Chapter 2: Should I go or should I stay? "Elizabeth, darling, you haven’t touched your dinner." Nikolas saw Liz just staring at the food. Liz looked up. "Huh? Oh what did you say Nikolas?" "Your food, you haven’t touched it." "I’m not hungry." She crossed her arms. Nikolas got furious. He approached Liz, and took her by the arm again and picked her up from her chair. "Now you want to starve yourself?!" he screamed. "Nikolas, you don’t tell me what to do!" Liz cried. Nikolas squeezed her arm tightly. Liz started to cry in pain. Why was he doing this? He said he loved her. Nikolas continued and then gave up. "Fine! Just leave Elizabeth! If you don’t want to eat, fine! Starve!" he threw Liz, causing her to hit the table. Liz cried in pain as she fell to the floor. She curled up into a ball on the floor. How did she get into this mess? What did she do to deserve this? Nikolas couldn’t stand her crying. He approached Liz, who was on the floor, and took her hand and pulled her up violently. "Get up!" he screamed. "I don’t want to hear you cry anymore!" Liz continued to cry in pain, she wasn’t sure if her arm was broken. It sure felt like it. She got up, still in pain, and looked to Nikolas with tears in her eyes. "Nikolas! I can’t stand this abuse anymore!" she cried. "Are you trying to kill me? What are you trying to prove?" she sighed. Nikolas looked away from her and sighed as well. "Elizabeth, I didn’t" he started. "No Nikolas! You did!" she cried. "We have a daughter, a beautiful baby girl, and you act like she’s the only thing keeping me from leaving you! That’s why you throw me around and command me as your slave instead of your wife!" She sighed. "Nikolas you never gave me the chance to love you." She said softly, holding onto her arm walking away. Nikolas watched as Liz left slowly out of the room. Why did he abuse her? Why was he so hard on her? He didn’t mean to be. She was right though, about Alexandria keeping them together. If they didn’t have Alexandria, Liz would’ve left him already. He didn’t think it was fair of him to take Liz away from her dreams and hopes in Port Charles. He didn’t, but he felt like he needed her, he needed her bad. And now that he has her, she doesn’t want him. "I’m turning into my…father…" he said to himself. His eyes bulged out, he couldn’t believe it, he was repeating history. "What am I doing? I’m doing the same thing my father did to my mother!" he started to pace around the room. Hannah and Vincent came into the dining room to clean up. "Master Nikolas, we’re going to clear the table now." Vincent said. Nikolas looked at Vincent and nodded. "Yes, I’ll be out of your way." He looked at Hannah and approached her. "Did you see where my lovely wife went to?" "Yes, Mrs. Cassadine went to the master bedroom." She smiled. "She wanted to rest." "Thank you Hannah." With that Nikolas exited the dinning area and toward the master bedroom upstairs. *+*+* Lucky walked along the docks, all he could think about was the day he left Liz. How he left her to die. He could just blame himself, he couldn’t do anything about it. His dream of marrying Liz, had just turned into a horrible nightmare. "Why did I have to leave?" he asked himself. Suddenly, Lucky heard people coming, he decided to walk out. He turned around and saw two familiar looking people. He hid behind a bush and listened to what they had to say. "I can’t understand what Nikolas went through." Said the man. "I shouldn’t have told him." he started to cry. "Stefan you had nothing to do with this." the woman assured him. "Alexis, what are you talking about, I told him that I’m his father." He looked up. Lucky’s eyes bulged out. ‘Stefan is Nikolas’ father?’ he said to himself getting angry. ‘My mother lied to me!’ "Yes, But he needed to know!" Alexis stated. Stefan looked at Alexis and then walked a little forward. "Now, he’s crazy, I don’t even know where he is!" "We’ll find him, we just have to keep looking." Alexis tried to assure Stefan. Stefan turned around and looked to Alexis. "He did something, didn’t he?" "What are you talking about?" Alexis felt confused. "He was here the night of Miss Webber’s murder, he killed her didn’t he?" Stefan closed his eyes. "Stefan, you don’t know that for sure." "Alexis, you should’ve seen the rage and anger in his eyes, he had an obsession with that girl, maybe he decided…" "No! Stefan, don’t say that!" "Alexis, open your eyes!" he cried. "He wanted so much to be like Stavros, and now he finds out he’s not the Cassadine heir?" "Come on Stefan, let’s go home…" "Yeah, I guess you’re right." She said softly. With that they were off to Wyndemere. Lucky came from the bushes and headed out of the docks. "Nikolas? He killed Elizabeth?" Lucky went over and hopped in his car, he drove off to his house to talk to his father. *+*+* Liz cried into her pillow and looked up to find Laurena with Alexandria. "Mrs. Cassadine?" "Don’t call me that! I’m no Cassadine! I don’t want to be a Cassadine!" she cried. Laurena saw the pain in Liz’s eyes. She wanted to help her. Alexandria started to cry from the screaming coming from Liz. Liz stopped and looked to her daughter. "Baby? Don’t cry…" she held out her hands for Laurena to place Alexandria in. Laurena placed Alexandria in her mother’s arms. Liz rocked her daughter gently and started to cry. "Please don’t cry baby…" she felt tears roll down her cheeks. "Mrs. Cassa—Elizabeth, um, are you okay now?" "Yes, I guess, Nikolas really hurt me that’s all." "He threw you again?" she asked. Liz looked to Laurena sadly, and nodded. "I can’t believe Master Nikolas would do such a thing?" "Well, he does, and then he says that he loves me!" Liz started to laugh bitterly. Alexandria started to fall asleep on Liz’s shoulder. Laurena saw this, and asked Liz if she could take her. Liz nodded and told Laurena to stay with Alexandria, and that she’ll meet with her in the room later. Laurena left the master bedroom, and walked toward the nursery. Liz waited till Laurena completely left, and ran to the door. Her arm was still in pain, and so was her side. She locked the door and went to her closet. She picked out a bag, and ran toward the dresser. She placed all her contents in the bag and then opened all her drawers to bring her clothes. After she took all her regular clothes, which were her jeans and a shirt, that Laurena got her when she visited Florida. She knew that if Nikolas saw her in jeans, he would get really mad. Liz hated to dress in nothing but dresses, so when Laurena planned to go to Florida, Liz asked her to bring jeans and a shirt, just in case she wanted to leave. But then, when she was about to leave, she grew attached to Nikolas, and so Nikolas told her to at least stay for one night. Liz agreed and stayed. That night she and Nikolas shared one passionate kiss that led to even more than that. The next day, Liz felt quilt on what she did with Nikolas, she found out a couple of weeks later that she was pregnant. That was the other reason she couldn’t leave. When Alexandria was born, Liz knew she could never leave. Liz didn’t want to abandon Alexandria, but she had no choice, she didn’t love Nikolas, and she wanted to go back to Port Charles and start her life over again. Liz packed everything into the bag and hid the bag in her closet. As she placed the bag in the closet, there was a knock at the door. Liz became frightened and looked around to find nothing of her stuff placed on the dresser. She knew if that was Nikolas at the door, he would get really angry. "Just a minute!" she called. Liz ran to the door, thinking of how to convince Nikolas to sleep downstairs. She opened the door slightly. She saw Nikolas standing at the doorway waiting for her to kiss him or something. "Yes, Nikolas? What do you want?" she asked. "Nothing, I want you Elizabeth." He said quietly. "No Nikolas, I can’t have you saying ‘I’m sorry’ to me every time we fight!" Liz looked away, still holding onto the door. Nikolas couldn’t stand having Liz mad at him, he didn’t mean to hurt her, he took all his problems and just took it out on her. "Look Elizabeth, I’m sorry… what else can I say?" he tried to smile. Liz looked at his gaze once again, and decided to shut the door in his face. Nikolas placed his arm to stop the door from closing. Liz became frightened. "What do you want from me Nikolas? My love?" she cried. "Well, I can’t!! I’d rather die than be in love with you Nikolas!" Nikolas became furious again. "Elizabeth, I want nothing from you. I need you to at least be understanding!" he approached her. Liz backed away. "Understanding? Understanding?" Liz laughed bitterly. "What do you mean Nikolas? You keep me here away from my family and friends… and you force me to love you." She sighed. "Then you want me to be ‘understanding’?" Nikolas stared at Liz and tried to control his anger. "Elizabeth we have a daughter, you can’t expect to just walk away from that without loving me!" Liz walked away and leaned on the closet. "Listen Nikolas, sleep downstairs tonight okay?" she leaned even more. Nikolas stared at her and said, "Elizabeth, no." "What? Why not?" she asked. "Because, we can work this out I know we can!" he held her hands. Liz pulled her hands away from his and let out a cry of pain. "Nikolas, I can’t expect to love someone that just throws me around the house like a piece of trash…" she said softly, trying to make it more convincing to him to stay away. "Please just leave." Nikolas started to walk off, then realized something wasn’t right. He approached Liz and started to yell. "Why are you leaning on the closet like that?" he asked curiously. Liz in that moment felt even more frightened. "No reason, why?" "Can I look to see what’s in the closet?" he asked. "Nikolas, no!" she cried. But Nikolas pushed Liz away and opened the closet. He became furious when he saw her bag packed and ready to go. He started to laugh. Liz started to walk very slowly to the bedroom doorknob. Nikolas turned around and ran to Liz. "Oh no you don’t!" he grabbed onto Liz tightly. Liz thought her body was going to break. "Nikolas, you’re—hurting me!" she managed to cry out. Nikolas ignored her and whispered into her ear. "You’re no going anywhere, I won’t let you…" he took her body and threw her on the ground. Liz tried to got up as fast as she could, but Nikolas laid his body on top of hers. "Please Nikolas!" she begged. "You should have thought about that Elizabeth… now you’re going to get what’s coming to you." He started to kiss her all over. Liz struggled to get out. "No Nikolas, what are you doing?" she felt so vulnerable. She started to panic, and her body reacted the best that it could. Liz took her leg from underneath and kneed Nikolas right in the groin. Nikolas rolled over and cried in pain. Liz got up from the floor and ran to the door. She didn’t have time to get her clothes, all she knew was she had to get out and fast. She unlocked her door and ran towards Alexandria’s room. Laurena saw her come in and approached her. "Elizabeth, are you all right?" "No, Laurena, I’m leaving." Liz said quickly. "What? You’re leaving? She asked shocked. She didn’t think Liz would leave Alexandria. Liz picked up Alexandria from her crib. "Laurena, I have to leave…" Liz’s eyes began to fill with tears. "I’m taking Alexandria with me!" she said trying to hurry. She started for the door running with Alexandria on her shoulder. "Okay." Laurena agreed. She hoped that Liz’s plan would work. She ran after Liz, so that she could help her get out of the castle. *+*+* "Oh its great to be back isn’t it Luke?" Laura asked. Luke looked out the window and then to his wife. "It is Laura, I’m just a little worried about Lucky, he hasn’t taken Elizabeth Webber’s death too easily. "I know, my poor baby, he lost his true love." She sighed. "But who could’ve killed that girl? Was someone trying to get even with Lucky somehow?" "I don’t know… I remember when Lucky and Elizabeth attended the prom, Nikolas Cassadine got a little jealous." Luke explained. Laura looked to Luke and became upset. "Do you always have to assume it was the Cassadines?" "Hey it could’ve been." Luke shrugged. Suddenly, Lucky stormed through the house angry. Luke and Laura ran to him, something wasn’t right. "Lucky? What happened?" Luke asked. Lucky looked to the floor and then to his father’s eyes. "Nikolas killed… Elizabeth." "What?" Laura said in shock. "Its true… I heard it from Stefan Cassadine." "Stefan?" Laura asked. "Why would Stefan say such a thing?" Lucky became angry with his mother. "Because he’s Nikolas’ father." He said, focusing on his mother. Luke looked to Laura and became outraged. "What? Stefan is the FATHER?" he screamed. "I-I don’t know what your…” "Don’t lie mom!" Lucky cried. "He told Nikolas that he was his real father. After the fact that Nikolas realized he wasn’t the heir to the throne, he went crazy." "I can’t believe this!" Luke looked to both Laura and Lucky. Lulu ran downstairs, she heard the screaming and wanted to know what was going on. "Mom, Dad, Lucky, what are you screaming about?" she asked curiously. "Nothing Lulu, go upstairs." Lucky demanded. "Oh, fine." Lulu said as she went upstairs to her room. She ran up the stairs thinking ‘Why am I the only one in this family that doesn’t get to know what’s happening?’ she opened her drawers and took out some of her clothes. ‘I don’t need this, Nikky told me to come over to his house anytime I wanted.’ She went under her bed and pulled out a little golden jewelry box Nikolas gave to her. She opened it and took out a note. She smiled as she read it. "Dear Lulu, Hey little sister, come over anytime to visit me. Just go to the airport and ask for my special Cassadine jet, don’t worry it’ll take you to Greece. You’ll love it here in Greece, its so beautiful, Elizabeth, my wife, loves the flowers that grow along the terrace. I hope you’ll come very soon, I miss you so much. Remember this is our little secret, don’t tell Lucky or mom okay? Oh, and when you come over don’t forget to say hello to your niece, Alexandria, Elizabeth and I love her so much. Love Always, Nikky" "Don’t worry Nikky I won’t tell anyone." She smiled as she placed the note in her pocket, not realizing that it fell from her hands, and to the floor. Lulu opened her window and climbed out. *+*+ "Laura, why did you lie to your family once again?" Luke asked getting furious. Laura looked to her feet and started to talk. "Fine, Luke, you see Nikolas is Stefan’s son, we had to keep this a secret so that Nikolas wouldn’t get hurt." "I can’t believe you lied mom!" Lucky cried, and headed out the door. "LUCKY!" Laura cried out. Luke looked to Laura and then he also headed to the door. He looked one last time to Laura and said, "I’m going to the club." He said quietly, and slammed the door. Laura started to cry. She didn’t think this big secret was going to separate her family. She decided to talk to Lulu, and tell her about the secret, she needed to know also about what happens in the family. She knocked on her door. "Lulu? Sweetie, can I come in?" Laura gently knocked, but there was no answer. Laura decided to open the door. "Lulu?" she said as she came in. She looked around the room and saw that Lulu wasn’t there. Laura screamed in horror. "No!" she cried. She walked further inside Lulu’s room and stepped on something. "What’s this?" Laura said as she picked up the piece of paper. She opened the note and read it. Laura’s eyes grew wide. "No, this can’t be happening again…" Laura ran downstairs to call Luke, but to her surprise he stood at the doorway. "Luke!" she cried. "Lulu ran away! And she’s going to Greece!" she waved the letter in his face. Luke looked at Laura and read the note. "Nikolas kidnapped Elizabeth Webber." He said coldly. "Now, he wants Lulu!" Laura cried. Luke began to see red. He looked at Laura and said "I’m going after her, stay here Laura!" With that he headed out, Laura sat down on the couch in her living room and hugged a pillow. *+*+* "Elizabeth do you think this will work?" Laurena asked, with Alexandria in her arms. Liz continued to try and find a boat. "I think so, Laurena, I have to start my life over." Liz said determined. "I understand." Laurena smiled. The sky was turning dark and ugly. Liz looked up and then to Laurena. "It’s getting windy." She said as the wind started to create waves. Soon the waves started to crash hard on the rocks. Liz felt the wind getting stronger, and she walked back, so that she wouldn’t get pushed off of the cliffs. She saw the boat below leaning on the rocks. "Its a long way down" said Liz. "Don’t worry I’ll help you get to the safest place." Laurena started to approach Liz, to help her get to the boat when suddenly unexpected visitors come along. "Don’t move!" cried a voice. "Mrs. Cassadine you’re not getting off this island alive!" "Hannah?" Liz said as she saw the woman aiming a gun to her. "That’s right Mrs. Cassadine." She smiled. "But you have to die, I’m very sorry." "Why?" asked Liz. "Because I say so." Said a voice. Liz looked around to see an angry looking Nikolas approach her. Liz looked at Hannah and Nikolas, and started to panic. "Okay, now you want to kill me?" Liz asked, finding Nikolas very amused with the position she was in. "Master Nikolas? What are you doing?" asked Laurena, still with Alexandria in her arms. Nikolas approached Laurena and took Alexandria away from her. He looked to Hannah and nodded. Hannah looked to Laurena and fired a shot, hitting Laurena in the chest. "No!" Liz cried out. She looked to Nikolas and said, "You can’t get away with this!" she approached him to take Alexandria. "That’s my daughter!" she cried. Nikolas pushed Liz onto the ground. Nikolas looked as Liz got herself up. Liz got to her feet and lunged at Nikolas. Vincent and a few other servants came armed to where the commotion was. "What’s going on here?" asked Vincent. Hannah came toward him and said "We are ordered to kill Mrs. Cassadine." Vincent and the other servants nodded. Liz looked to them and couldn’t believe what was happening. She didn’t want to die like this. She didn’t want to be out smarted by Nikolas. Then she thought of something. She looked to Vincent and then at the cliff. ‘It isn’t that far down’ she thought to herself as the servants approached her. Without thinking twice, Liz looked at Nikolas and laughed "Like I said before I rather die than be Mrs. Cassadine!" She leaped off the cliff praying that the depth wouldn’t kill her. After she jumped, Nikolas looked below and then to his daughter. "Oh my… what have I done?" he said aloud. Vincent and Hannah came to his side. "Leave me alone!" he cried. With that Nikolas walked back to the castle with his daughter in his arms. ‘I didn’t think she would jump’ he said to himself, I thought she would surrender and stay with me.’ He looked to the ground and sighed. "What have I done?" *+*+* Lucky drove to Kelly’s and sat in the car to think. "Why is my life such a mess?" he asked himself. "Without Elizabeth, I shouldn’t live." He said sadly. He got out of the car and entered the restaurant, maybe his aunt could give him a place to stay. "Hey Aunt Ruby, can I stay in one of your rooms?" Ruby Anderson looked to see Lucky standing right beside her. She looked at him again and gave him a hug. "Lucky, I thought you were dead!" she cried. "No, I’m not." He laughed bitterly. "I guess about that Webber girl murder, I heard you were with her." "I was, but I had to leave town." Lucky explained. "Well, anyway, about that question you asked me?" "Yeah, so can I?" Lucky asked. "Sure, Lucky of course you can!" With that Ruby led Lucky to his new room.