Reliving The Past

Chapter 11

At the hospital, Elizabeth sits and thinks. She knows that she's about to be discharged. She's happy about it. But is also not looking forward to facing her troubles. Knowing that the man that wants to torture her is just too much for her. She told herself long ago she would never be a scared victim again. Dr. Jones walks in.

"Hey, you ready to go home?"

"Yes and no. I don't ache. So yes. But I don't want to go home to my kids. God help me, but mentally I just can't hold it together to keep them safe and not break down. I also have the BBQ tomorrow. I have to go shop for the stuff for that." Elizabeth fakes a smile.

"I can't wait. It will be the first thing Brad and I will be going to as a married couple." Dr. Jones smiles.

"How is married life?"

"Great. Still in the honeymoon phase. But good. Do you need us to bring anything?"

"If you don't like margaritas, then yes. What you drink. But I have pretty much the food. We will have hot dogs, hamburgers, turkey burgers. That's for the meat. If you want anything else, then you can bring it. I can text you a list of the food when I get out of here and actually have the food bought. Now can I get out of here? I need to call Franco to come and get me." Elizabeth takes a deep breath.

"Yes, call him. I will have a nurse come and take your IV out. I know you are a nurse, but right now you are a patient. So let the nurse do her job. And I will see you tomorrow. Be good." Lucas leaves. Elizabeth texts Franco that she's being discharged and needs to be picked up. But to bring her car as they will need lots of room for food, decorations and games. She tells him where to find the keys. The nurse comes and takes the IV out so she can go change into her clothes.

About 20 minutes later, Franco walks into her room. She's sitting there staring at the box of doughnuts. It was like she didn't hear him come in.

"Liz, are you ready?"

"Oh yeah." She picks up the box of doughnuts with her discharge papers on top.

"So are there any special instructions?" Franco tries to take the box from her.

"I got it. No there is no special instructions. Sorry. I don't mean to be crabby. I just need to get to the store to get the food and stuff for the BBQ. How are the boys? Are they behaving?"

"They are fine. When I got there, they were playing hide and seek. Well, except for Kevin. He was on watch. Let's just worry about the food and stuff. Do you want to drive or do you want me to?" Franco dangles her keys in front of her.

"I will. Anything else happen? I got this strange message from Lucky. He asked me to call him back when I wasn't busy messing around with you. What do you think that means?" Elizabeth puts the doughnuts in the back seat.

"Who knows? Did you call him back?" Franco prays she didn't.

"No. I didn't want to explain what happened to me. That time we spoke he seemed a little off. I was bad at trying to keep things from him." She remembers the whole affair with Nikolas. Then she snaps out of the memory.

"Well, maybe you can call him after we get all the stuff done and the boys are in bed. Now, onto the store. You have a list right?" Franco rubs his hands together like he was ready to get started.

2 hours later, Elizabeth and Franco pull into the driveway. Everything seems so calm.

"Does this seem right?" Elizabeth asks, concerned.

"Well, it could just mean they are inside. Maybe they are taking a nap. They were going strong and hard earlier." He didn't want to tell her that Kevin or one of the other body guards should be on the porch. "Let me go see if I can't get one of the guards to come help get this stuff in. You stay in here and lock the door. If I'm not back in 10 minutes or you see trouble, call Detective Nathan West. Lock the door." Franco goes to the house and walks in. Franco comes out with Kevin and Max. Kevin stays on the porch. Max and Franco walk out to the car.

"Thank you Max. There is a lot of food. The decorations can wait. I'm more concerned with the food for now. We can come back out to get those after all the stuff is taken care of. Where are the boys?" Elizabeth asks as she grabs a few bags.

"Oh they are in their rooms, cleaning up. Then they get a bowl of ice cream." Max says, grabbing some bags too.

"They were good?"

"Yes ma'am. That little Aidan is a fast one. But they were all good." Max smiles.

"Cam wasn't mouthy or rude?" Elizabeth is feeling like the worst mother around.

"No. He didn't want to play as much. But we assumed he was thinking that he was too old for those games. But it was all good. How are you feeling?"

"Fine thanks. I'm sorry I had to leave you guys alone with the boys." Elizabeth feels guilty.

"Hey, it wasn't like you asked to be drugged. Don't worry. It wasn't that long. We had fun. They are good kids."

"Thank you for saying that Max. Now did Franco invite you guys to the BBQ tomorrow?" Elizabeth asks, sounding like a mother.

"Well we kind of have to be here. To guard you and the boys."

"No. I want you guys here as guests. Do you really think he would try something with lots of people around?" She looks hopeful at him.

"I don't know. But we would love to come." Max looks to Franco.

"Sure. Bring a date if you have one." Franco winks with a smile.

"Ok. I will let the others know. But I think we will want to keep watch more."

"I challenge you to a game of volleyball." Elizabeth smiles. "Are you up to the challenge?" She grins.

"Sure. You just name the time and place and I am there. I never turn down a challenge." Max smiles. They carry the groceries into the kitchen. Things seem to be calm and normal. Elizabeth almost forgets what happened. After the groceries are taken care of they go get the decorations and games. So they could start to set them up. Elizabeth is busy with her decorations that she didn't hear her phone ring. Franco does. It says Lucky on the name. So Franco answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hello. I want to speak to Elizabeth please." Lucky didn't sound happy.

"She's busy at the moment. Can I take a message?" Franco has a feeling that he's mad about the photo.

"Yeah. I want to know what's going on."

"What do you mean? You know that she has a stalker. I mean for crying out loud, she's sending her kids to her parents. It's eating her up inside to send her kids away. No matter what anyone thinks." Franco pushes back.

"What's going on with you and her? You kidnapped Aidan for God sake. Why would she be hooking up with you?" Lucky spits out the accusation.

"First off, did Detective Nathan West call you?" Franco's confused.

"No. Why?" Lucky is still defensive.

"Because. She got mailed letters from Ireland, Greece and England. We assumed that he sent those pictures to you, Jason and her parents. The ones to you and Jason were photo shopped. Of me and Elizabeth. Nothing has happened between us but a kiss. And we are just friends. Let's get that damn clear right now. But the photos from the England batch had lots of photos. The ones that disturbed us the most were from the park. It looks like winter. She's in a red dress. Sitting there with popcorn. She's in a black long coat. She looks so beautiful. Then there is one of you and her. She looks to be coming out from the bushes. Her dress is ripped and she bruised and bloody." Before Franco and continue Lucky interrupts.

"My God! So before she was raped. And after. There was no one there. I looked." Lucky's sounding more confused.

"There was one that we think might have been the man who did it to her. It looks like before she was beaten. But she's on the ground. You can see the snow under her."

"WHAT? Oh God! He should still be in prison. He was a photographer. That would explain the photo shopping. But there were never any pictures of the dress Elizabeth wore. She wouldn't let her Gram take a picture. Has she seen the pictures?" Lucky is sounding more like he was that night.

"No. We wanted someone who was around then to give us some info. Like if he was caught. If he went to jail. That kind of stuff."

"The disgusting man who did this was Tom Baker. He also tried blackmailing Emily Quartermaine. The day he was caught, he locked Emily and Elizabeth in his dark room. But not before admitting to raping Elizabeth. But she didn't get an exam done before she showered and there was no way to prove he did it. But he did get convicted of the blackmail. We never heard how long he went to prison for. But I haven't really thought about him in years. He really shattered her life that night." Lucky says, almost in tears.

"Yeah. But it seems that you put her back together. I could see the look in both your eyes. The fear in her eyes just took my breath away. I can imagine how awful it was in person. I saw the concern in your eyes. It must have been damn hard finding her like that. I'm sorry you both had to go through that." Franco gets a lump in his throat.

"Thanks. That's not something you expect a 15 year old would have to live through. At first she didn't admit that she was raped. But I could tell. I will never forget seeing the blood on her legs. It still makes me cringe to this day. Her body was one big bruise." Lucky had to stop due to his emotions.

"There was one at the fire that you supposedly died. There was an emotional Liz being held by Sonny with a neckless in her hand. That was pretty sad too."

"How's that possibly? Tom was in prison by then. And it was a subway token she's given me. We were supposed to go to New York to live. She was going to get into the art school there. She gave that subway token to me and she had it engraved. I never took it off. So the man who took me, took it off and put it on the person that was to be me. I know she had to have been devastated. How can this be?" Lucky is trying to figure it out.

"There was one from Emily's funeral. Her speaking. And Jake's funeral. One of a man holding her against him with a knife. He's covered in tattoos. She looks so scared there." Franco says.

"Manny. He took her after she saved Sky Quartermaine from him hurting her or kidnapping her. I tried to stop him. Why would this guy be showing all these horrible events to her parents?"

"Doesn't her parents know all this stuff? I mean there was one of her shot. All of them were sad or painful." Franco says, confused. "And how would this person be every single place that something bad was going to happen?" Franco doesn't think any of this makes sense.

"Could you ask Detective whatever his name is to send me copies of these photos? I need to put these photos in order. Have him check on Tom Baker. If he was released Elizabeth wouldn't have been notified because it was Emily that put him away. Even though he did lock her in the dark room too. But the ADA at the time was afraid Liz would try to talk about the rape. She was too emotional. I don't blame her, but the ADA had to do what she had to do. I was pissed that he didn't get labeled the sexual predator he was. If it is Tom Baker somehow, be very careful. Elizabeth didn't hear him come up on her and it was quiet that night. He told her the night he locked them in the dark room that sometimes he liked pictures, but sometimes he needed the hunt. So be very careful. Don't tell her about this. She will shut down." Lucky says, trying to protect her.

"Well right now she's setting up for the BBQ tomorrow. Everyone is going to be here. Then she's sending the boys to her parents with her Grandmother. She thinks even with the body guards they will be safer there. But it sounds like he knows where you live and her parents. So be careful yourself. If you testified against him, he might come after you. Emily and Nikolas are dead. Oh, sorry man. You knew right?" Franco winces in pain of his mistake.

"Yeah. Elizabeth called me. Then mom and everyone else. Don't worry about it man. Just ask Detective whatever for the copies and to check on Tom Baker. I have to go. Thanks for the talk. Be good to my family."

"I will to all that. Be careful. Text my phone when you get the pictures. 314-555-7634." Franco hangs up and starts back with hanging decorations.

A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter. Thank you for all the loyal reviewers. They mean the world to me. :)