| Subject: Entropy Chapter 11 |
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Becca
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Date Posted: 14:27:47 06/03/02 Mon
In reply to:
HeyBecca
's message, "Entropy" on 19:23:01 02/10/02 Sun
Entropy 11
Discoveries
“There’s nothing left to do, but, oh come undone.”
--Jonathan Jackson “Come Undone”
**London**
Lucky sat in the rental car and looked at Nikolas. His face was full of tension and worries, yet there was a biting determination that sat closely behind his striking blue eyes.
“I better do this alone,” Lucky said. “I don’t know how long it’ll take . . . if you want to get something to eat or whatever, that would be a good idea.”
“Actually, yeah, actually, Lucky, I made a call to my uncle when we landed. He’s in London now.” Lucky looked at Nikolas quizzically. “I gather you didn’t know that.”
“I try my best to not worry about the whereabouts of Stefan Cassadine,” Lucky muttered.
“Well he’s living here and I thought I’d see if he knows anything that could be going on. He keeps pretty tight tabs on Helena.”
“Nikolas,” came Lucky’s warning. “You can’t tell him what we’re involved in. This is our fight, got it? We get out of this by ourselves. Ask him what you like, but do not tell your uncle what is going on. Right now we can fix things. We can’t let your uncle or my father jump in guns blazing and mess this up.”
“But, Lucky they can help.”
Lucky shook his head and reached for the door handle. “No, Nikolas. Carly would agree with me. There are already too many people involved. The fewer, the better. Find out what you want, but don’t say a damn word in detail to your uncle.”
Lucky pushed his door open and headed towards Sly’s townhouse.
With a clenched jaw, Nikolas leaned across the passenger’s side, calling out; “Good luck with Sly.”
Lucky nodded, not saying a word. Nikolas started the car again and pulled away from the curb while Lucky opened the door of Sly’s house.
He walked in, expecting to see Sly’s living quarters trashed, expecting to see Sly trashed.
“Sylvester, he man, what’s going on?” Lucky called out as he walked into the living room. Sly was sitting on his couch, the television on but muted, Jimi Hendrix emanating softly from the stereo, Sly sat mutely wearing his dark sunglasses.
“Isn’t this quaint,” Lucky muttered, grabbing the bottle of vodka from Sly’s hand. He held it in the light that was coming through the a slit in the dark curtains. There was maybe only three or four ounces missing from the bottle. Lucky looked around the room for other liquor bottles, empty bottles, but was surprised not to find any. “Recycling, Sly?”
Sly looked at Lucky guiltily, “Not drinking.”
“Doing something else?” Lucky asked. He knelt down in front of Sly, pushed up the sleeves of his cousin’s black shirt, looking for needle marks. Smooth and perfectly moisturized. He shook his head, looking at the ashtrays. Empty. “Sober?”
“Yes,” Sly whispered. “That wasn’t my goal.”
“Really?” Lucky asked as he sat down on the armchair that sat caddy corner to the couch. He opened the bottle of Absolut and took a swig. “You came here to get completely lit, didn’t you?”
“You know me so well, cuz,” Sly hissed. His words and tone were harsh, but Sly’s face told another story. Whatever was going through his head, he was in pain and felt guilty.
“What changed your mind?”
“If I got high or drank or shot up I’d get numb. I don’t deserve to get numb. I’ve screwed up and all I deserve is to know how much I screwed up. It has to be the first and last thing on my mind until I can make it up to you.”
Lucky slid forward on the chair, wishing Sly would take off the Ray-Bans. “Make what up to me? Sly, what happened?”
“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” Sly muttered. He leaned forward, running both his hands through his sandy hair. “I want to tell you, Lucky. I’ve wanted to since it happened but . . . I’m too much of a coward.”
Lucky took a deep breath. It suddenly occurred to him what was bothering Sly.
“Why don’t you tell me what is wrong. You never know, maybe you didn’t screw up,” he urged.
“No, no, I did. I did, Lucky. I did something . . . you know, it’s not a crime. What I did, it isn’t legally wrong, but it was wrong. I betrayed something that means more than laws,” Sly explained.
“Tell me, Sly. Just say it. Whatever you did, or think you did, we’ll work through it,” Lucky pleaded. “Come on, man. We’ve been through everything. We sold worm farms, we nearly got killed together. Come on, Sly. You were the first person I was able to talk to about my imprisonment who didn’t look at me like they wanted to cry. You looked at me like I was a man, a survivor, not a victim. And I stood by your side when you had your break down. I would never turn my back on you, Sly. You are my brother, I love you. Maybe not by blood or by name, but where it counts,” Lucky clasped his hand to his heart, “you’re my brother.”
“No, I’m just another in the long line of people who have betrayed you for their own, selfish desires,” Sly exclaimed. He stood up and walked to the window, opening it slightly so the sunlight poured in even more. “I want you to know, Lucky, that I have always loved you like a brother. I never had a real family. Not until I found you and Carly. I don’t know why, but it felt comfortable with you two. I never meant to betray your trust.”
“How do you know you’ve done that?” Lucky asked, standing behind Sly.
“Because . . because I slept with the one woman who is off limits. Four months ago, I had sex with Elizabeth,” Sly said simply. He turned to face Lucky, bracing himself for his cousin’s rage filled reaction.
“Why are you telling me this now?” Lucky asked. He knew Sly wanted a reaction, but Lucky didn’t have one beyond wanting to know why this suddenly was torturing his cousin.
“What does it matter? I’m telling you because . . . damn it, Lucky, don’t shut down,” Sly shouted. “Yell at me, hit me, do something.”
“Why?”
Sly grabbed Lucky’s tee shirt into his fists. “Because you have to. I can’t move on until . . . until . . .”
“Until I hate you?” Lucky asked, pushing Sly’s hands off of his shirt. “You need me to hate you to get closure?”
Sly backed away, nodding sadly.
“Then you’ll never get closure,” Lucky hissed. “Because I can’t hate you. Not you. Not for this.”
“Why? Lucky, why? If the situation was reversed, if you slept with the only person I ever loved . . . I’d hate you,” Sly admitted guiltily.
Lucky nodded. “And you’d probably be justified. Because you aren’t an idiot, Sly. You wouldn’t push your soul mate aside, you wouldn’t turn your back on your dreams. I did. I let Elizabeth go. I ended it in Port Charles a long time ago. Sly, I can’t be mad because Elizabeth isn’t mine. She’s . . . I love her, I’m in love with her, that will never change. And sure, I’m jealous that you got to touch her and hold her and give her comfort and love in ways I haven’t been able to. But I’m not angry or mad.” Lucky looked at Sly seriously. “Not with you, and not with her. So if you need me to hate you in order to get over your unneeded guilt . . . then fuck you, Sly. Because that isn’t going to happen.”
Sly closed his eyes, tears escaping as he did so.
“I’m still sorry,” he whispered.
Lucky reached out and pulled his cousin into a hug, whispering into Sly’s ears the words he needed to hear, “I forgive you, man.”
**
“I must say, Nikolas, when I received your telephone call I was surprised to hear your voice on the other end, let alone an invitation to lunch,” Stefan explained as he sat with Nikolas in the up scale London restaurant. “You’ve been rather busy lately. You’re trip here is out of the blue, no?”
“I suppose whatever lie I try to give you won’t work.” Stefan nodded and Nikolas sighed. “I’m here with Lucky.”
Stefan removed his eyeglasses and cocked his head to the side ever so slightly. Nikolas could read the doubt in his uncle’s eyes. Stefan had told Nikolas numerous times to move on, to put whatever youthful dreams of unity he had with Lucky in the past. Nikolas refused to even entertain the idea, but he knew Stefan was coming from a good place. He didn’t want to see his nephew hurt by his brother again.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Nikolas said. “Even Lucky knows how to let a grudge go—eventually.”
“Not to show my cynicism, Nikolas, but I somehow can’t see you and Lucky vacationing in London together. So why are you here?”
“We had to pick up Sly.”
“The Eckert boy? Since when does he warrant the use of your jet?”
Nikolas smiled. “He never has and probably never will. But he’s close to Lucky and . . . well, it was an emergency. I really can’t get into it.”
“Fair enough,” Stefan motioned for the waiter.
“Yes sir?”
“If you or any of those employed in this restaurant want to keep your jobs you’ll be quicker to wait on the customers,” Stefan explained patiently. “I’ll have a vodka, straight.”
“And for you sir?” the nervous waiter asked Nikolas.
“Just water,” Nikolas brushed it off. Once the waiter was gone he looked at his uncle questioningly. “Do you always boss the waiters around?”
“The restaurant may not be under my name, but it is my wife’s, and thus I have a say in how it is run,” Stefan noted.
“Yeah, your wife . . . how is Sandra, by the way?” Nikolas asked through gritted teeth. Stefan had been married for three years to an English woman and was blissfully happy, well as happy as Stefan could be. It still didn’t mean Nikolas liked the woman. He found her domineering, cocky, and a tad too money hungry. But then again, as Elizabeth had pointed out to him when she went with him to the wedding, it could just be old-fashioned stepparent issues he was having.
“Perfect and she told me to tell you that the next time you are in London she desperately wants to spend some time with you,” Stefan noted with a hint of amusement as he watched Nikolas squirm.
“I’d love to but I’m busy back in the States. You two should come to New York,” Nikolas said quickly. The second he mentioned New York Nikolas was reminded of the real reason he was having lunch with his uncle. “Speaking of evil witches.”
Stefan’s face fell. “I knew there had to be an ulterior motive to your visit.”
“Helena—have you been notified by anything out of the ordinary?”
“Out of the ordinary how?”
“Strange visitors, mostly.”
Stefan shook her head. “The only visitors she’s had have been her lawyer and her nurse.”
Nikolas frowned. Her nurse? Why did he have the feeling the woman wasn’t even a health care specialist?
**Greece**
Jason sat in the tiny Greek café, trying not to wilt under the intense heat, not to mention the angered glare from his partner.
“Granted, looking back my plan may not have been the best thing,” Jason explained, taking a quick sip of his beer. “But I can’t be expected to sit around and wait for orders. Don’t look at me like that, I was being proactive.”
“Proactive? Proactive, Jason? Do you call basically framing some of the people you love most for kidnapping PROACTIVE?” Agent V Ardonowski asked in anger. “Do you realize you’ve put everyone in grave danger? Damn you, Jason. We were on vacation, down time. Who gave your permission to do anything without me? Screw what the WSB say are our orders. I’m your partner, you are supposed to include me in everything.”
“Well, I didn’t want to bother you,” Jason muttered. “You were in Paris, you had that big party that Count guy invited you to . . . and I was going to be in New York for Carly’s opening, anyway. I just didn’t see the harm in it. I figured by the time your thing was over I’d have the info I needed to send Kristina Cassadine away and no harm, no foul.”
“But instead, we have big honkin’ trouble,” V said. “You don’t have any information and your friends are soon going to have to do something about their little hostage."”
“It could be worse,” Jason pointed out.
“How could it be worse?”
Jason smirked, “I haven’t gotten anyone killed, yet.”
**New York City**
Elizabeth rounded the corner, the bag of take-out hot in her hands. She looked up at the Manhattan night sky, amazed at how bright the skyline looked. It was an amazing site, and obviously distracting because she nearly walked into Maxie before she saw her.
“Maxie? What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked, her mind flicking back to Lucky’s admission about sleeping with her. She looked the young woman over, cursing inwardly as she felt a twinge of jealousy. She knew she had absolutely no reason to be angry or jealous.
“What? Here?” Maxie muttered, her eyes drawn to something Elizabeth didn’t see. “Do you know—what?”
“Maxie, is something wrong?” Elizabeth asked, clasping the young woman’s shoulder.
“These guys, with guns, they just took some woman from—from inside that warehouse,” Maxie sputtered nervously.
“Oh my god, Zander,” Elizabeth gasped, running past Maxie into the warehouse. She ran up the stairs at the back of the warehouse and up to the office. She threw the door open, her knees nearly giving out as she saw Zander.
He was doubled over the table, blood all around him. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to gather her bearings.
“Christ,” Maxie muttered as she finally caught up to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth ran over to Zander, praying he was still alive.
“Zander, Zander, can you hear me? What happened?” she asked frantically. He groggily raised his head. “You’re alive, thank God! You’re alive!”
“Liz,” he gasped. She looked down and realized for the first time where the blood was coming from.
“Ok, ok, we’ll . . .” she looked at the knife that cut through the back of Zander’s hand and tried to figure out what to do. “Maxie, call 911.”
“No!” Zander shouted, grabbing Liz’s arm as she went to get up. “No, cause they’ll cause the cops . . . this is big, if the cops . . . get involved it will blow up in our faces,” he struggled to get out.
“I don’t know but . . .” Elizabeth looked around. “Sarah, she’s a doctor. Maxie, call 610-754-8894. It’s my sister’s cell. Tell her to come here right away.”
Zander looked up at Elizabeth. “You have to take the knife out.”
“What? Me? Zander, I don’t know . . . shouldn’t we wait?” Elizabeth muttered. “The bleeding will be worse.”
“The pain . . . please, Liz,” he said in near tears.
She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Ok, I’ll try.”
“I only get her voice mail,” Maxie called out.
“Oh shit,” Elizabeth groaned. “My brother, Steven, he’s a doctor. Gia’s staying with him . . .” she said to herself. “Five on the speed dial, Maxie. If Gia answers tell her we have a problem and to bring Steven. If my brother answers, tell him I have a medical emergency.”
“Ok . . . but when I’m done, I want to know what the hell is going on,” Maxie demanded.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I always knew having two perfect siblings who were doctors would come in handy,” she joked.
Zander forced a smile. “I’ll hold my hand flat and you pull the knife straight up.”
“Straight up, ok, straight up and out,” Elizabeth repeated. She grasped her right hand around the knife and took a deep breath. “On a count of three . . . one, two, three.”
As Elizabeth pulled the knife up and out of the wooden table and Zander’s hand, he let out a loud, anguished filled shout. She tossed the knife to the ground and looked around for something to wrap Zander’s hand in.
“Wait right here,” she said and ran into the bathroom. She came out with an armful of white towels and wrapped Zander’s hand in one of them. “We have to keep the pressure on, keep the bleeding down.” Elizabeth looked up expectedly at Maxie. “Well?”
“It was Gia, she said they are on their way,” Maxie explained. “Now, I want to know everything.”
**
“Gia, slow down,” Steven demanded as his fiancée sped down the street in his BMW. “First of all, you do realize that I am a plastic surgeon and not an emergency room doctor.”
“Yes, I understand that completely. But there was no answer with your sister,” Gia muttered. “Listen, Steven, honey, if you just stop with the questions for right now I’ll explain everything later.”
“I don’t even know if I can help your friend, though,” Steven noted with a frown. “I don’t know what is wrong.”
Gia slammed on the breaks, causing the car come to a screeching halt at the red light. She looked over at the man she was about to marry.
“Things are complicated right now, Steven. I am not even totally sure what is going on. I’m just treading water, trying to stay afloat. I don’t really give a shit about everyone I’m . . . this isn’t my life. This covert stuff,” Gia said, standing on the gas pedal as the light turned green. “Once, when I was with Nikolas, I almost let this sort of stuff swallow me hole. But I got out and I found out who I was again, and I love my life. I love being with you and what we are building together. Just know that, always know that.”
Steven shook his head in confusion. “Gia, you’re talking crazy. I don’t understand what is going on.”
“You will, Steven, soon. And you’ll either help and then run in the other direction, or you’ll understand that I never wanted to be involved in this let alone keep anything from you.”
He looked at her seriously, worry spreading over his chiseled features. “Babe, are you in some sort of danger? Trouble?”
As Gia pulled the car to a stop outside of the building she looked at Steven and smirked. “Try both.”
**
Jax sat hunched over the computer, squinting at the screen while Carly sat on the floor, papers spread out around her.
He clicked a few buttons, causing the screen to suddenly go blank.
“Well, that’s weird,” he muttered.
“What is?” Carly asked, jumping up and standing over his shoulder. “What did you do? Did you get in?”
“Yeah, but there is nothing there,” Jax noted. Suddenly the computer beeped and a single black message filled the white screen. “And that’s even weirder.”
“The End was just the beginning, Love the Queen,” Carly read the screen. “What the hell does that mean?”
Jax leaned back in his chair.
“There was no real blackmail,” he declared. “There are no secrets. Oh my god, we are so foolish, Caroline. This was never about us, about any of us.”
“Still not following . . . oh no,” Carly gasped, everything suddenly clicking. “Helena Cassadine. She’s the Queen.” She paused, then added, “Damn it, I’m supposed to be the Queen.”
Jax allowed a small laugh. “This is much worse than simply blackmail and kidnapping. We have to let the other’s know.”
“I’ll--.” The telephone began to ring before Carly could finish her sentence. “This is just one weird night.” She answered it quickly, the receiver nearly dropping from her hand as she listened. “Ok, we’ll be right over.”
“Who was that?”
Carly swallowed nervously. “Elizabeth . . . she went out to get food and when she was gone four men broke into the warehouse, took Kristina, and attacked Zander. We have to go right now.”
**
“Damnit! Natalie, unlock this door!” Emily yelled as she stood inside the bathroom in Natalie’s apartment.
“I have to make a phone call, and since you couldn’t take the hints that I wanted you OUT, I had to take drastic measures.
“Yes, I can see that, but we have to get to the warehouse. Liz JUST called, there is an emergency,” Emily complained, banging on the door.
Natalie rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone, “Just stay in there and . . . hum or something.”
“I really couldn’t care less about your stupid phone call,” Emily pointed out. She sat down on the black toilet, wondering what made Natalie get a black toilet. “Why is your toilet black?”
“You really have to calm down, Emily. I wouldn’t want you strain yourself,” Natalie shot sarcastically. “And, trust me, you probably will care who I’m talking to.”
“Just make your call already.”
Natalie quickly hit the speed dial button she programmed Jason’s number into.
“Morgan,” came his annoyed voice.
“How is that you are annoyed before you even know it is me?” Natalie asked.
“Jesus Christ, Natalie, I told you not to call me unless it was an emergency.”
“Well lets see if this is an emergency: Kristina has been kidnapped, Zander got a knife through his hand, oh, and we believe that this now the doing of Helena Cassadine. Does this qualify as a fucking emergency, Morgan?”
Natalie waited for an answer but heard only muffled silence.
“Hello! Borgy! Are you there? Did you hear what I said? The shit hit the proverbial fan. Get your ass back to Port Charles and help us clean up your mess.”
“Ok, calm down, Natalie. Did anyone go to the authorities?”
“You’re dealing with Spencers and Cassadines, Jason, what the hell do you think? No, we haven’t. But, we have had to involve someone else. Steven Webber, Liz’s brother, we needed someone to fix the big hole in Zander’s hand,” Natalie explained impatiently.
“Good, keep it that way. We’ll be back in New York as soon as possible.”
“We? Who is with you?”
“Nobody,” he tried to cover.
“Oh, I see, you are taking your gigantic arrogance to the next level and are now referring to yourself in the third person? Sure, I believe that. Just hurry up,” Natalie barked and turned the phone off.
She quickly unlocked the door and cringed as she came face to face with a royally pissed off Emily.
“I’m guessing you weren’t humming?”
Emily glared at Natalie, a woman she had never been too fond of.
“How long have you been talking to my brother about all of this?”
“Only about a minute, Em.”
“You know what I mean.”
Natalie smirked, “How long have we had the problem.” Emily only continued to glare. “You do realize that Jason was in town right before we became involved in a hostage situation. Am I the only person who put two and two together? Seriously. He was sniffing around about Kristina and then POOF there she is.”
“Jason was responsible for this?” Emily asked in disbelief.
“Yeah. Believe me, I wish he weren’t. I’d like nothing better than to have to think about that guy, but he’s involved up to his ears.”
Emily shook her head. “Why—why would Jason do this to us?”
“I want to say he’s evil incarnate, but I have the feeling he was trying to play hero. Don’t go fretting about your big brother,” Natalie muttered as she grabbed her purse and strode to the door. “Or, at least do it on the way over to the warehouse.”
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