Reliving The Past
Chapter 52
After Liz and Jeff's little moment, Liz falls asleep with her father holding her hand. She is finally sleeping peacefully. Franco comes in and sits with Liz when Jeff has to go check on Jackson.
"Hey, when she wakes up, she will ask to see Jackson. Is there any way we can make that happen?" Franco asks Jeff.
"When she wakes, have them page me and we will see how her pain level is and make a determination then. Thank you for staying with my daughter. And caring about her so. She has a lot of friends that are worried about her." Jeff says.
"I know. Maybe they can come back tomorrow. With the pain meds, she might be pretty tired, right?" Franco asks, wanting to keep her all to himself.
"Yes, I am going to go tell them now. And check on Jackson. He's still not out of the woods. Although I think he should make a full recovery. We just have to watch him." Jeff pats Franco's shoulder and walks off. Franco sits and thinks about things that he can talk to her about when she wakes up. All the things they can do when she's better. Like a real date. Maybe painting together. Maybe taking the boys to an adventure park. There was so much they could do. He was excited about it. Maybe she would trust him enough to let him take the boys to dinner and a movie while she spent some much need quality time with her parents. With Audrey gone now, she would have to trust others a little more with her boys. He knows that it's going to hit her hard about Audrey when she tries to process everything. When things catch up to her. Just then the door opens up.
"Hey, how's the pain meds doing for her?" Griffin asks.
"Good. She's sleeping pretty well now. Not sure how it will be for her to get up to use the bathroom, but we'll see." Franco says, holding her hand. Just overwhelmed with so much love for her.
"Jeff sent everyone home for the time being. Max is close by. He's beating himself up for letting her get caught. You might want to try to explain to him what really went down. The poor guy is just about to medication level anxiety." Griffin smiles. He thinks it's cute how so many people seem to care for her. Not that he's surprised. But just how sweet it is. He's glad he showed up in Port Charles. Griffin pats Franco on the shoulder and leaves. Franco leans back and falls asleep too.
A few hours later, Franco is woke up to the sound of crying. He opens his eyes. He finds Elizabeth sitting in bed, trying to be quiet. But he can see she's upset. When she notices that she's woken him, she wipes her tears away and smiles at him.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I just got a few shocks to my system. I was just told that Nikolas was alive. But he really died. I just don't think my mind can wrap around this all." Elizabeth starts to cry again. Franco gets up and gets closer to her on the bed. And holds her. She holds onto him like a life saving device. He can feel her shaking.
"Honey, who told you?" Franco asks, wanting to beat whomever into a bloody pulp.
"Well, I just called to talk to the boys. And Laura was unable to talk. I asked why. I think it was Carly. She didn't want to tell me. But I told her to. Lucky really needs to be there for Laura. Lulu's there, but they are both pretty upset. Mom and Carly are doing their best. Why do these things keep happening Franco? I don't think I can take much more." Liz says into Franco's chest.
"I don't know sweetheart. I don't know. But you are not alone. Just remember. You are not alone anymore. You have your parents back. You have me and your boys. All your friends. I don't know what you told Jason, but he's been pleasant. Have you ever known Jason to be pleasant?" Franco asks, trying to make her laugh. It worked.
"Ha! Ha! Franco, how do you know how to get me to laugh?" Liz asks, her hand now rubbing over his back.
"I don't know sweetheart. I guess I just know I like to hear you laugh. And I would do just about anything to hear that wonderful laugh of yours. And using Pleasant and Jason in the same sentence is one way. Like Heather and sane." Franco chuckles. Liz joins him.
"I still can't see them together." Liz says about Heather and Jeff.
"Maybe because you thought of your parents as being the only ones with each other. Like thinking of them having a life before you is like impossible." Franco says, gently rubbing her back. He touches the small of her back and she pulls away. Pretty quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry if I hurt you. Are you ok?" Franco is curious as to what happened there.
"It's…it's ok. Sorry to react that way. It's just pretty tender there." Liz says, but she acts like there is more to it than that.
"Elizabeth, you can tell me. There's more to it than that, isn't it?" Franco can see it in her eyes.
"Franco, can we save it for another time? Please? I just don't know how much more I can take today." Elizabeth lays back and kind of goes quiet. And she kind of spaces out. That makes Franco feel kind of bad.
"Honey, I'm going to go get you some fresh water. Do you want anything else?" Franco asks. But gets no response. This makes him sad. He leaves, having Max right there at her door. Franco wonders off to Jackson's room to check on him for Liz. He notices a woman that seems just to not seem like she belongs in there. She was wearing scrubs, but something just seems off about her.
"Excuse me. Are you an ICU nurse?" Franco asks at the door or his room.
"Yes. This is my first rounds on this floor. With all the issues with the killings, they have us kind of doing every floor. Why? Do you know this patient?" She asks, fiddling with his IV's.
"Yes I do. Could you not mess with those? I don't think…" He notices something off with the tubes. He couldn't place it, but the hairs on his neck are standing on end. He hits the emergence button on the wall. "Back away from him, now." Franco gets serious. He's not letting Liz loose another person. Then he sees a small tattoo on her wrist. It's familiar. "You are part of that cult!" Franco accuses.
"It's not a cult!" She yells. Security and Doctor Finn come rushing in.
"What's the meaning of this Franco?" Finn asks.
"She's part of that killer cult that had Elizabeth. She's trying to kill Jackson again. Look at the tubes." Franco says, pointing to the tubes. Finn gets close to the tubes after the security guards grab her.
"Your right. Thank you Franco. She put little holes in these tubes." Finn stops the meds in the IV. Disconnecting the IV. "Nurse, get me new tubing and IV bags. Stat." Finn says.
"I knew she was not supposed to be there. There is a tattoo on her wrist. I had seen that tattoo before. I just can't place it." Franco racks his mind to remember where he's seen it before. "And Liz really can't lose another person." Franco says, still trying to remember where he saw that tattoo before.
"Thanks again. Give Liz my best and I will stop by and see her soon. Let her know that depending on how Jackson does, she may see him tomorrow." Finn goes back to tending to Jackson. Franco leaves.
Back in Elizabeth's room, she is laying there just staring into space. In her head she's remembering her rape all those years ago. Every detail. But some of those memories morph with some of her memories from what happened recently. Tom's face above her face. His weight on her. When Franco touched her back in that spot, it just shot her back into that night. The pain from whatever dug into her back while he was beating her and then raped her. She just didn't want to mare up what Franco and he had by remembering that night with him there.
She tells herself that it's the past. Tom is dead. Then it hits her, she needs to see his body. Make sure he's as dead as dead gets. For her own personal reasons. So she tries to get out of bed. But just at that time, Franco comes back.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Franco rushes in to stop her.
"I need to go see Tom's dead body. I need to reassure myself he's dead." Elizabeth says, still trying to maneuver her way out of the bed with her IV tubes and the discomfort that is coming back.
"Ok. How about a deal? If I help you get into a wheel chair and take you to see Tom's body, you have to behave and do what you're told after. Deal?" Franco asks.
"Well, I only agree to a certain extent. I will not obey to do something that is wrong or something I normally wouldn't do. But I will mind my doctors. I have to see it again. I need to see him dead. You don't understand why Franco. But I need it for my peace of mind." Elizabeth says, looking deep in thought.
"When we get back, will you tell me what you are thinking about right now? I would like to hear what happened to you that night." Franco says, trying to be gentle and handle the subject with care. To show Liz he cares what happened to her all those years ago.
"Maybe. I will see how I feel after seeing him. Then I would like to stop by quick to see Jackson." Elizabeth says, settling back on the bed to wait for a wheel chair.
"Dr. Finn said maybe tomorrow. You shouldn't be out of bed. So the quicker we do this the better. Besides, your dad might kick my tush." Franco says, trying to get a giggle from Liz.
"I will protect you. More so from my big bad daddy." Liz chuckles. Franco smiles and goes outside the door to get a wheel chair. He comes back in and gets Liz settled into the wheel chair. Then they were off to the morgue.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. The last few days I have been so busy. But I hope you all liked this chapter. I think there is only a chapter or two left. Thank you all.
