Part Three

Carly had always loved the Penthouse at the Towers. She'd loved showing it off to anyone who would come by and drag people up by invitation as much as could. Still, she hated it just as much when she was stuck there.

"Is this all really necessary?" She demanded of Sonny while he was on the phone. "I thought Anthony Zacchara was dead!"

Sonny turned away and held up a finger for her to wait.

"Why can't you just send us down to the island?" She plucked at his sleeve, following around as he turned. "The boys could use a vacation," she pushed, "Good Lord knows 'I' could use a vacation."

Sonny covered the mouthpiece of the phone and hissed back at her. "We don't know what's going on right now, we have everyone locked down until we know more." With a final look he turned back to the phone. Carly flopped down on the sofa and tossed one of Morgan's toys across the room. "Where's Jason, anyway?" She looked up at Sonny, but he was ignoring her.

Digging into her bag she fished out her cell and called Jason. The answering system picked up on the third ring. Bringing the cell phone down where she could see the screen she glared at the offending device.

She stopped the call and redialed. This time it went straight to messages. Carly threw the phone across the room and watched with a satisfied glare as it broke into three pieces.

Sonny turned around with a concerned look and shook his head. "No… we're not being attacked, it was just Carly… being Carly."

Elizabeth took one breath after another, each bigger than the last, willing feeling all the way down to her fingers and toes. It was a long and painful process with only the constant beep beep beep to keep her company. It was maddening as her frustration rose so did her heart-rate and when the beeping increased she began to panic.

There were people that came in and out of the room from time to time but no one said anything to her. They would look at the machine, a shadow falling between her and the direction where the sound was coming from, and then they'd walk out of the room.

Elizabeth managed to part her lips and flicked her tongue out to wet her lips. It was a small triumph but something nonetheless. It was something that said whatever it was that they gave her was wearing off.

Epiphany, Robin and Patrick sat in the park and watched the boys playing in the sun each adult with their own concerned expressions on their faces… Cameron and Jake were running around and playing with the other children, but they would each stop from time to time and look over at the three adults that had brought them to the park.

It was unnerving really, the look in their eyes. The watchful looks that said they weren't buying the happy smiles and placid reassurances one bit.

"Have you heard anything?" Patrick sat down on the table top and looked from Robin to Epiphany. "Anything?"

Robin shook her head. "Uncle Mac can't do anything officially, it hasn't been 24 hours yet. Audrey is in denial, she's sure that Elizabeth has run off to take a little vacation on her own. Lucky's actually on a vacation with Sam."

Epiphany shuddered at the thought. "Don't get me started on that."

Patrick pressed a hand against his forehead. "Is he coming back?" He looked from one woman to the other and nearly jumped off the table in a sudden rage. "Okay, I get that he doesn't consider Cameron his, but come on… Jake? Isn't he the baby he and Liz have wanted forever?"

He expected the women to jump in and agree with him, demand that Lucky be dragged back by the short hairs, but they sat there looking at him. Epiphany with an arched brow and Robin with a sad little smile.

She took Patrick's hand in her own and tugged him back down to the seat beside her. "Honey, there's something you need to know about Jake Webber."

Jason was about to strangle someone… anyone… the next damn person that walked by.

So far they'd corralled Alexis and her girls, Carly and the children, Kate who insisted on being supplied with a dedicated wireless router to keep the magazine going. They'd stashed them at the most secure safe houses that they had and the guards were on double duty both on protection detail and scouring the city for Anthony Zacchara.

Spinelli mercifully had realized the state of Jason's sanity and had managed to keep his normal buoyant personality quiet. He looked up from his computer with a wince. "I can't find anything about the presumed dead Zacchara head, since the Black and White Ball where he threatened the life of you and that Maternal One he's been most assuredly 'dead' as far as activity goes."

Jason was listening to Spinelli as he dialed Sonny's number again and finally got through. He answered Sonny's question before it was asked. "Everyone's accounted for."

Sonny sighed and Jason could almost hear him flinch as something broke apart on his side of the conversation. "That's Carly. Thanks for the update."

Jason shook his head. There was something he was missing, but he just couldn't quite get it.

Sonny grumbled on the other end. "I can't think of anyone else that he'd think…"

Spinelli sighed and crunched on another chip. "Seriously, Stone Cold, since the night you shot him-"

Sonny barked out a colorful epithet. "Carly, enough!"

"Besides his attentions to the Maternal One, I don't see-"

"Sonny, I have to go." Jason snapped his phone closed and turned around to Spinelli. "Elizabeth."

The door closed opened and closed again as Elizabeth struggled to breathe deep and slow. if her heart rate increased now, he'd know she was awake and she needed to know more before she tried to escape.

The side of the bed lowered as though someone sat down beside her. "You look like her, you know… you have her coloring… just like my boy Johnny. I don't know why I didn't see it before… but then they say that a man can be blind to what's right in front of him." A hand, cold and hard, touched the side of her face. "But now I see you, Elizabeth… I see you and I know exactly what to do with you."

Fear surged through her body and her heart pounded in her chest, the electronic beeping of the machine revealing her ruse.

Laughter, or rather a cackle, filled the room and he called out to someone in the hallway.

"Playing possum, eh? I can respect that, Elizabeth, but it's not nice to fool me." She knew who it was and her mind had been wondering, fretting, searching for reasons since she'd made the revelation that she was in the hands of Anthony Zacchara. He leaned down, his stubble-covered chin brushed against her cheek as his hand closed on her arm. "It's not nice to fool Papa."