 |
| ~*~Chapter 2~*~ �Carly, I can�t do this by myself.� Elizabeth sat, with Carly, in the waiting room at General Hospital. When she had flipped out about being pregnant, Carly had convinced her she needed to get a blood test to be positive before she made any plans for the future. Carly was right about needing to be sure she was really in the baby way, but if she was, Elizabeth already knew what she had to do. �You won�t have to, Elizabeth.� Carly sent her a warm smile. �I realize I�ve not been the greatest friend to you over the years, but I�m here to help.� She let a small giggle escape her lips. �And hey, maybe our babies will wind up as best friends.� Elizabeth couldn�t force a laugh. �Carly, I can�t have this baby. I can�t be a mother. Not when the father is someone I can�t even look at.� The tears Elizabeth had been fighting to stay back suddenly broke free of her blocks. How could this have happened to her? How could Ric have let this happen to her? It was his fault! That really wasn�t fair. It wasn�t all his fault. If anyone was to blame, it was her. They�d used protection most of the time, but every once in a while they wouldn�t have any. Elizabeth was the one who would say, �screw it� and continue without a condom. Towards the end of their relationship they�d almost completely stopped using condoms. They hadn�t seen the point. Elizabeth was on the pill. And they knew each other well enough to assume the other didn�t have any STD�s. God, how could she be so stupid? If her rape hadn�t taught her anything else, of course it had, but for the sake of her point, it had taught her the importance of safe sex. The eighteen months after that terrible Valentine�s Day she had to go in for three AIDs tests. That was the scariest time in her life. And then Jason had told her about Robin. She had only been with a man that she loved. She trusted him and turns out he�d had that dreadful curse. She had to pay because she wasn�t responsible enough to use protection or atleast go in for a test before hand. Didn�t Elizabeth learn anything from those cheesy after-school movies her grandmother constantly forced her to watch? They were always tackling issues like safe-sex. Now at age twenty-one, Elizabeth, who was very single, sat in the waiting room at the hospital counting the seconds before finding out for sure she was pregnant. She was having the child of a man she didn�t even know. She had been stupid and naive again. She trusted when she shouldn�t have. This was a time she really should have pulled back. But it�s the same story over and over again for her. Ric was just another notch on her belt. Only this notch came in the form of stretch marks. Carly put her hand to Elizabeth�s cheek. �You�re not thinking about getting rid of the baby are you?� The fear in Carly�s eyes made Elizabeth think. Could she abort her own child? Would she be able to live with the repercussions of this monumental decision? But the question that stood out even more in Elizabeth�s mind was: How could she raise Ric�s child without him being a part of her life? �Carly, I have to. How can I...� Elizabeth choked back the sobs that threatened to end her question. �How can I have Ric�s child? How can I raise it and still keep my distance from the man? I can�t have him in my life, Carly. I just can�t do it.� Carly put a reassuring arm around her shoulder. �You can do it with my help. Ric doesn�t have to know you�re pregnant. Who�s going to tell him?� �Carly, after about three or four months, no one will have to tell Ric I�m pregnant. He�s kind of going to know.� Elizabeth patted her still flat stomach. Carly laughed. �Seeing you, little miss twig, all fat and pregnant is going to be fun.� Carly turned serious. �You can�t get rid of this child Elizabeth. It�s already a part of you. If you get rid of it, it�ll be the worst thing you�ll ever do. You�ll never be able to forgive yourself. �So, Ric�s a jerk and you don�t want him in your baby�s life. Great. But don�t deny this baby a chance to live. Don�t let Ric deny you the chance to love this new life growing inside of you. You�ll regret it, Elizabeth.� Elizabeth looked up at Carly. She knew what she was talking about. She had lost a child. She knew what it was like to love someone you�d never laid eyes on yet. And Elizabeth did. She loved this little baby growing inside of her already. She loved it with everything she had. Carly was right. If Elizabeth got rid of this life inside her, she�d regret it. Elizabeth was about to thank Carly for making this clear to her, but Dr. Meadows walked into the room. Elizabeth and Carly both quickly stood. �What did it say?� Elizabeth said impatiently. The doctor smiled. �You�re having a baby in seven and a half months.� Elizabeth wasn�t shocked of course. The at-home test had told her she was pregnant, but even before then she knew. When her period was two days late, she knew. She felt that life inside her. She had already fallen in love with it. Elizabeth was pregnant. She was having a baby. Her baby, and no one else�s. ~*~ Faith licked her bottom lip and smiled at the tall, dark, and handsome man that sat across the table from her. Oh, yes. Diego was gorgeous. She was going to love working with him. Of course he couldn�t hold a candle to Ric Lansing. Well, maybe a small candle. Diego Alcazar would be a fun way to pass the time until Ric was hers again. �So, what brings you to Port Charles, Mr. Alcazar?� She gently ran her fingers over the exposed skin of his right arm. Nice and smooth. Faith had a strong erge to run her tongue along that same area, but decided against it. Maybe on the second date. Diego smiled down at her hand, before looking her in the eyes. Dark, soulful eyes, he had. They just about made Faith fall back in her chair. �Call me Diego, please.� He took a small scan of the restaurant they were in. �This place is nice. What is it?� Faith gave her signature open-mouthed smirk. He was avoiding the question. That was fine. She�d have him screaming the answer soon enough. �Alessandro�s. I opted for a less...PC populated dining spot. With your brother�s popularity in this town, well you could get ambushed.� She gave his wrist a small squeeze. �And I�m kind of in the mood to have you all to myself right now.� Diego laughed shyly. �Well, I suppose I�m flattered.� Bad boys who played shy were so appealing. They were so fun to de-horse. Kind of like what she did for Ric. Maybe Diego would turn out to be the same kind of challenge. �You should be.� Faith motioned for the waiter to come over to their table. He obeyed. �Hi there...� She looked at his name tag. �...Chase. Would you mind wrapping up the food we ordered? We�ll be taking it to go.� She noticed a shocked look on Diego�s face. She kept her focus locked on the waiter. The boy smiled at her knowingly. Faith frequently came to this place with Ned when they were working together, and they never made it past the appetizer. �Of course, Mrs. Roscoe. It�ll just take a minute.� �Thanks, peach.� She smiled after the boy, then looked back to Diego. He still looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Hmm, she thought to herself. Headlights on a car. Keep that in mind. It could come in handy. �So, are you up for a trip to my hotel room? Lot more private.� His jolted look was quickly replaced with a mischievous smile of his own. �Best offer I�ve had in a long time.� See Ric, she explained in her head. This is how men were supposed to react to her charms. Ric�s stupid actions were going to get his little princess in trouble. ~*~ �You are so stupid!� Ric screamed at himself. He sat in the hallway outside of Elizabeth�s studio. Any second she was going to walk up the stairs in Lucky�s arms. Or maybe Zander�s. She talked an awful lot about that Nik guy, too. Was she really out having a good time with one of them? He didn�t know what he�d do if she came home with one of them. He�d lose it. He couldn�t think of her with someone else. However that�s all he�s been able to think of while sitting out here waiting for her. He thought at first that she might not answer the door to him, so he made sure he was out of range of the eye hole. Then he put his head to the door so he could hear if she was moving around inside. But he didn�t hear anything. Of course with this thick, steel door how could he hear anything? That was probably the point of it. Elizabeth had told him that she was kidnapped because of Jason, so he had the door put on. Wait, could she be with Jason? No. She wouldn�t go back to him. But what if Ric had hurt her so much that she ran straight back to that robot? He would kill him if he laid a hand on his Elizabeth. Ric looked at his watch. It was 6:43pm. He�d been sitting at her door for over six hours now. He had looked at his watch when he was walking up the stairs on his way to her studio. It said 12:36pm. That means he had been there for six hours and seven minutes. So where is she? Where had she been all day? Was she avoiding him? Well, yeah. She was probably avoiding him, but she couldn�t know he was going to be here. Maybe she did know he was here? Maybe she had come home and saw him sitting here. Maybe she ran away before he saw her. No, he had been staring at those stairs for most of the six hours---he looked at his watch---and nine minutes. And when he happened to glance away from them, his ears were picking up every sound that came from that direction. There�s no way she would have gotten away fast enough and quiet enough. He should have gotten to her studio earlier. He would have too, if it weren�t for his stupidity the night before. Thanks to that, his house had to be cleaned. He started with himself in the shower. He scrubbed all of Faith off of him. He couldn�t have her there if he was going to be with Elizabeth. She deserved so much more. Then he cleaned the house from top to bottom. Faith started to let herself into his apartment whenever she wanted, so there�s no saying what she managed to touch. And finally he replaced his matress and bed sheets. Faith had rolled around there, so he had to get rid of them. He needed her gone from there. Ric heard a noise from the staircase. It sounded like giggling. He strained to here and...yes, that was Elizabeth. She was home. But she was with someone. Who was she with? It sounded like another woman. Carly? Elizabeth was laughing with Carly? But Carly and Elizabeth hated each other. Why were they together? Ric didn�t care. Elizabeth was home. He needed her. He got up from his seat by the door, walked to her, and kissed her. |