Reliving The Past

Chapter 7

Elizabeth gets the food and dishes taken care of and makes a pot of coffee. She pours two cups and takes then to the living room. But then rushes upstairs to help finish up with the boys and get them ready for bed. As she gets upstairs, she hears Franco and Jake talking.

"My dad says he loves me, but he never calls me. I know you said he was thinking of me while doing important dad things, but I'm starting to think my dad doesn't care about me like he says. But you love me, don't you Franco?" Jake looks at him with his puppy dog eyes. Franco looks at him. He smiles.

"Sure! I love you so much. There is no doubt about that. I swear to you that your dad loves you. Grownups sometimes have to do things they don't want to do. Like your dad doesn't want to be away from you. As you get older you will understand what I'm saying. But for now, just take my word for it. You are a great kid Jake. How could he not love you?" Franco hugs Jake.

"Thanks Franco. Don't tell mom or dad, but I sometimes wish you were my dad. You show me that you care as well as tell me. My mom does too. But not dad so much. Mom smiles and tells me all kinds of ways that she likes my art. Dad just says that's nice. I think he likes Danny more than me." Jake hangs his head in sadness.

"Jake, you do understand that a parent can love more than one kid, right? Look how great your mom is with all three of you. She loves you all equally. I am sure that is the way your dad loves you and Danny. I'm sorry if you feel that way. But remember what we said about feelings. Feelings are never wrong, but it's how we deal with the feelings that is the key. Maybe if you deal with these feelings correctly, the feelings will change." Franco rubs his back in comfort.

"Sure, I understand that Franco. But I see other kids with their dads and they act differently than my dad. Even when he's here. Dad Lucky seemed to care more for me. It's like when…" Jake trails off and stares at the wall.

"Like what buddy?" Franco gets concerned. Elizabeth comes rushing in.

"Jake, what's wrong Jakey?" Elizabeth crouches down in front of Jake. She moves his head up and looks into his eyes. Then just as if nothing happened, he snaps out of it.

"Mom, when did you come in? Franco and I were talking. Can you go see to Aidan and Cam? Then come back?"

"Sure sweetheart. You talk to Franco for as long as you want. Franco, when you are done, I make some coffee and there is a cup in the living room and the coffee table. I love you baby. You don't stay up after Franco and you are finished. You can show Franco how you get tucked in. I'll see you in the morning." She kisses the top of Jakes head and leaves the room.

Once back downstairs, Elizabeth sits and drinks her coffee. Thinking about what she heard Jake and Franco talking about. She feels bad that Jake now seems to not have the father he needs because of her. If she would have been a better person, then maybe Lucky would have felt like he could have stayed in Port Charles. And not chased Jason off. She starts to think that she brought all this trouble on because she was such a bad person. But then Franco comes down the stairs and her previous thought is forgotten.

"So, how is Jake doing?"

"Fine. He really misses his dad. He seems to think Jason loves Danny more than him. I tried to squash that idea. But I don't know if it worked. But he is down for the night. He talked until he literally fell asleep in mid-sentence." Franco chuckles. Elizabeth giggles.

"Thank you. Here's your coffee. Did Aidan give you any trouble?"

"Not a one. You have great kids Elizabeth." Franco watches her face as she looks at her recent photo of her and the boys.

"Thank you for saying so. I apologize for Cam's behavior at dinner tonight. I just haven't figured out what is up with his. I still can't figure out why he would talk to me like that. And what he said. I don't believe in hit kids, but I have never wanted to slap a child as much as I did in that moment." Elizabeth looks so upset for thinking and feeling that way. There's a knock at the door. Elizabeth sets her coffee down and gets up to answer the door. She opens the door to four tall, athletically built men.

"Yes, can I help you boys?" Elizabeth is staring.

"Yes ma'am. We are here from the order of Sonny Carinthos. We are the body guards."

"Oh, yes. Please come in. I'm Elizabeth Webber. This is Franco Baldwin. You will be seeing a lot of him. He's a friend and my middle son's art therapy counselor. Please, sit down. Dante was supposed to be here to help with this. Let me just call him and let him know you guys are here." She picks up the phone to dial. There is no answer at his desk phone or on his cellphone.

"Well, I can't seem to reach Dante. So, why don't you gentlemen tell me about yourselves? We'll start with you." Elizabeth points to the guy on the end.

"Hi, I'm Justin Martin. I'm really good with younger kids. Under 10. What else do you need to know?"

"That's fine. Thank you Justin. Now you." The next guy to him.

"Hi, I'm Jace Taylor. I can pretty much get along with anyone. I go with the flow."

"Thank you Jace. And you?"

"Hi, I'm Max Stanford. I do well with older kids. Over 10."

"Great Max. And you."

"I'm Kevin Smith. And I pretty much can do anything." Elizabeth looks at him strangely. There was something about that guy that was telling her it wasn't right. But Franco seems to not saying anything.

"Thank you Kevin. Will you excuse us for just a moment? Franco could you help me in the kitchen for a second? Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?" Elizabeth and Franco stand up.

"Water please." They all respond in unison. Franco and Elizabeth go to the kitchen.

"What do you think? I am not happy that Dante isn't here. But you were. What do you think about them?" Elizabeth tells herself if Franco mentions Kevin as being creepy, than she would ask him to leave. If he didn't mention him, she would just chalk it up to nerves. She didn't like the thought of body guards, but knew they needed them.

"I think they seem pretty cool. Jace is prefect for Jake. Justin for Aidan. Max for Cam and Kevin for you. Didn't you like them?" Franco looks at her and studies her facial expressions.

"Sure. I mean Sonny is being generous and loaning them to us. What isn't there to like about them?" Elizabeth scratches her nose.

"Ok. What one didn't you like? I know that tell. There is no need to lie to me."

"I was getting a vibe from Kevin. I thought if you brought it up, then it wasn't just me. But you didn't, so it's probably just me. I don't know how to interview body guards. That's why Dante was supposed to be here. He would know exactly what to ask to weed out the creeps." Franco sees her body cringe. He pulls out his cellphone and calls Dante. No answer. So he calls the front desk at the police station.

"Port Charles police station. What can I do for you?"

"Hello. I am looking for Detective Dante Falconeri. Can you locate him and have him call Franco Baldwin or Elizabeth Webber? He had an appointment with us but he's unreachable by cellphone and his desk."

"Sure. I will try to locate him. If I can't find him, I will call his wife and she will contact you. Have a good night." The officer hangs up.

"Wow. Ok. He's going to locate Dante. Why don't you call Lulu and have her aware of the situation. Should we call Sonny and see about getting a new set of files on them?" Franco is trying to help her get all her options before jumping to conclusions. Just as Elizabeth was about to call Lulu, her cellphone rang.

"Hello?"

"Well, what are all these gentlemen doing in your home? Is it true what your ex said about you being a tramp?" the man sounds so smug.

"So you have spoken to my ex? When?" Elizabeth gestures to Franco that it's him. He goes out to the body guards.

"Hey, that guys is on the phone. He just called her. He knows you guys are here." They all just stare at him. "What do we do?" They all look confused. Then Franco hears Elizabeth raise her voice.

"How do you know that? HOW!?" Elizabeth is shaking and tears are marking her face. She slowly lowers the phone from her ear. She stares at her phone. "He couldn't have known that. How could he? It's impossible." Elizabeth seems to check out for a few brief moments. Franco calls Sonny's cellphone.

"This is Sonny."

"Sonny, this is Franco. Please don't hang up. This has to do with Elizabeth. Dante never showed up to go over the files of the body guards. Elizabeth has a reservation with one. And we tried to get in contact with Dante. The stalker just called. He really said something to upset her." Franco gives it a second to let it sink into Sonny's brain.

"I'll be over in a few minutes. I will have my people track down Dante to make sure he's ok and to get there to take her statement about the call. Let me speak to her for a moment." Franco hands his phone over to Elizabeth. She holds it but still seems to be out of it. "Elizabeth, what did he say to you?" After a few seconds of quiet, she answers.

"He knows details of my rape. Stuff even Lucky didn't know. And then the fire at Lucky's all those years ago. Two of the most painful experiences of my life. Details the police don't even know. This man is sick. One minute he declares he loves me then the next he's insulting me." Elizabeth looks out her back door window and screams, dropping the phone.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you have the time to review too. It's greatly appreciated. The next chapter might be a little early or a little late. So please bare with me. Thanks again.