***Somewhere in Europe****
“Ooooh, aren’t you a strong little man.” She congratulated the young boy, who couldn’t have been any older than eight or nine, for not screaming when the needle had pricked his skin.
“Mum told me that big boys are STWONG and I want to be STWONG too.” He looked up at her with eyes shining like lights, so full of hope and innocence.
“And you WILL be strong when you’re a big boy. Because big boys eat their veggies.”
He groaned.
“You want to be strong again, right?”
“Yeah,” he moaned.
“But can I still have candy?” He asked, his forehead knit with anxious anticipation.
She had to ponder for a second, her finger tapping her chin, her eyes looking at the ceiling. “Hrmm... Thinking... Thinking... Yeah.”
He jumped up, pumping his fist into the air triumphantly. “YES!”
“But not at all three meals.”
He groaned again.
“Hey, in 10 years you’ll be thanking me.”
“Whatever you say Dr. Rosco.” He called out as his mother came back into the room.
“Look at what the nurse gave to me to give to you.” The mother waved a banana flavored sucker in front of him.
“Can I Dr. Rosco?”
“You sure can! Doctors orders.”
The boy took the sucker and they were about to leave when he looked over his shoulder[,] let go of his mother’s hand, and ran back to her, giving her hug.
“Thank you, Dr. Rosco, for making me better.”
The hug caught her off guard, affectionate was not something she was renowned for, but she quickly returned it, giving the small boy a squeeze, before sending him back to his mother.
“You just follow your diet and don’t play to hard,” She instructed, following them out into the waiting area.
“Oh, I will, Dr. Rosco, I WILL!” He nodded excitedly.
“We just want to thank you Dr. If it weren’t for your free clinic...”
“No thanks needed, really.”
“You just have no idea how hard it is to find an affordable doctor that’s not booked to the gills,” the mother of the boy explained.
Faith nodded. “And that is exactly the reason why I started this clinic.” She beamed, looking around her office area. “Everyone deserves to have the best medical treatment available, not just the treatment they can afford. That’s what my partners and I are trying to do.” Her smile faltered a little. “One country at a time.”
“It’s women and men like you that I pray will one day rule the world,” the woman gushed.
Faith chuckled. “We’re not going in for world domination, just affordable prescriptions and medical bills.”
The woman agreed and reached for her purse to pay.
“No, no, please, it’s on me.”
The woman looked at her in shock. “Are-- Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, of course, just keep an eye out on your son, that’s all I ask.”
Touched, but unable to speak, the woman nodded, ushering her son outside.
Faith turned around and sighed heavily. It was days like this that she truly wished she weren’t damned to burn in hell.
She shook her head sharply, ridding those thoughts from her mind. After all, her soul may have been damned, but that didn’t mean she had to do the work of the devil. Seeing that is was almost closing time she closed, locked the door, and turned the "Closed" sign around.
As she walked past the secretary's desk, she pulled her hair up and knotted her short strawberry blonde hair in a messy bun. Once in her office, after closing the door, she glanced at the clock. “Quitting time.” She sighed, with a sad smile.
Not that she had anyone or anything to go home too. But that was mainly her own decision, as she felt no compulsion to bring anyone down with her into the fiery pits that awaited her.
After cleaning up her exam room, she plopped down behind her desk and laid her head down on her desk using only her arms as pillows. “Just a minute or two...” she thought to herself as she closed her eyes for some well deserved shuteye.
Her head shot up suddenly; a chill went down her spine. She shook it off as being the devil laughing at her... again and looked out her window at the outside. She sighed heavily, for just one moment she wanted what she saw outside.
Normalcy.
Mundane people, living mundane lives, doing mundane things, smiling at each other, laughing at jokes that weren’t particularly funny. Doing things she would never in a million years be able to do.
And all because of one choice.
One choice that would haunt her to her dying day.
The one choice that she made that should have helped.
The one choice that ended up getting her banished from the one thing that had ever really mattered to her.
Her brother.
She closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back as tears sprung to her eyes. ‘I will not do this!’ She berated herself.. ‘I do not deserve my own pity! Suck it up Faith! You SCREWED UP!’
She shook her head sharply, grabbed the tray she had placed on the windowsill and turned around.
“Hello.” Kristina intoned.
Faith jumped up into the air and let out a shriek of fright, dropping the tray.
“Drop this?” Courtney asked, standing up straight, coming out of nowhere, holding the tray, its contents undisturbed.
“We’re-- We’re closed!” She snapped, backing away from them. Unfortunately, she backed herself right into a corner.
“Oh, we know.” Kristina whispered, uncrossing her arms and walking towards her.
“I don’t have any money here!” She warned.
Both girls looked at each other and laughed. “We don’t need money .”
“We’re DEAD!!” They laughed.
Courtney nodded. “Yep, we’re beyond your kind of help, Doc.”
Faith's porcelain skin paled, her hand slowly rose to cover her mouth.
Kristina backed away, and jumped up onto the exam table and made herself comfortable . “And no, we’re not the Angels of Death...”
“We haven’t been dead that long.” Courtney added, wryly.
“W-what do you want? I’m already going to burn in hell for what I did. What else can you do to me?” She demanded on the verge of tears.
Both girls looked at her. Kristina was looking a little worse for wear, more hairs turning white, her skin becoming more pale, the only thing that hadn’t faded were her vibrant eyes, all from helping Michael. She was hoping that soon it would be okay to not help as much as that young boy was in a considerable amount of pain. Courtney looked, well, angelic. Her smile was bright, her clothing beamed, her hair sparkled... Unfortunately she hadn’t the slightest idea what was happening to Kristina. But both girls shook their head and turned back to Faith, smiling at her despite themselves.
“You think you know so much,” Courtney chided, good naturedly.
“You think you know exactly what’s going to happen.” Kristina rolled her eyes. “If you only knew, that what you didn’t know, will help you know, what you thought you knew, but was never told.” She riddled.
“What?!” Faith asked, incredulously. “That doesn’t make the least bit of sense.”
“Neither does a lot of things you do,” Courtney pointed out.
Faith was about to lose it. “What do you want from ME?!”
Courtney shook her head sadly. “To be prepared.”
“We can’t tell you why, just be prepared..”
Her face turned red in frustration. “This makes NO sense!!”
Kristina gave her one hard look. “Has anything in the last 23 years made sense?” She hissed coldly.
Faith winced. “But they’re dead!”
She moaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Or are they?”
Faith's head shot up. “What!”
Courtney looked at Kristina for approval, but Kristina shook her head no. “All you need to know is that soon, very, very soon you’re going to get a visit from someone from your past. That and well, don’t fight it.”
“Fight what?”
Kristina held up her hand for Courtney to stop. “Let me.”
Courtney nodded, then disappeared.
Faith felt herself becoming lightheaded. Kristina was at her side out of nowhere, and helped her take a seat. “All you need to know is that what you know is not right. What’s right is wrong. What’s wrong is right. The truth is a lie and a lie is the truth...”
She paused, using a crooked finger to pull Faith’s gaze within inches of her face. “What you know is not as you know it. What was told is not the truth. The truth lies in lies. What you see before your eyes cannot be the truth. But what you see in your heart is not true either.”
Faith groaned, dropping her head to her hands to think. “This is so confusing.”
Kristina nodded.
As she stood up, Faith looked up suddenly. “No wait. Don’t go.”
“I’m sorry, but my time is up.” She began to walk away, but stopped, turned around and said to Faith, “At some point in time, your sister is going to need you more than anything in this world. At that moment I want you to say to her: What you know in your head is not what you know in your heart. Follow your heart and you will find your truth. Follow your truth and you will find redemption.”
Faith let out a morbid sob. “Why? Why does she get redemption and I get to live in hell on earth!?” She beseeched with tears shining in her eyes.
Kristina shook her head.
“You don’t know everything Faith...” she whispered as she faded away....
Faith looked up suddenly from her seat behind her desk and directly into the barrels of a double barrel shot gun. She groaned inwardly, her day just got worse.
****
***Azora’s Jeep***
Gia shot Eduardo a knowing look as they made their way to the winter wonderland that had once been the roads of Port Charles. After the shoe drama, they had decided to head straight to AJ’s, so that he could pick up some things for both himself and Carly.
Needless to say, he was dreading it and had fallen asleep as soon as they had left the cabin. But that was not what had Eduardo anxiously watching him in the back seat. It was the fact that Azora had fallen asleep as well.
Azora was infamous for her insomnia and the fact that once she woke up it took an elephant tranquilizer to put her down again. But not this time. This time she had barely sat down and buckled up before leaning her head against AJ’s shoulder and crashing.
While he was worried about her, anxiously glancing between the vanity mirror that was pointed at the backseat and the snowy road ahead of him, Gia was about to have a coronary because he wasn’t watching the road enough.
“Ed-duardo!” she hissed, her foot pushing down on her imaginary brake, it never worked, but it didn’t hurt to try.
“Oh- sorry.” He snapped out of his thoughts distractedly. He turned his full attentions to the road... For about five seconds before glancing at the mirror and back at the road.
Gia let out a growl, leaned over, snapped the mirror up and sat back, crossing her arms over her chest.
“HEY!” He whined griped.
“Want me to drive?” She hissed.
“Nooo.”
“Well, either keep your damn eyes on the damn road or let me drive and you can sit in the passenger seat and watch them as intently as you please,” she snapped, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted it.
“Listen I’m sorry--”
“No, no. I get it,” he replied evenly.
They sat in silence,he felt like such an ass.
“I’m... I’m sorry Gia... It’s just...”
“I know. I know--” Gia cut him off, sympathetically. Everyone knew that they were close and very much devoted to each other. But now she knew why.
Silence.
AGAIN.
She hated silence, especially the awkward kind. Silence is one thing. It’s void of sound. Awkward silence, however, wasn’t just void of sound, it was just plain void. As though the elephant in the room had just passed gas and no one wanted to be the first one to acknowledge either the stench or the elephant.
“I get that you're worried, and I know why you're worried-- it’s just that...” She let out a sigh of frustration. “It’s just that you aren’t alone anymore, okay?” She whispered, patting his knee, after a moment of consideration. “There’s a whole gaggle of us to worry about her now. Don’t you get that? Don’t you get that we all care about her just as deeply as you do?”
He let out a slow breath, trying to keep himself in check, but not even he could keep his eyes from showing his gratitude. “I-- I get it, I do... really.”
“It sure doesn’t seem that way,” she snapped, looking out the window to keep from looking into his eyes.
“Well, Gia--” He started loud, but lowered his voice quickly. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that they were still sound asleep before continuing. “Well, Gia, for the last five or six years it’s been Azora and me, me and Azora. All we had was each other, and without each other we had no one and nothing.”
“My life has revolved around Azora, and keeping her safe for so freaking long that I don’t know how to let other people worry about her.” He paused, before whispering something that he had never told anyone, not even Azora. “When it comes to Azora and I--” he shook his head grimly. “-- let’s just put it this way. I held my dying father in my arms. He was the strongest man I had ever known, not perfect, mind you, but as damned near as a human being is going to get. And as his life slipped away...” he paused, to choke down the lump that was rising in his throat and blink back the tears that came to his eyes whenever he thought of his Poppy.
“As his life force.... slipped away...” he sniffled, “he told me... how proud I had made him... How strong I was... How much he admired me... ME, not anyone else, me. He told me,” his chin began to quiver. He tried to shake it off but it still it remained. “He-he told me, how much he loved me. He told me...to never regret anything...to ...to take life by the horns and ride it hard...and then...” he briefly stopped to quickly wipe his nose, “and then he looked around...and Gia...this is an example of how strong and intelligent my Poppy was until he went home to God.”
“He looked around, saw Azora...standing over our Mummy's body...in the complete state of shock...totally out of it, and he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me down so that she couldn’t hear him and said...
Don‘t blame her boy... She had nothing...nothing to do with this...they‘ll try and hurt her...but it‘s up to you now...you and Azora...keep our memory alive... Keep our love alive...be there for her...protect her....protect her as if she were your own flesh and blood...promise me this, son.
“...And I said ‘don’t you worry Poppy, everything’s gonna be okay. The EMT’s are gonna be her’ will quick like and they’re gonna patch you up so quick, our heads will snap.’ but he...he knew...he knew what was happening and he begged me to watch out for her...to not let whoever hurt her so long ago to finish the job.” He stopped at a stop light, wiped his face with both hands, and turned to Gia, who had tears trickling down her cheek as she listened.
Reaching over, he wiped a stray tear away with the pad of his thumb. “I swore to my Poppy that day that I would never let anyone ever hurt her again and that I would be the one to protect her from that day forth...and...” he turned to look at her, asleep, so quiet, so restful, something he hadn’t been in eons, or at least that was what it felt like.
“It gave him enough comfort that when Azora rushed over and started panicking, that he could reach up with both hands -- as weak as he was, he never ceased to touch us, to show us affection, to show us his love for us-- and he cupped her cheek and he cupped my cheek, and he said, ‘my beautiful babies...my pride and joy...never forget that yer Poppy loves you... For now...for forever..’ and he passed away.” He trailed off softly, closing his eyes and resting his head against the head rest.
After a minute passed by and he was sufficiently calmed, he opened his eyes, rolled his head to the side and looked at Gia. “That moment, that was my defining moment. It defined me. As a brother, as a son, as a friend, as a co-conspirator.” he looked straight forward again. “You have to promise me that you’ll never tell Azora--”
“Are you crazy?”
He rolled his head against the head rest once more. “No, it would shatter her.” He replied simply.
“But your life...you’ve sacrificed your entire adult life--”
“--To seeing that my sister not pay for something she didn’t do. Too protecting her against whatever psychotic person force that is after her. Too keeping the only other person on this earth who can understand why I feel the way I feel about everything I believe in safe and out of harms way. It’s not a sacrifice, Gia. I love her. She’s my sister.”
Gia looked at him in a new light. He wasn’t just the quiet guy who sat behind the desk in the office in front of Azora’s office and followed her everywhere carrying a briefcase that was so full that it could sink a ship. He wasn’t just the only person that could translate what she was saying into what she meant.
No.
He was her protector. Her defender.
“You know, I don’t say this very often, so you might want to take it to heart.” He looked at her oddly. “But, Eduardo Kortez, you are a good man.”
He smiled at this. His eyes twinkled with a bit of shyness that came from not socializing very much. “Ya think?” He chuckled.
“Oh, I know. I know.”
He chuckled again and the light turned green.
Gia had more questions than answers, though, when it came to the dichotomy that was Azora and Eduardo. And it felt like at every corner and every turn a new layer was revealed and a little more information was given along with a LOT more questions. She didn’t know what to make of them half the time.
The rest of the time?
She knew she was damned lucky to be working for them.
*****
****Somewhere on the coast of Florida****
A car pulled up in front of a large elaborate mansion that was easily the size of a football stadium. The doors opened and the occupants, a teen, two men, one in his mid to late 30’s, the other in his mid 40’s, and a slightly older gentleman with a greying beard got out slowly, gasping at it’s grandeur.
“Wow.” One the two men wearing all black whistled.
“I’ll say.” The other man agreed.
The teen looked at the older man in a vain attempt to gage his reaction. “So, Cap, what do you think?” he asked, as he and the other two retrieved their duffle bags full of equipment and computer equipment out of the backseat.
The older man kept his emotions in check, but just barely.
He knew what this was.
After 20 some odd years of scourering the world country by country, lead by lead, he had finally screwed up.
“Cap? Cap!” The teen called out, but the older man was too transfixed to hear him.
If it weren’t for the fact that he was leaning on the passenger side door of the rental car[,] he would have fallen to his knees.
“Dilly, give poor Cap a break.” Raul, Cap's right hand man and personal guard, nudged Dillon. “This may be the break we’ve been looking for, for the last two decades.”
Dillon’s head shot up. “Really?” He asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Yeah, really.” The other man, Mikhail, the senior investigator involved in the search for Nomad and Maverick, nodded.
“So, what do ya say Cap? First one in--”
“NO!” He shouted suddenly, causing all three to jump, and the smile on Dillon’s face to waver.
“W-what?”
He composed himself enough to walk away from the vehicle and over to Dillon. “I’m... You’ll have to forgive an old man his snappish tendencies.” He apologized, squeezing Dillon’s shoulder. “But, just this once, I really need you to do me a favor okay?”
“O-kay.” he said slowly, still not quite understanding.
“Once we’re inside would you, just this once, keep with us until we find the computers and such?” Dillon blinked confused. “Just trust me. It’ll do my heart a bit of good knowing that for once, you’re actually following orders.”
“Oh, okay. Sure,” he shrugged. “But just this once.” He added with a smile.
Cameron laughed heartily as they walked towards the entrance, but on the inside he worried about Dillon, and only prayed this wouldn’t trigger memories that were better off in the past.
It was no coincidence to him that the massive mansion was an exact replica of the house that Luis had had built for Gilliana and the children; he only feared what they would find inside.
****
“You heard me,” she seethed. “Take. Off. Your. Pants.” She repeated herself, this time slower.
“W-why?” He demanded.
She rolled her eyes irritated, “Well, let’s see, Coni’s naked as a jay bird and you two ninnies tore his ONE set of clothing to SHREADS!”
“B-but we didn’t *know* that it was his only set of clothing!” He rebutted.
“Has Coni *ever* had more than one set of clothes?”
They both cursed under their breath.
“EX-ACT-LY!” She drew out the word for affect.
“And while *he’s* taking off his pants,” she began to walk around the two, and shoved Miles back into his seat. “You, Miles, can take off your shirt and your socks.”
Miles jumped to his feet and spun around. “Nuh-uh, no way, no how! It’s not my *******ned fault that he’s only allowed one set of clothes!!”
She stood tall against him, not nearly as tall or strong as Miles, but her threat to him was more serious and more deadly than any that he might represent to her.
“So you’ve got a death wish, eh?” She hissed, seductively running her hand up and down his chest. “You want us all to die?”
“No, I... It’s....”
Her hand stopped over his heart and she started flirtatiously fiddling with the buttons. “But it’s only one shirt,” she said and pouted.
“My shirt dammit,” he growled, swatting her hand away.
“That’s more than he’s got, thanks to you! You couldn’t even leave him with a little dignity, could you??”
“You SCREWED him!!!”
Petra rolled her eyes. “I gave him a release.” She growled through gritted teeth. “Now, DO IT!” She ground out.
Miles moaned in protest before doing as told and taking his plain long-sleeved black button down and collared shirt off and shoving it her way. Angrily, he tore off his shoes and peeled off his socks, this time, instead of throwing them at Petra, he wadded them up and threw them at Coni, who didn’t so much as flinch.
“Stupid bastard.” He hissed, turning toward Petra once more.
“Just because we complied this time doesn’t mean it’ll ever happen again,” He snarled.
“Yeah, and don’t think we’re going to let him out of our sight just because you said so,” Max added.
All his bravado fell flat, though, when you took into mind that he was wearing no pants.
She smirked. “Yeah, well guess what boy-eez. I’m in charge here. Me and Cole, not Max and Miles!!!”
“Petra! We have ORDERS!!”
“Well, I’m giving you NEW ones!!” She threw back angrily. “Now scat,” she ordered with a slight push towards the door. “Before I call up Cole and tell him all about your extracurricular activities.”
They sputtered and stalled but eventually left of their own free will. That much relieved her, as she wasn’t entirely sure that Cole would give a crap if they screwed him into oblivion the way he was acting lately. And she had no doubt that was exactly what they had planned on. But that was her job... For later... If he lasted that long at least.
With a heavy sigh she turned and walked over to him.
It was obvious that the drugs were still very much in his system, more so now then before. He could barely move, and she doubted he could talk anymore. The drugs plus the physical fatigue, the beatings, the pain, and exhaustion all added up and she figured that it would be hours before he was even half way okay. And she didn’t think she had hours.
She knelt beside him, putting her hand on his arm. His head lazily lolled from one side to the other, his eyes pleading for a little dignity, and a little lenience as he was so tired. He tried to speak but it came out as a indecipherable moan.
“Ssssh,” she cooed. “I’m going to cut you loose, and dress you. We’ll worry about the rest later.”
He closed his eyes, resigning himself to a little more humiliation. But if it meant he could sleep a little after they had sex, then it would be all worth it.
“Okay,” she said as she pulled a knife out of her bra. “Just relax, and I’ll cut you free.”
He closed his eyes and prepared to hit the floor.
“There!” She exclaimed triumphantly, as she loosened the ropes and then cut him free.
No impact.
No floor.
She continued to perplex him.
This was the same woman that had sex with him in front of two guards.... Right?
The same woman who had had sex with him before Cole had ever thought of setting them free...right?
As he distractedly mulled over those and many more questions, she cut his legs free and started to put the pants on.
“Umm... Hrmm... Let’s see...” she said, once the pants rose to his hips. “Coni... Could you, oh, I don’t know, move?”
His throat was too raw and sore to answer, so with a great deal of effort he closed his eyes and forced some control over his muscles and shifted side to side as she pulled the pants up, zipped them and buttoned them.
“There.”
She smiled, glancing up. Her smile faded at the sight of him panting, his forehead covered with beads of sweat.
Dammit, this is NOT a good sign! Where’s Faith!?
She shook her head, reminding herself, that until Faith returned, she was all he had. CRAP. She made a mental note of it to tell Faith.
He sat there, his breathing heavy, and hitching from the exertion as she handed him the shirt. He looked at her weakly, his eyelids barely open enough to see out of.
“Th-thank you,” he rasped, as he touched the cloth and tried to raise himself up to put it on.
But his limbs were still not working. His fingers were still numb, he sat there, his finger tips tapping against each other in a vain attempt to feel sensation but nothing worked.
“Here, let me, okay?”
She took the shirt from him and carefully, slipped his arms into the sleeves. He winced sharply as it pulled on the skin of his back, his face contorting in agony.
“I-- I’m sorry,” she whispered, as she buttoned the shirt, mindful of his claustrophobia, she left the top two unbuttoned and open.
“Th--”
“Ssssh, save your energy.”
He looked at her curiously.
“We have to go--” She trailed off, he wasn’t going to like what came next. “-- to my room.”
All color drained from his face.
“For sleep, you need some.”
Sleep.
He craved it.
But Master hadn’t said anything about sleep. He didn’t want to incur his wrath.
“N-no. I...I can’t... I...I..”
He was becoming frazzled and sweating again.
“Why?”
“D-don’ wanna, make, my, Master, angry.”
He drew it out slowly, his throat still giving him trouble as it was dry and soar.
“It’s okay, I said so.”
She reassured him, but he still felt skeptical.
She wrapped her fingers around his forearm and helped him stand.
When he stumbled, she put her arm around his waist instinctually, but his deep wince and hiss caused her to pull back.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said in a hollow, barely-containing-a-cry-of-pain voice.
“My room’s not far from here, Coni. We can do it.”
He looked at her, his eyes hooded with a mixture of shame and fear.
“We’re going to make it...” she promised.
Cause if we don’t, Faith is gonna have my ASS! she thought as she helped him limp down the hall. Eventually, he had to lean against her because it was farther than she had expected and he was already over exerted.
Once in her room, she pulled back the cover on her bed, put a few more pillows where his back would be, and made him lie down. He made no move to deflect and was quickly asleep. She covered him the best she could and sat beside him, looking at his face as he slept.
“It didn’t have to be this way...” she whispered with regret.
“If only Luis had helped Raul and I... If only...” she chuckled dryly, tears coming to her eyes. “If only...”
TBC