**Thanks to ABCSOAPFAN1963 for a great title suggestion!**
PART THREE
Kelly's
"Excuse me?" Laura'a voice rose into a shriek.
"Grandmother." Katherine's smile was dripping with smug satisfaction. "And you, only a few years my senior... how fun."
"You and Nikolas?" Laura's face was nearly red with rage.
"Unless you have another son tucked away on a Greek island." She watched the words hit Laura like a slap. "Yes, Nikolas has given me a child. It was inevitable," she breathed, "with the number of times we've been together and the number of ways we've-"
Laura felt the sting on her palm before she realized what she'd done. She stared at Katherine and saw the red welt across the other woman's cheek. "Don't." She couldn't seem to form another word for a moment. "Don't talk about my son like that."
Katherine tested her jaw, moving it from one side to the other as she straightened her spine. "I will talk about him any way I want, Laura. He's not a little boy anymore. He's a man and perfectly able lover. He's certainly got an appetite for me... and I have no problem letting him into my bed."
Laura barely restrained herself from scratching Katherine's eyes out. "I'm going to see him and he'll tell me... he'll tell me the truth." Laura spun on her heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Katherine grinning behind her.
Nikolas' House
Elizabeth still couldn't quite catch her breath. "I just... it's just so-"
"Sudden?" He smiled, a boyish grin that had Elizabeth's stomach fluttering just a little. "Yes, it is... but I don't know what else to do. I don't love Katherine, Elizabeth, I lo-" he stopped suddenly and saw the confusion play over her features. "I never expected to be father this early in my life, but the more I think about it.. the more I want to be a father and the more I want to raise the child with someone I... I deeply care about." He caught Elizabeth's smile and continued. "With all of Katherine's schemes and how she's tried to hurt you... I coudn't respect her... and I can't keep her in my life... in my home."
Elizabeth stood suddenly, looking around them at the house she'd helped decorate. "You'll always have me in your life, Nikolas. I'd always be your friend and I'd help you anyway I can." She swept her tongue over her bottom lip and blushed with anxiety. "This just seems like it's such a big step and we... we're just... I'm just your brother's girl-friend and-"
"You're my best friend, Elizabeth. Lucky was a my brother and yes, you loved each other, but I love you-"
"We're the muskateers, Nikolas, we all love each other, and-"
"Come with me." Nikolas stood and held out his hand. "Come with me to see Alexis. She'll be able to explain this better... she'll make sense of this for you."
Elizabeth stared at his offered hand for a long moment, one breath after another passing between her lips. "Okay, let's go." She took his hand and followed him out the door.
Katherine's Suite
Katherine let her clothes slip to the floor at her feet as she examined the growing babybump low on her abdomen. She ran a hand over the growth and sighed as she noticed a slight mark on her skin. "The last thing I need is a stupid stretch mark."
She turned in the other direction and looked at the line of her bust and pushed her shoulders back. No difference. She huffed, lifting her bangs a little. "If I'm going to get stretch marks, the least that could happen is that I could gain some in my bust."
Turning from the disppointing growl she saw in her mirror, Katherine moved into the bathroom to draw a bath. She couldn't wait to hear from Nikolas. He couldn't ignore her now... No. Once Laura read him the riot act she'd be Mrs. Nikolas Casadine.
Alexis' House
Nikolas had called on the way over, so when the two young friends knocked at Alexis' door she opened it right away and ushered them in. She had set a tray with a fresh pot of tea on the table and smiled when Nikolas poured a cup for Elizabeth after settling her in a chair beside one that he would take. "I'm glad you could both come over tonight. We should get this going as quickly as possible." She reached across the table and gave Elizabeth's hand a squeeze. "I've always though you were a remarkable girl, Elizabeth, but the more Nikolas told me about you... the more I know he's doing the right thing."
Elizabeth looked from the lawyer to her friend and back again. "For the baby," she hedged, "Nikolas needs to protect his child."
Alexis' grin was slow but genuine. "Yes, that is one of the concerns."
"Concerns?" Elizabeth, now fully invested took her tea cup in her hands to warm them. "What else is concerned about?"
"Not so much Nikolas, but as a relative and a lawyer, I had some concerns. If he married a woman who would present a problem to the custody case.. or if he picked someone who would demand things from him now or in the future and-"
"And you wanted to protect Nikolas, especially when he's got so many things going on... I agree. You would need to make sure that the person to help him win this custody fight would be a good person and one who would genuinely care for Nikolas... and the baby. You're absolutely right, Miss Davis."
Alexis shared a look with her nephew before she turned back to Elizabeth. "Alexis... please, call me Alexis." She smiled at the younger woman and nodded. "After all, you'll be family soon."
"She's already family." Nikolas' soft declaration made Elizabeth's cheeks flare with color and Alexis crossed her fingers in her lap hoping that the young man was right in more ways than one.
"Let me explain this from a legal perspective, Elizabeth and then I'll answer any questions you might have." With Elizabeth's nod of agreement, she drew a file between them and opened the top. "Let's begin..."
Nikolas' house
Laura's car nearly knocked over one of the oleander shrubs in front of the house before she noticed that the house was dark and Nikolas' jaguar was missing from the driveway.
Truthfully she was happy he wasn't home.
She was angry... furious... livid!
If Nikolas had been home she would have marched her way to the door... demanded entrance.. and then launched into a tirade about bad choices, loose women, and any other stupid topic she could have tangled her tongue into.
Instead, she yanked open her purse and barely managed to find the little packet of tissues before her tears blurred her vision.
Alexis' house
Elizabeth knew it was late, but she was almost too tired to move. She'd listened as Alexis had laid out all the various options that she and Nikolas had disscused and then Alexis and Nikolas answered some of her own questions.
When all was said and done Elizabeth asked for a few moments to gather her thoughts. She stood up from the table, smiling the littlest bit as Nikolas stood up beside her and pulled back her chair.
Crossing to the windows, Elizabeth stared out into the inky night sky and considered the argument in her head. She didn't understand everything that Alexis had said, there was just too many legalese words in their conversation to make things easy, but she believed that Alexis and more importantly, Nikolas, were in earnest an believed that this was the ONLY option that would help him save his child from being used as a bargaining chip.
She remembered all the ways that Nikolas had been there for her... and for Lucky as well... during the time she'd known him. She remembered all the times that Nikolas had comforted her, held her up, let her cry on his shoulder, and listen to her ramble on and on about her loss as if he didn't understand how much she'd missed Lucky. Now, she knew, she had an opportunity to give Nikolas back some of the love and friendship he'd showere on her.
Turning back to the table she saw that Nikolas was still on his feet, where he'd been when she'd risen from her chair. She looked in his dark eyes and saw hope and need and she knew that she had to do.
Moving to his side she held out her hands and waited until he took them gently in his own. She looked up into his warm gaze and smiled. "Okay."
"Okay?" The word scratched out of his throat. "Does that mean-"
"Yes," she breathed the word even as she felt her knees go weak, "I'll marry you."