabeth and still believes we are engaged. You know how it is, I don't get my inheritance, and your family doesn't get the merger and the healthy rewards that come with it. Besides, I know that Lizzie still loves me."

Steven opened his mouth to retort that it was Joshua's fault that Elizabeth even met the old bastard but was cut off when his mother gave him an icy glare. "Just shut up, Steven. You have no reason to be so bitter about Elizabeth."

Steven stared at his mother in shock for two things. The first being she called Lizzie by her real name, the name Elizabeth preferred to be called by since she hated the nickname of Lizzie more than anything—the sole reason he continued to call her Lizzie. And second, because his mother stuck up for the pain in the ass. "When the hell did you start defending Lizzie?"

"When she became the only hope we had in not becoming bankrupt. Not stop being such a baby and practice being the loving brother. She is going to need to think we are a caring family." She finished as she sat down primly on the edge of her husbands leather chair. "We need Lizzie to cooperate."

Steven turned his eyes to his sister, hoping for some back up but received none when she looked away and shrugged, swirling a blond piece of hair around her finger. Looking at his father, a man who detested Lizzie's constant embarrassment to the family name as much as he did; but he got no help there either.

"Your mother's right. We need to lure Lizzie in thinking we accept her. You know it's the only way to get her back."

"Not the only way." Joshua said in a low voice, looking at Jeffery from the corner of his eyes. A knowing look passed between them.

"Again?" Jeffery asked. Baffled that Joshua was suggesting what he was.

"If I can get my charming new friend to help, then yes."

Nodding, Jeffrey looked from one person to the next. His gaze locked with Joshua's. "What's the first step?"

"I call Carly Quartermaine and get some more information out of her."