~~ And indeed I felt happy with her, so perfectly happy, that the one desire of mine was that it should differ in nothing from hers, and already I wished for nothing beyond her smile, and to walk with her thus, hand in hand, along a sun-warmed, flower-bordered path. ~~ Andre Gide

Port Charles, New York
Scarlet Road
Apt # 915

Emily grinned sheepishly and turned around. Moving further into the living room as the two brothers came face to face for the first time in three long years.

Lucky rounded the corner of the kitchen slowly, as Nikolas crossed the threshold at an equal speed. Each of them, moving on pure instinct. Neither of them knowing what to say. Or HOW to say it for that matter.

They slowed to a stop. Leaving only a foot of space between them. Each of them eyeing each other. Looking for a sign. Any indication at all, as to how things were supposed to progress from here.

Lucky's nervous laughter eased the thick tension in the room, and Nikolas' face lit up in response.

"Hey man," Lucky said finally, wrapping one arm around his big brother's shoulders.

"Hey yourself," Nikolas answered quietly, slapping him on the back in the typical male style of embrace. "It's good to see you."

Emily folded her arms and shook her head at the 'manly' display in front of her. Lucky pulled away after a few moments, looking stunned. He shook his head for a second, searching for the right words.

"How'd you know to find me here?" He asked, stepping back a bit and allowing Nikolas further entrance into the small apartment.

Nikolas threw a glance towards Emily and she quickly looked down towards the brown carpet beneath her feet. "Um...You were in the bathroom...so, um...I just decided to check out your phone jacks. You know...make sure they were in proper working order."

Lucky's eyebrows rose with a crooked grin. "They work then? Everything's all right? Because, you know I'll call that phone guy back out here in a heartbeat."

Emily nodded with mock seriousness. "No, everything is in tip top condition. You can rest easy that your communication needs are being met."

Nikolas smiled silently and glanced around the place, rubbing his hands together. "Well, I would have found you anyway, you know?...Now that you're in Port Charles it really wasn't that difficult. It's just those times when you take off and don't tell anyone where you are for 3 years....That's when I run into a bit of a problem."

'And Cassidine takes the lead,' Emily thought biting her lip. The first arrow had been flung.

'Time to make your exit Quartermaine. They're gonna have to work this out for themselves.'

Lucky licked his lips and looked towards his feet. The silence felt moments ago, returning with a vengeance. Emily cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem...Um, I'm gonna get out of here for awhile. I'll -

"What?" Nikolas asked, quietly. Taken aback by her declaration. He walked over to her swiftly. "Where are you going? You're gonna leave now?!"

Her eyes widened in amusement. She whispered her next words as if speaking to a child whose mother was leaving him at kindergarten for the first time. "Yes, I am. Don't worry...I have faith in you Nikolas."

Emily placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as he smirked. She glanced towards Lucky. "I have faith in the BOTH of you....Now, you two play like good little boys, while I go out and find some things for this sad little abode."

Nikolas spoke through gritted teeth as he followed her to the door. "Emi -

She turned around swiftly, cutting him off. Her voice emerging in a hushed whisper as she moved closer to him. Her fingertip pressing into his chest as she spoke. "You stay here. Talk to your brother. Get SOMETHING out of him. ANYTHING out of him. And I'll........REWARD you for your trouble later. How's that sound?" She added, smiling flirtatiously.

Nikolas swallowed hard, as she leaned against the doorframe. "Um...what kind of reward?"

Emily let her eyes travel down his large form. "You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?"

"So Lucky, where ya been!?" Nikolas boomed, spinning around as Emily slipped outside.

Lucky's eyebrows jumped slightly and he shook his head, wondering what the Hell he'd just witnessed. "Wait, wait, wait...Um, what was that?"

"What was what?"

"What was that I just saw?"

"What was what you just saw?"

"Nikolas!"

"Lucky!"

"Look!" Lucky laughed. "I may have been gone for 3 years but I didn't go blind during that time. WHAT just happened with you and Emily?" He asked, a grin pulling mercilessly at the corners of his mouth. This was too unbelievable for words.

Nikolas sighed, and covered his mouth with a hand. His words garbled and unintelligible when they emerged. "Exactly what you think just happened."

"Which is?" Lucky asked, stepping closer. Nikolas glared at him, annoyed by his obvious amusement.

"Yes! Ok, YES! Emily and I are...YES."

Lucky smiled and folded his arms. "Aha! Finally!"

Nikolas rolled his eyes. "Oh, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Means it was only a matter of time. Means, you two were meant for each other from the very beginning. She knew it. It took you awhile though...you're a bit slow, being a Cassidine and all."

The bitterness of the name coated his tongue too quickly. Leaving an icky aftertaste in its wake. The sensation caught Lucky off guard and he glanced down suddenly. Not sure what to make of what he knew to be the onset of something dangerous. Shaky grounds he didn't care to tread on.

Nikolas eyebrows furrowed and he watched Lucky turn around, folding his arms and walking towards the window. He stood silent for a long moment.

"I'd guess you'd be the expert on that though, right?...People who were meant to be together?"

His words garnering the exact reaction he'd hoped for, Lucky turned around. His glare, instantly white hot.

Nikolas continued, in spite of the visual warning. 'If he's gonna be mad...so be it. He took off without telling anybody anything! He was gone for 3 fucking years!'

"I know my grandmother made you leave. Our mother told me that much...The question is: for what?"

"What the Hell explanation does - DID your grandmother have for every rotten thing she did in her life, Nikolas?!...Revenge!"

Nikolas clasped his hands together and brought them to his lips. The venom in his brother's tone apparent.

So this was why he'd had that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach on the way over here. This was exactly why he hadn't wanted Emily to leave just yet.

A big part of him wanted desperately to keep the illusion of perfection going for just a few more moments. Just long enough to reconnect with his brother. But the other part of him had already known that whatever progress they'd made three years ago was about to backslide. The sensation of falling was unmistakable.
~~~~~~~
Evergreen, New York
The Hart Mansion

Alex nearly choked on his coffee as it slipped down his throat. Sliding down the wrong pipe, upon hearing the words out of Leopold's mouth. He coughed, as he tried to regain his composure. Wiping at the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

"She asked about what?!"

"The surveillance cameras," Leopold sighed again, shaking his head. He held a hand up quickly. "But don't worry about it...It's already been taken care of."

Alex's eyebrows rose in doubt. "You got rid of everything?! All the documentation? You're sure?"

"Yes," Leopold answered soberly.

The younger man closed his eyes and nodded silently. Sighing. "There's no way we could have explained that away. Thank you...Good thinking."

"It's what you pay me for Allesandro," Leopold whispered, sitting down.

The sadness in the man's voice could not be mistaken. Alex sat down across from him. "Look, Leopold...I understand that I've asked a lot of you lately, but -

A gesture of Leo's old, spotted hand cut him off mid sentence. He lay his other hand against Alex's cheek. "Don't worry about it son...I know, you've only done what you've felt you had to do."

Alex smiled weakly and glanced down at his hands. The older man's voice causing him to look up again after a moment.

"You know...She looks...She looks sad, Allesandro. Do you know that?...Have you realized this?"

Folding his arms, Alex leaned back in his chair. His eyebrows knitting together tightly. "That's just Elizabeth...She's always been that way. She's just a melancholy person. Never truly happy no matter what you do for her. No matter what you give her. It's never really enough," he continued shaking his head. "That's just the way she is."

Memories of the last few weeks with his wife, bubbled to the surface. She'd moped around the house endlessly. She'd flinched whenever he'd gone to touch her. Half the time he hadn't even been able to get close enough TO touch her.

Leopold pushed his bottom lip out and cocked his head to the side. When had Alex become so angry? Perhaps he'd finally realized that no matter what he did - his wife was not going to love him? That there was no way he could possibly compete with a memory? A memory built around perfection.

No. There was no way Alex would ever admit to any of those things. He had too much pride. He'd sooner die than admit he'd failed. Die before giving up what he fought so hard for.

"Maybe, maybe no," Leopold offered gently. "She seems like a happy girl sometimes...there's a spark there - right behind the eye," he added, gesturing towards his own. "Not always, but sometimes."

Alex shook his head. "Oh, you mean like when she's away from me, right? Or when she's thinking of 'You-Know-Who?'" He finished dramatically with a wave of his hand. He mumbled under his breath. "The bastard left her, yet she still worships him like some secret god."

"Yes, but we all know WHY he left, do we not?" Leopold asked. Regretting the words almost before they crossed his lips.

"It doesn't matter!," Alex shouted, rising from his seat in fury. "He left her, and I was the one who picked up the pieces! That's right! ME! Yet, she goes up to that damn attic almost every night lately. I can only imagine what she does up there. She's got this box where she keeps all her 'momentos.' More like, souvenirs from her precious Lucky!...

"You know...If he really wanted to be with her, he would have found a way!"

Leopold's mouth hung open in shock. He couldn't really be THAT delusional could he?

"Come now Alex! He thought her life was in danger!! You know that the boy wasn't given any choice! You know that better than anyone."

Alex turned around slowly and shook his head, biting his bottom lip. Now was neither the time nor place. Elizabeth would arrive home any moment now, and the last thing he needed was for her to hear them talking about this.

"You got rid of all the files, and you removed the camera?" He asked, his voice steady. Calm.

Leopold closed his eyes briefly and nodded. It scared him sometimes how Alex could go from zero to 60 in a millisecond. "Yes, Alessandro," he answered quietly.

"Well, I guess you can leave then. Keep me abreast of any new information."

"Well enough," Leopold sighed, rising.

Alex watched as Leopold exited his office. Why would Elizabeth be asking him about cameras? Why now? Had something set her off? Someone??

'Lucky hasn't made contact with her....Or so Leopold says,' Alex thought for a second, rubbing a hand across his chin. 'What if....No, he'd never betray you like that....Never. Besides, you'd know if Bethie had seen him....You'd....'

Alex stared down at the shiny black receiver on his desk, and suddenly began flipping through his Rolodex. His finger stilling against a particular card when he found the desired number. He picked up the phone and began to dial. Knowing he was being paranoid. But also knowing it was better to be safe than sorry.

His father had told him that again and again as a young boy. After he himself had been burned. "Better to be safe than sorry, Bethie," he muttered to himself.

The line ceased to ring and a hushed voice answered. "Horton Private Investigative Services, how may I help you?"
~~~~~~~
Manhattan, New York
Montgomery Towers

"Elizabeth! Hi Sweetie!"

The term of endearment caused her to hesitate for a short moment. She resumed her steps a split second later. Reminding herself that it was only Lorraine, her old supervisor. A woman who hadn't seen her in years. Besides, she always had been fond of pet names. Her use of 'sweetie,' shouldn't have thrown her at all.

'Let it go girl,' she chided silently. 'Nobody's called you that in eons.'

"Hi, Lorraine!" Elizabeth returned, smiling brightly as she wrapped her arms around the middle aged woman's shoulders. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Dear," Lorraine answered, pulling away. She shook her head. "Not quite as good as you, I hear."

Elizabeth mustered a smile. After all, it was the standard reaction when someone hadn't seen her since the wedding.

'Not quite as good as you.' She often wondered what that meant. Why people automatically assumed that because you were well off, you had to be happy also. That rich people's lives were somehow superior and untouched by the problems of humanity. Absent of all heartache.

If only they knew.

"So what are you doin' here Honey?! I think you already picked up your last check!" The woman laughed jovially. Always the comedienne. Unfortunately she was usually the only one to laugh at her jokes. "Besides you wouldn't need it anyway, now would ya!"

Elizabeth forced a chuckle and looked down. "No...no, I guess I wouldn't, would I?"

"I'm actually here to do some research."

"Research?" asked quizzically.

"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed, glancing around the office. "You see, I'm looking into having some surveillance cameras installed over at Hart & Hart...and I talked to Alex, and he said that the company that installed the ones here, did a really good job...You know, they've got really high tech stuff...So, I wanted to use them. The problem is, he's forgotten what there name was. So...I was hoping I could come here, and you could kinda just rifle through the files for me and find out, ya know?"

Lorraine smiled and nodded at the spurt of information. "Sure, Elizabeth...why do -

"Um, it's just Liz."

"What?" Lorraine asked, stopping and turning around mid-stride.

The words exited her mouth, before she even knew that they'd been on her mind. Before she could call them back, or analyze what they meant. Why was it suddenly so important to correct someone's use of it?

She blinked a few times in an effort to clear her head. "Uh...it's just Liz..."

Lorraine's, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Recalling a moment from some years ago. A memory in which she could swear that the woman before her had asked to be referred to as Elizabeth, and Elizabeth only.

Hadn't she always hated 'Liz?'

She shook it off and continued down the path to her office. "Sure, Liz."
~~~~~~

Lucky stretched out on the horrendously tacky air mattress that he'd blown up and thrown in the corner of the room after Nikolas and Emily had left for the final time. He remembered Emily's face when she'd seen it. He thought he'd never hear the end of how utterly 'atrocious' it was. How she'd get him a "real" bed if it were the last thing she ever did.

He also remembered Nikolas' face. Their glares, steady and silent from across the room. He remembered his tug on Emily's arm in his haste to leave. In his haste to be out of his brother's presence.

Lucky closed his eyes and sighed loudly. Why the Hell had he been such a royal asshole? Why couldn't he just talk to Nikolas? Just talk like he'd wanted to talk, and not worry that he was a Cassidine. Not let it bother him.

Just admit that he'd missed his brother. Ask him if he wanted to go shoot some hoops. Forget about Helena, and Luke, and the rest of their idiotic family members. Why couldn't things just be simple again.

When coming home meant coming home to Elizabeth TRYING to cook, or NOT trying. Asleep on the couch, 'waiting up' for him. Or fast asleep in her own bed, because she didn't like to sleep in his without him. His shirt wrapped around her tiny body in substitute of his arms when he had to work late.

Why couldn't things be simple again? How could life be so giving and so cruel in nearly the same breath?

Why was happiness so fleeting and torture so long?

He'd ripped into Nikolas about things beyond his control. Things he couldn't have prevented even if he'd wanted to. 'Things your parents couldn't have prevented either,' a silent voice reminded. Lucky groaned and threw his arm over his eyes in an effort to block out more than just the setting sun outside.

"I need curtains," he mumbled to himself. Funny how three words can transport you to a completely different time and place, a time when things were good...simple.

***
"If you laugh at me - you die," Elizabeth muttered, pushing the clear ring through another hole in the new shower curtain.

Lucky placed two fingers over his mouth as he looked down at how she had herself perched on the edge of the tub, unable to stand on the floor a foot below and still reach the rod. "I wouldn't dare," he mumbled, trying to stifle his amusement. "I can do that though...if you want -

"No, no...I can do this," she said turning around swiftly. The movement threw her off balance and she grabbed the sunflower-decorated curtain as she fell forward. Lucky's arms quickly wrapped around her waste from behind. Both of them, falling against the wall of the shower. The curtain surrounding them in a wrinkled heap.

"Are you ok?" Lucky asked, smiling as Elizabeth burst out laughing.

"Yes," she nodded, his arms wrapping tighter around her as he tried to step out of the plastic that didn't seem to want to budge.

"See what happens when you insist on doing things you're too short for," he joked, tightening his stomach muscles for the blow he knew was coming. Her elbow never failed to disappoint. "Ow,"

Her mouth hung open in shock as she elbowed him. "You gotta problem with me being short? The NBA ain't exactly knocking down your door either Mr."

Lucky smiled wide and moved in closer. Her back pressing against the plastic that surrounded her and the plaster wall of the shower. His lips hovered inches from hers. "You complainin' about my size?"

Elizabeth smiled seductively, hooking her leg around his and inching her foot up his pant leg. "Uh-uh."

"Glad to hear it," Lucky sighed. His hands moving downwards to cup her backside. The plastic, rubbing against his knuckles. "You look sexy in plastic Elizabeth."

She guffawed with laughter, before pulling him to her lips. Her tongue telling him she thought the same about him. Wanting to show him how amazingly sexy he really was.

Lucky pulled away one breathless moment later. Grinning mischievously "I think we should test these out, don't you. See if they really are water repellant. Because...I mean, you can never really trust the labels on these things."

Elizabeth grinned back before leaning down to twist the silver knob of the tub. "Aaaah!" She screamed, jumping closer to Lucky as the cool water sprayed down on them at full blast. Completely soaking them in mere seconds.

Lucky laughed and brushed the sopping wet strands out of his eyes, before leaning down to kiss her once again. Both of them, clinging to their clothes and each other.

His hand moved up the front of her blouse, the wet fabric bunching under his fingers as he pushed it up and over her head. Her brown strands instantly clung to her shoulders.

He lowered himself in front of her, and placed his lips around the top button of her jeans. "These can't be comfortable, soaking wet Elizabeth," he mumbled, before jerking with his teeth.

She gasped loudly as the whole row of metal buttons came undone and watched as he rose before her. Her breath quickened at the site of her man in the soaking wet T-shirt that adorned his finely sculpted chest. His tight nipples peaking through the now transparent white shirt. She wrapped her fingertips around his expertly toned upper arms and brought him closer. Devouring his lips as he pressed against her.

Lucky reached between them, desperate to feel her wet skin. To slide his fingers against the globes of flesh that shimmered underneath the drenched lace of her bra. He unhooked the front clasp and pushed the skimpy piece of material down to their feet. Immediately bending his knees in order to feast on her moist, creamy skin.

Elizabeth sighed in ecstasy, running her fingers tirelessly through his slick hair. "Come back here," she whispered after a few moments, pulling him up to her lips. Her tongue parted the seam of his lips as her hand descended towards the seam of his pants, wanting to rip them off of him. Her fingers fumbled awkwardly from the position she was in, and he aided her with his own. Quickly discarding the material that kept him from her in a drenched heap amidst the shower floor.

He pushed down his boxers in the same instant. And shivered as her fingertips immediately curled around him, coaxing him closer. Both to her, and to the transcendence of her loving.

"Your turn," he teased, mumbling against her lips as he slid his fingers inside the lacy panties that now molded to the skin on her hips. He looked down at her and suddenly felt the tremendous urge to use his mouth instead. To feel all of her against his lips. He bent down and gathered the small band of elastic between his teeth, pulling as he lowered himself. The water beating down on him. His lover now naked before him. Glistening under the stream of liquid.

Her body wet - everywhere.

A moan emerged from somewhere deep in Elizabeth's gut, the instant his warm tongue probed into her womanhood. Lapping against her as incessantly as the water did. Both beating with a unique rhythm, pulsating. She curled her fingers into his hair and pulled gently. The sensation causing her knees to go weak. "Aaah...Lucky."

His tongue became more persistent, nudging her flesh this way and that with unspeakable skill. Impeccable timing. Knowing when to go fast. When to slow down.

Lucky wrapped his fingers around her thighs in effort to both hold her up, and gain better access to her lovely treasure. Her scream seemed to shake the very confines of their small apartment.

He stood before her, holding her panting form up against the wall. Only a moment of rest passed, before he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. She bit her bottom lip as his hard length pressed into her wet belly.

"I want to see you come underwater Elizabeth," he whispered as he pushed into her. The waterfall descending on both of them as they moved closer to its path. The combination of cold and hot mixing together deliciously. Both of them groaning aloud as the sensation crept up their bodies at an earthshattering speed.

A tremor overtook Elizabeth's body so quickly that she hadn't time to feel it coming. Hadn't time to prepare for the shaking that quaked through her entire being. Lucky felt her tighten, around him and nearly came himself at the feeling. At the look on her face. Her brows knitted together. Her mouth, open in astonishment. Dear God, she looked amazing.

She FELT amazing. He pumped into her twice more before giving into the powerful G-forces of the best thrill ride he'd ever been on.

Lucky leaned against her, as her limbs slid slowly back to the floor. Her whole body slack against him. He brushed his fingers through her wet hair and swept it out of her face. Letting his hands slowly travel down her slippery skin. Down and down to rest on her hips.

He kissed her slowly and deliberately. His mouth moving softly against hers in the wake of passion. A moment later she lifted the lids of her love fatigued eyes and watched as he pulled away, staring down at the mess around them.

"I think the curtains work."
***
Lucky jolted awake. Not knowing when he'd fallen asleep. Not knowing when the sun had ended it's journey into the sea.

The room, completely black and empty. No curtains. No Elizabeth.
~~~~~~~
Greenwich Village, New York
Apt. # 915 Horatio St.

Elizabeth stood silently in the middle of the room. A space that had once been her living room - THEIR living room. Now, barren. The carpet changed. The walls painted over. Her mural gone.

The appearance was completely different, yet her breath still caught in her throat. Her chest still tightened in response to the memories that she would never be able to erase. The ghosts that emerged from the walls and haunted her now...

"Liz would you tell Lucky that if he ever wants to get this damn table through the door, he's gonna have to turn it vertical instead of horizontal!"

Elizabeth spun around, and shook off the feeling. Knowing that her imagination was simply playing tricks on her. That Nikolas and Lucky weren't really trying to fit her grandmothers' coffee table through the front door again. That it wasn't moving day.

"Lucky! Lucky stop!" Her own voice giggled, echoing from the corner across the room. She swore she could feel his hands at her sides again. Tickling her until she begged for mercy. What had it been that time? Had she made the mistake of calling him sensible once again? No...it had been because she'd called him a neat freak.

Her own laughter shook her from the memory filled haze she was in, and she turned once more. Not ready for the flash that overtook her. Not ready to feel the pain again.

"I'm a man Elizabeth...I have needs, you know? You were here...you were willing."

She closed her eyes tightly and breathed through her nose, trying to cleanse herself of the memory. As she slowly opened her eyes, she quickly realized she should have kept them closed. Closed forever.

They fixated upon a spot to the side of her where carpet met floor. Where the living room gave way to the kitchen. A cold shiver ran up her spine. Sending a sickening montage of footage through her mind. All of it looped with the sound of her own voice. Her own violent sobs of agony.

She covered her mouth with a shaky hand and shut her eyes tightly once again. 'Go away, Go away, Go away.'

The mantra allowed her to catch her breath, and she reopened her eyes. "Just do what you came here to do," she mumbled to herself. Her throat suddenly drier than it had ever been in her life.

Lorraine hadn't found any files about video cameras or surveillance of any kind in the records at Montgomery Towers. The idea that there was absolutely no record of having security measures installed was ludicrous. Alex would had always been a stickler for documentation. He had to know about every little thing that went on in his hotel. He'd been that way for as long as she'd known him. Completely Anal.

Three years wasn't exactly a long time either. There was no way that the files would have been thrown out so soon. For tax reasons, for reference reasons. It didn't make any sense.

She'd left the office with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. The feeling that she used to get when she was a little girl and her parents would keep something from her, or when Sarah would refuse to let her in on a big secret she had with her girlfriends.

It felt like she was being lied to. That feeling had led her here. To this place. A place she'd sworn she'd never step foot in again. "I guess this place really does make people break their promises," she smirked quietly to herself.

"You'll never know how sorry I am for that...Never."

Elizabeth turned around slowly, his voice breaking through the thick, fog-like silence like a ray of light. She tried denying her lips the smile they craved. And while one side of her mouth complied, the other side did everything it could to protest.

"Lucky."