Written in 60 minutes.

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Monday, October 22, 2000

Port Charles High: Parking Lot

“Complete waste of time,” Elizabeth muttered, jerking her grandmother’s car door open and tossing her purse in before she climbed in.

She closed the door, switched on the engine, then let her head fall back against the head rest, closing her eyes and considering her options.

She hadn’t heard from Steven or Sarah since the call on Friday night, and her parents either hadn’t gotten the message through their contact or were also ignoring her. The high school hadn’t saved her birth certificate either — it had been used to establish residency and age, and then they’d tossed the copy, keeping only the guardianship contact on file.

A stupid piece of paper shouldn’t be this difficult to get — or important enough to derail her future. Elizabeth was running out of time to get the passport application in before it was too late and if she couldn’t go to London in January, she’d be out of a job. Maybe Chloe would throw her a bone and let her answer phones, but the prospect of traveling and participating in the actual creation and display of the clothes had been dangled in front of her.

Elizabeth didn’t want to mess this up.

Her cell phone, which she’d left in the center console of the car while she’d gone inside, vibrated, sliding back and forth into the cup holder. She answered with looking at the ID. “Yeah?”

“Liz? Is this a bad time?”

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose, then leaved over to switch off the radio, cutting off Christina Aguilera in mid baby come on—

“Nikolas. Hey. No. I just got out of work. What’s up?” Please don’t be about Lucky. Please don’t be about Lucky—

“I just got done with Lucky. Uh, have you talked to him yet?”

“Nikolas—”

“It’s—it’s not about that. Okay? You made it clear you don’t want to talk about it, and we’re not. But we’re all meeting at Luke’s — in the back office. Tonight.”

“We’re all?” Elizabeth echoed. “What does that mean?”

“I left a message for Emily. Lucky wants to talk about….you know.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together, silently counting to ten. “We don’t need to talk about it. Emily told you guys it’s being handled—”

“I know. And I might hate it, but I get it. It’s just—Lucky doesn’t want to do it that way—”

“I don’t care—”

“It doesn’t matter what you or Emily or even I want. If Lucky thinks he’s got a plan, we’re better off hearing him out and trying to talk him out of it. Instead of ignoring him. I don’t want him trying something on his own. He’s…look, I know we’re not talking about it, but I can’t get around it. Lucky knows fixing things with you might be impossible, but maybe you’ll at least talk to him if he can make this go away. He’s determined to be the hero, Liz. I tried to stop him, but you know how he gets.”

“Yeah.” She exhaled slowly. “Yeah, I know how he is. At Luke’s? I guess his dad is going to be there since we’re meeting in his office.” Luke could be counted on most of the time. “Is Emily calling Jason or do you want me to do that?”

“I…did not get the impression that anyone was supposed to do that. I wasn’t there last week, Liz, but I don’t know if we want the two of them in the same room—”

“Oh, but it’s fine for me to be in the same room with him? I’m obligated to hear Lucky out, but we can’t even include the one person Emily and I want to handle this? No. If you want me or Emily there, Jason has to be included.”

“Come on, Liz. You don’t speak for Emily. She knows how important this is to handle carefully, and she knows Lucky better than almost anyone. We can do this without Jason—”

“I think this entire summer has proved that wrong, don’t you? Fine. Emily can speak for herself. But we asked Jason for help. I’m not going around his back to hear anyone out unless he’s involved. We don’t know if he’s already put something into motion. So it’s me and Jason or no one at all. Your choice.”

Port Charles University: Lewis Hall Commons

Emily dumped her backpack and purse on a table in the corner of the room, and flipped open her phone. She picked through her missed calls — voicemails from Nikolas and Elizabeth — separated by only ten minutes.

“Well, that’s not a good sign.” She sat down, listened first to Nikolas, then directly to Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth’s had ended, Emily hit her speed dial.

“Hey, Em. Did you talk to Nikolas?”

“No, I just heard his voicemail. Why are we meeting tonight? He didn’t really explain.” Balancing the phone in the crook of her neck, Emily started to dig through her bag for her biology textbook and notebook to start the reading for the next class. “And all you said was to call you. I started with you.”

“I don’t know exactly, but Nikolas suggested that if we didn’t show up, Lucky might go off and do something stupid—hold on, I’m pulling into the driveway—” Emily heard an engine switch off and Elizabeth’s voice came back over the line much more clearly. “It was a basic blackmail.”

“I wish it weren’t about something so important so we could just tell him to go to hell,” Emily replied. She leaned back in her chair, folding one arm across her chest. “But he’s not wrong.”

“No, he’s not. But neither of them wanted Jason to come tonight.”

Emily sighed, dragged a hair through her hair. “I’m so sick of this. This happened to me. And I know you’re all involved now, but it comes back to me. And I’m tired of them acting like they’re in charge. The penis does not bestow special powers.”

Elizabeth choked back a giggle. “No, it does not. And I’d pay a thousand bucks to hear you say so in those exact words. I told Nikolas I’m not coming without Jason, and I left a message for him. You might want to follow-up with one of your own. He’s going to be pissed, and I just—I’m so pissed off by all of this. I just want this to be over, and we can trust Jason to make it over.”

“And that’s what we’ll tell him to night. That anything either of those morons do is without our consent and I won’t support it. In fact, if it goes down wrong, I’m not protecting them. I’m over it. You called Jason?”

“I just left a message letting him know when this is happening and that we didn’t ask for it. Nikolas was actually, like, you don’t speak for Emily—as if I don’t know exactly how you feel about this—you’re right. They really think they’re somehow better equipped to handle this.”

“Well, we’ll make it clear tonight. I’ll call Jason, too. I want him to hear it from me how much I hate this and don’t want it.”

“We’re going to fix this, Em. One way or another. I’ll see you tonight.”

Luke’s: Parking Lot

The sun had already set by the time Elizabeth pulled into the back parking lot where the staff generally kept their cars. The front lot was already filling up — it was an awkward hour between the happy hour rush and the usual crowd — but it was probably the worst place for a meeting.

Elizabeth had reached the trunk of her car, picking her way carefully through the gravel lot, but stopped when she heard the familiar roar of a motorcycle. It grew louder until the bike was visible down the street. It turned into the lot and pulled into the empty space next to Elizabeth.

“Oh, good. You got the message,” Elizabeth said, meeting him at his bike. He switched it off the engine, and climbed off, letting the bike rest on the kickstand. “I am so sorry about this—”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Jason told her, but his expression was tight, his words a  bit clipped. “I talked to Emily, and she said you were both basically forced into this.”

Elizabeth winced. “Forced is—well, it’s accurate,” she admitted. “But it was mostly Nikolas reminding both of us that Lucky could go off on his own without our input, and we’d be better off at least know what was going on. And I insisted you be here because — well, I guess I wanted to be fair, you know? We asked you to help us fix this mess, and here we are, making it worse. I’m so sorry—I could have filled you in later—”

“No, I want to hear the stupid plan from them,” Jason said, but his expression eased slightly. “Because whatever they’re thinking, I’m not going to do it. And I’ll make it clear they need to stay out of it.”

“Okay—” Elizabeth’s phone rang and she pulled it from her bag. “Oh—” She made a face. “She would call me back right now. Go without me, I need to take this—”

“I’m not in any hurry,” he said.

Elizabeth flipped the phone open. “Sarah, I’m so glad you called me back—”

“Well, I have like three minutes, Lizzie, and then I have to get back to my study group. I have exams this week.”

“Right, well, this will be quick. Do you know where Mom and Dad kept our birth certificates? Gram never got a copy of mine, and I can’t get it from the state for some reason. I wanted to see what yours said to see if I could figure out why mine isn’t coming up.”

“Birth certificate? Seriously? I don’t know where they were when we lived in Boulder, but Dad gave me all my documents when I went to London.” Sarah was quiet for a beat. “I don’t know why he wouldn’t have sent yours to Gram. Maybe he forget. Why?”

“I need to apply for my passport. Okay. Well — I guess I wanted to know how Mom and Dad were listed on yours, like maybe there’s something I can use to help find mine.”

“What do you mean?” Sarah demanded. “You’re making it too complicated. Date of birth and parents. It’s all you need. I mean, you probably don’t even need parents. You have that awful middle name. Make them search for that.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, if you think of anything else—”

“I’m not going to think about this after I get of the phone, okay, Lizzie? I have better things to do. Honestly, any child could figure out how to get their birth certificate. Grow up. You’re too old to be calling Mommy and Daddy every time you run into problems.”

“I—” Elizabeth stopped when she heard silence on the line. Her sister had hung up. “Thanks so much,” she muttered to the air. She turned around, looked back to Jason. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“That depends on your definition of okay,” she retorted, then took a deep breath, dropped her phone back in her purse. “It’s—it’s fine. Sarah gave me a lead on my birth certificate that I’ll handle tomorrow. Let’s go inside. I just want this done.”

Luke’s: Office

Emily folded her arms tightly across her chest. “I don’t know what stupid plan you’ve cooked up, Lucky, but I told you, I don’t want any part of it. I don’t want your help anymore. I’m handling it—”

“Oh, we were good enough for you when Jason wasn’t around, but now that he’s here, you don’t need us?” Lucky snapped. “That’s some loyalty for you. How many times have I got you out of trouble?”

“I don’t know, Lucky. Your plans have left me and Elizabeth kidnapped, drugged, held hostage, guns in our faces—we’re not kids anymore. We’re not running away from home, are we?”

“Okay, okay—” Nikolas stepped in between them. “Let’s take a deep breath. I know we haven’t exactly had a lot of success, Emily, but we’ve tried hard to fix this—”

Emily closed her eyes, tilted her head back. “I know. And despite all of it, Nikolas, it’s not over. It’s still happening. We can’t keep going back to the same ideas, over and over again. We have someone who wants to help — help me anyway,” she added when Lucky snorted, “and he has contacts that I don’t—”

“You mean he has a gun and is willing to use it,” Nikolas said flatly.

“I have had it—”

“Are we interrupting?”

Emily turned and blinked when Luke came in — followed by Sonny. The two men came into the room, and Luke went for his cigars. He offered one to Sonny, who accepted. “What—what’s going on? Why are—” She looked at Lucky. “Why are they here?”

“You’re right, Emily,” Lucky told her. “Maybe we can’t handle this on our own—”

“Maybe?” his father offered and Lucky threw him a dirty look.

“You went to your contact, fine. But I can go to mine, right? And they’ve been in the business longer. They know more. And we’ve got a plan.”

Emily opened her mouth, then closed it. “I don’t understand. You’re asking Sonny. That’s the same thing as asking my brother. They’ll just do this together. Why all the drama? Why do any of us have to be here tonight?”

“That’s a good question,” Jason said, stepping in from the hallway, Elizabeth a step behind.

Written in 64 minutes.

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Friday, October 19, 2000

Hardy House: Living Room

Elizabeth folded her arms, and frowned. “What do you mean? You didn’t screw up anything, Em—”

“I did. I just—I didn’t really want to tell you or anyone else. I was hoping Zander would make a deal or that I’d just be able to ignore all of this.” Emily turned away, paced a few lengths away until she stood behind the sofa, then spun back. “I told you guys that nothing happened while I was kidnapped. He didn’t hurt me or…anything else. And that’s true. But…” she paused, looked towards the ceiling for a beat, then brought her gaze back to Elizabeth. “He sold me a sob story, and I believed him.”

“I know. You said he tried to tell you that he was in the room and argued with Sorel’s men to leave you alive. But you realized it was a lie. Don’t feel bad for believing him, Em. You were upset, and terrified. You did what you had to do—”

“I didn’t just believe him,” Emily said softly. “I told him that we’d help him get away from Sorel. That all we wanted was to make sure whoever killed Ted Wilson was punished. That…it’s what we thought we were doing. When we put the body in his trunk.”

Her words hung between them, the silence awkward. Uncomfortable.

“You told him we put the body in his trunk,” Elizabeth repeated slowly. “I thought he was making that claim because he’d leapt to the conclusion. I mean, it made sense. He knew he’d left the body with you. And now it was back with him, so—but you told him. Confirmed it.”

“I believed him,” Emily repeated. “I believed that he screwed up and was trying to make it right, but that he owed Sorel—I don’t know. It feels like a jumble now, you know? It was so clear when it was happening, but then later, when I realized he was just a lying piece of—” Her voice faltered, and she dropped her eyes to the ground. “I was just hoping it wouldn’t come up. Or that Dara wouldn’t believe him. I’m sorry—”

“It’s—” Elizabeth took a step forward. “It’s okay, Em. I’m not—I wasn’t there, you know? I can’t tell you if I wouldn’t have made the same choices. And we all do crazy things when were in the middle of the crisis. I told you, I stabbed Lucky once. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even know it was him—anyway. You did what you had to,” she repeated and Emily looked at her. “You’ll never know if Zander was planning to kill you and make a run for the border. Maybe you made him slow down, or got his trust and he kept you alive. You made a choice in the moment because it felt like the right one. I’m not going to judge what you did now.”

“That’s…nicer than I thought you’d be,” Emily admitted. “Or maybe I figured you and Jason would handle it. Lucky and Nikolas—” She let out an shaky breath. “I don’t know if they’ll be as understanding.”

“We don’t have to tell them. We don’t,” Elizabeth repeated when Emily made a face. “Okay? They know Zander’s making the claim, and you told them we were going to tell Jason and make it his problem. He’s going to handle this, Em. I don’t know how yet, but I trust him. Lucky and Nikolas don’t have to part of this at all anymore.”

“I guess.” Emily sat on the sofa, her knees pressed together, her shoulders hunched, and her hands curled in little fists. “I remembered him,” she said softly. “Taking my clothes off that night. It’s just flashes, but…it wasn’t Sorel’s men. It was him.”

Elizabeth sat next to her, reached for Emily’s hand. She’d known that someone had to strip Emily down that night, but she hadn’t really done more than think about it. The body next to her was the more pressing issue.

“Has…anything else come back?” she asked, and Emily looked at her, confused, then relaxed.

“No. No. He didn’t—I mean, I don’t think—you’d know, wouldn’t you? I mean, especially when you never—” Emily’s eyes went wide. “Never mind. Let’s just leave it at no.”

“You’d probably know if he raped you,” Elizabeth said. Emily pressed her lips together, dropped her eyes again. “You’re a virgin. Your body hasn’t…stretched that way. There’s…sometimes there’s bleeding. We took the sheets, remember? They were clean.”

“Oh.” Emily exhaled in a long breath, like she’d finished a marathon. “Okay. Well, I didn’t…feel different. Down there. So all good.” She hesitated. “Did…did you? Don’t answer th. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—” She started to get up, but Elizabeth tugged gently, and Emily sat back down.

“It was different for me. I hadn’t been drugged. I wasn’t drinking. I wasn’t unconscious. I…everything hurt. All over,” Elizabeth said. “Inside, too. I was a mess. But it doesn’t have to go that far for you to feel violated, Em. You were drugged and a strange man undressed you. Handled your body.  That’s not something you have to ignore. Unless you want us to. I’ll do whatever you need.”

“Right now, I just…I told you, and I told Jason. That’s really as far as I can handle it right now. I just want it to go away, Liz. You know? I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“Then we won’t.” Elizabeth squeezed Emily’s hand. “We handed this off to Jason, like we should have weeks ago. If he needs us, he’ll tell us.”

“Right.” Emily forced a smile, then got to her feet. “I really do have to work on that paper. Um, don’t forget. Call Steven and Sarah about your birth certificate. And get in touch with your parents. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get the answers fast.”

She wanted to change the subject, so Elizabeth let her. She stood. “I’m calling them as soon as you leave. Good luck on the paper.”

“Thanks.”

After Emily left, Elizabeth left messages for both siblings, and for her parents’ contact at Doctors Without Borders. She didn’t have Emily’s optimism that she’d hear from anyone, but at least she could tell herself that she’d done everything she could before bothering the high school she’d barely attended.

When she’d completed her last call, she didn’t set the phone back on the base. Instead, she dialed another number.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” Elizabeth paused, unsure why she’d made the call or what to say next. So she went with the truth. “Emily just left. She told me she’d talked to you. About what happened with Zander.”

There was a long pause.

“About what she  said during the kidnapping?” Jason asked, a bit hesitant.

“About the night it happened.”

Another pause.

“I’ll pick you up in about ten minutes.”

Kelly’s Diner: Kitchen

“I don’t know how I got suckered into this,” Lucky muttered, dropping another tub of dirty dishes on the counter.

“It’s called money,” Penny told him, sailing past him with her own tub of dishes. “And we’re short on bus boys. Don’t worry, you get a cut of the tips. But, you know, you gotta smile more.”

She was gone before Lucky could think of something to say in return, heading outside to the courtyard for the last few hours of the dinner rush. He’d never liked her.

He didn’t really have a lot of options. Working with his father was out of the question, and his mother was always asking questions, looking at him closely, like she was waiting for him to screw up, or break down.

Working at the family diner was really the only choice left.

He emerged from the kitchen, fishing in the pocket of the apron for the order pad and scowling at the pencil that had broken in the pocket. He dropped it in the cannister behind the counter, found another one.

The bell over the door jingled, and Lucky turned to see how annoying his next table would be. It was Sonny.

His father’s former business partner stopped just inside the entrance, saw Lucky behind the counter. Instead of taking a table, he walked directly towards Lucky, taking a seat at the counter.

“Didn’t know you worked here.” Sonny flipped a cup on the saucer. “I was hoping to find Elizabeth.”

Lucky lifted his brows. “You didn’t hear? She quit. Why do you need her?” he demanded. He leaned in. “Because anything you’re doing about Zander, I should be part of it. Okay? It’s my life on the line, too.”

Sonny squinted. “What?”

“Don’t play stupid. Emily told me she was letting you and Jason handle everything and that me and Nikolas weren’t supposed to worry about it or get involved.” Lucky reached for the carafe of coffee, practically jerking it from the hot plate, then poured it in Sonny’s cup. “It’s bullshit. So anything you need to tell her, you can tell me.”

“I would…except I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lucky bobbled the coffee slightly, and it sloshed over the tip of the cup, filling the saucer beneath it. “Jason didn’t tell you?”

“No. Why don’t you fill me in?”

Vista Point: Observatory Deck

The nights were growing colder, and it was even chillier up in the hills, and at the overlook that offered a half decent view of Lake Ontario — when it wasn’t cloudy and dark.

For now, the view wasn’t much more than a gray, black mash-up, the two colors swirling together until it was difficult to tell the horizon from the lake.

“I should have asked her about it a long time ago,” Elizabeth said, leaning back against the railing, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. “But we really just focused on the problem, you know?”

“I didn’t ask her either,” Jason admitted. He leaned over the railing, his fingers wrapped around the cracked and peeling painted wood.

“She’d been kidnapped, Jason. You had other priorities.”

“She was found next to a dead cop, Elizabeth. So did you,” he said, and she made a face.

“So if you’re off the hook, so am I. Still doesn’t make me feel any better.” Elizabeth sighed. “And she feels guilty about telling him the whole story. I’m not so sure Lucky or Nikolas are going to handle that part well. I told her not to  say anything to them.”

“So did I. I don’t want them involved,” Jason told her. “They’ve made enough stupid mistakes. And don’t try to tell me you went along with it—you and Emily wanted to get help from the beginning. The only thing you’re guilty of is listening to those idiots.” He winced. “That’s not fair—”

“But it’s accurate. And Emily and I are more willing to leave this in your hands. They might not be.”

“I’ll handle that if I have to. Look—” Jason paused. “You passed this off to me, the both of you. I’ll handle it. But it’s probably best if we don’t talk about it after this. Any of us.”

“Right. You want us to have plausible deniability. No lying required when we honestly don’t know what happens next. I’m for it. I just—we created a mess, Jason. I know making it your problem is the right solution, but that doesn’t make me feel less guilty for dropping it on you.”

Jason nodded. “I get that. I can’t change the way you feel, but maybe next time, you remember the way you feel right now, and it’ll stop you or Emily from doing it again. Maybe.”

“Next time?” Elizabeth said, lifting her brows.

The corner of his mouth slid up in a half-smile. “It’s you and Emily. There’s always a next time.”