Reliving The Past

Chapter 17

When Elizabeth gets upstairs, she looks into Aidan's room and watches Roco and Dante playing. She smiles. She remembers her dreams of that for Aidan and Cam with Lucky. And Jason with Jake. Then the reality of the situation sets in. Bringing tears to her eyes. She wipes them away, the goes into the room.

"Hi Roco. How you doing big boy? Are you playing with daddy?" Elizabeth crouches down and rubs his little back.

"So what happened?" Dante asks.

"Well, we found out Tom has been out for 6 months. The pictures had letters on the bottom of them. But we aren't sure if it's Tom or someone else. But Tom's parole officer never once told anyone that his address wasn't right. So he could be anywhere. With anyone." Elizabeth smiles when Roco hands her a toy. "Oh thank you sweetheart. But you go ahead and play with this. Aidan would love to know you are enjoying yourself. But you know, I think mommy might want to go home. So why don't you and daddy go find mommy and go have some fun together. Thank you for coming over and playing. Hope you ate enough food." Elizabeth hugs Roco. A little longer then she expected. Dante puts a hand on her arm. They make eye contact. He can see the tears building up there.

"Are you sure you are ok?" Dante asks, concerned.

"I will be when you get your family away from here. Safe and sound. Just keep a close eye on them. I don't think I would survive if something happened to any of you. As you were already hurt because of me. I'm so sorry for that. That's why I have to get my boys out of here. They need to be safe. I will find a way to get this stalker. Whomever is doing this to me. You don't have to worry about me. I am past the fear. Anger is setting up shop inside. But a smart anger. I won't do anything irrational. I plan to strategize and plan every move to the letter. He might have changed who I was 18 years ago, but he doesn't know who he changed me into since." Elizabeth smiles. Thinking about all the events that have happened to her over the years. How strong she is now.

"Ok, but if you need anything, call. Don't worry about us. You just call. Lucky would never forgive me for letting something happen to you. My wife either. Or my mother- in- law. Possibly my parents too. Do you realize how many people care about?" Dante takes Roco from her. "Start picking up buddy."

"Don't worry about it. Just this once, I can get it. You three go and enjoy the rest of the day. Please, be happy today. For me." Elizabeth smiles. Then kisses Dante on the check and Roco too. Dante and Roco stand up.

"Ok. We will go. Can you tell Aunt Elizabeth thank you for letting us have fun today?" Dante looks at Roco then Elizabeth.

"Tank you aunt Bess." Roco says.

"You are so welcome honey. You enjoy the fireworks with mommy and daddy. I love you sweetie." Elizabeth gives him another kiss. Then turns and walks out of Aidan's room and goes to her room, shutting the door. Dante steps out of the room and watches her. He still can't help but worry. Something still feels off about her.

Elizabeth sits on her bed. She stares at the mirror that is clean now. She goes into her bathroom and is about to brush her teeth before going to get her boys. But as she's about to put the tooth pasted brush to her mouth, she stops. What if he drugged her toothpaste? Or her mouth wash. Her medicines. She drops it in the sink. Now she's too afraid to use anything that could go in her mouth. So she throws it all away. Determined to pick up replacements on her way to pick up her boys. She checks her closets, under her bed and in her hope chest. Getting a feeling she isn't alone. She thinks about checking the camera's that were set up in the house. Maybe she would get a look at who dropped off the dress and wrote the message on the mirror. She gets her phone and is getting to the app. Just as she did, the cameras were coming into focus, something smelly comes over her nose and everything goes black.

Downstairs, Dante, Lulu and Roco say bye to everyone. Then leave. Lucky's call was already disconnected. So that left Nathan, Maxie, Dr. Collins, Ric, Franco and Kevin. Dante told them what happened upstairs and in a few minutes if she doesn't come down to go check on her. So after 10 minutes, Franco says something.

"Maxie, I know she's not your favorite person. But you are the only girl left. Can you go check on her? Just in case she's indisposed." Franco gives her a little friendly grin.

"Fine, if it means getting out of here faster." Maxie goes up the stairs. She checks all the rooms, not sure which was hers. "Wow, this is surprisingly a cute house. Go Liz." Maxie says out loud to herself. She gets to Elizabeth's room. She looks around. Impressed with how she decorated her room. But she walks in and trips over Elizabeth's unconscious body. "Ahhhh!" Maxie screams. Not sure if she's dead or just unconscious. In mere seconds, everyone is up the stairs and in the room.

"What happened Maxie?" Nathan asks, as Dr. Collins feels for a pulse. And when he gets a strong pulse, he looks for any trauma that could have cause Elizabeth to be laying there on the floor.

"I just walked in her and tripped over her. Is she ok?" Nathan holds Maxie, but she can't look away from Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, wake up." Dr. Collins taps her check. She doesn't move. "I don't see any needle marks or any sign of injury. We didn't hear a thump like we did with Maxie. So someone either gave her a strangle hold or chloroformed her. So can someone run down and get me my bag?"

"I will. Be right back." Ric says, running downstairs to get his bag. Just before anyone can say anything, they here a bang downstairs. Nathan and Kevin rush downstairs. They find an injured Ric on the floor, the door wide open. Nathan goes to the door to see if he can see anything. Nothing. He comes back in.

"Ric, did you see anything about this person?" Nathan asks, while they get a towel to take care of the gash on his head.

"Just a tall guy. Taller than me. Dressed in all black. Even a hood or mask on his face. I came down and he was heading to the door. I went to him. He pushed me and I fell, hitting my head on the coffee table. I'm fine. Really. We need to get this to Dr. Collins." Ric holds the bag up.

"I'll take it. Let Nathan look at the gash and get you fixed up. I will send Dr. Collins down in a minute to look at that cut to tell if you need to go to the hospital." Kevin leaves to go upstairs with Dr. Collins bag.

"What happened?" Franco asks.

"Apparently Ric encountered someone. He knocked Ric over and he hit his head on the coffee table. Nathan is asking him questions and tending to his gash. When you are done here Dr. Collins, could you have a look at him?" Kevin asks, handing the bag to him.

"Sure. It couldn't take long with Elizabeth." Dr. Collins pulls out a little white tube about the size of a pen cap. Snaps it and the runs it under Elizabeth's nose. Her head starts to turn away from the smell and even her hand comes up to push it away. She moans a little. "Elizabeth, open your eyes please."

"Wha...What happened?" She says groggily. She tries to sit up. Dr. Collins helps her.

"Well, you came up and Dante and Roco came down. Not long after they left, Maxie came up to see if you were ok. She tripped over you. You were on the floor. Do you remember what happened?"

"Well, I sat on my bed. But I thought about brushing me teeth so we could go get the boys." She gets up and walks to the bathroom. She goes in and see the toothbrush in her sink. "Oh, I thought that I didn't know if he could have drugged my toothpaste. So I threw all my mouth products away. We need to stop at a store to replace them. But I came back out of my bathroom. I was going to look at the camera footage and see if I could see who was in my room when the dress was dropped off. But something smelly went over my nose and mouth. Then you guys were waking me up."

"That would explain why we didn't hear a thump when she would have hit the floor. He set her down." Dr. Collins says. "And that had to have been who Ric tangled with downstairs. But what was he doing here?"

"Wait, Ric got hurt? What happened?" Elizabeth asks, trying to stand now. Determined to get downstairs to Ric.

"Just wait. Ric is being attended to. You need to go slow and take your time. A lot of good this is going to do if you rush before you get your bearings and hurt yourself." Franco goes over to her. He holds her in place.

"Franco, you are not my father or husband. Ric is a guest in my house and I need to make sure he is ok." Elizabeth slowly stands up. Gets her balance and heads downstairs.

"God, that woman drives me crazy. Stubborn and mouthy." Franco smiles as he watches her leave. Everyone else looks at him after his comment.

Downstairs, Elizabeth goes to check on Ric.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Elizabeth comes over and gets really close to Ric to look at the gash on his head.

"Nathan, there is a first aid kit under the sink in the kitchen. Could you go get it for me please? I don't think this will need stitches. But you will have a nasty headache for a while. You can take over the counter pain meds. I would give you some that I have, but I'm sure you don't want to be drugged or die." Elizabeth chuckles as she tends to the wound.

"What?" Ric asks, grabbing her hands to stop her and get her attention.

"Well, I'm not sure if they are really drugged or not. But anything that goes in the mouth that is open, I am throwing away. If you go buy some pain meds, let me know and I'll pay you back for the cost. I am so sorry you got hurt here. Lori is not going to be happy. I'm thinking that maybe after the fireworks tonight, maybe Grams and the boys need to go tonight. The sooner the better. You could have been one of my boys." Nathan gives Elizabeth the first aid kit. She puts a big band aid on his cut. Then she hugs him.

"Elizabeth, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. It could have happened anywhere. You can't help that someone is just out there that wants to hurt anyone and everyone. At least your boys are safe. Are you ok?" Ric looks at Elizabeth.

"I am fine. This guy didn't want me to check the security camera feeds. I thought I might see who put that dress in my room. But he chloroformed me. I'm fine. But I think it's time to get you all home. I need Nathan to go through the house very carefully to make sure there aren't any surprises. Lock this place up. Go get my boys. Spend a little time with my boys. Get them packed and on a plane tonight. They can sleep through most of the plane ride. Easier for Gram and the boys." Ric can see tears building up in her eyes.

"You're a great mother Liz. Don't let this make you doubt that. Franco's going to give me a ride home. But I don't mind coming by tomorrow to help you devise a plan." Ric says.

"That's ok. I will get this. You need to be with Lori. I don't want to come between you and her. I can see you love her. I don't want to mess that up for you. If I need your help, I will call. I'm sure that this little Ouchy will get you a 5 star treatment with her and me in the dog house." Elizabeth chuckles. "Franco!" She bellows. Franco comes rushing down the stairs.

"What's up?" Franco asks, looking around.

"I need you to take him home. Stop and get him a bottle of pain meds. Keep the receipt and I will pay you back. Make sure he makes it into the house before you leave. Then go home yourself." Elizabeth closes up the first aid kit. And takes it back into the kitchen. When she comes back out, the rest of the people that were upstairs have come down. Thank you all so much for coming. Nathan, could you do a thorough search of the house to make sure there are no more human cockroaches in my house and then we can lock her up tight. Then I am going to get my boys with Kevin. We are going to have a little quality time before the fireworks. Then they are getting on a plane tonight. Kevin and the guards will be here. I will have Gram pack and come back here with us. Once they are gone, I will feel a little better. Then I will start to plan my way to catch this stalker. Oh crap, I have to work tomorrow. Well, I will be planning on my breaks and lunch. But I will devise a plan. Thank you all for being here and helping me. Maxie, I'm sorry if I startled you. Thank you for coming and being supportive of me. I know with our history that might have been difficult for you. I hope there is a time that I can return the favor. Thank you Dr. Collins. I know that this seems strange. I hope you have a better 4th for the rest of the day. Thanks for doing this on the holiday. I know you are busy and this was your day off. Ric, thanks for coming. I wish I could have just enjoyed you and Lori. Please tell her I am very sorry I didn't give you back in the same condition as when she lent you to me. We need to get together soon and have lunch. Just the three of us. Or four if I have to have Kevin there. Thank you Franco for being so supportive. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I will see you at work tomorrow." Elizabeth hugs them all. When Nathan comes down, she hugs him and thanks him too. They all leave. Kevin sets the security system and they leave too.

A/N: Hope you all like this chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I love to hear your thoughts. Next chapter to come soon.