CHAPTER TWO

Lucky and Nikolas stood just outside Nikolas’s cottage, determining whether to go in or not. Both of their minds were on Elizabeth and Gia. Breaking up with them was the last thing they wanted to do, but there was no choice. One never underestimated Helena. She always went through with her threats.

"Are you ok?" Nikolas asked his brother. He knew this decision was really tearing Lucky apart. He had been with Elizabeth for so long and loved her with his whole heart. Letting her go must have been the hardest thing he had to do.

"I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to live without her," Lucky looked up at the overcast sky. There was a big storm coming in a couple of hours. Lucky hoped Elizabeth stayed out of it. "How about you? Gia meant a lot to you."

Nikolas shrugged. He really hadn’t known Gia for all that long. But he still loved her. She was the first real girlfriend he had. She didn’t try to put on airs like Sarah and Katherine did. She was open and honest and didn’t try to cover up her true feelings. "I’m going to miss her. That’s for sure. Damn Helena! Why can’t we just be rid of that witch? She’s ruining both of our lives!"

"That’s only because you two are letting her," Gia arrived to pick up her clothes. "Neither of you are being fair to me nor Liz."

"Gia…you don’t understand…" Nikolas began.

"No you don’t understand. You don’t give us enough credit. Lucky…you’ve been through the ringer with Elizabeth and back. Does she seem like the type of wilting flower that she once was after the rape?"
Lucky shook his head. "No. She’s more like the Liz before the rape began. Strong and fierce."

"And Nikolas, do I give you the impression of someone who needs protection? Of someone who faints, screams, runs away from even the sight of blood?"

Nikolas glanced at the ground and shook his head.

"Well then what’s the problem?! Why do you two insist on breaking up over the fact that Helena want us both out of the way? Huh? Believe me we can handle that old windbag!"

"Gia you don’t understand. It’s all about the Spencer/Cassadine war. You and Liz are the civilians. All Lucky and I are trying to do is remove you from the line of fire," Nikolas tried to explain.

"Well what if we like being in the line of fire huh? What if it agrees with us. Make us feel…alive or something? Do you have the right to take that away from us?"

"Yes. We have every right," Nikolas crossed his arms. "Listen, your things are upstairs prepared for you. Take them and go."

"…I have nowhere to go," Gia looked at Nikolas, her eyes were pleading with him to change his mind.

"My room is available. You can stay there. It’ll be easier for Elizabeth if I don’t live there. Here’s the keys," Lucky handed her the key to his room at Kelly’s.

"You don’t have to do this," Gia protested.

"Gia just accept the keys. That’s the least we can do for you. Now go upstairs, get your things and leave," Nikolas sighed.

"Ok. Fine, since that’s the way you want it," Gia chokes back a sob and entered the house.

"Thanks man," Nikolas nodded.

"Well we can’t have her living in the street now can we?" Lucky shook his head. "Besides, I owe Elizabeth this much. Without me next door, this will be easier for her to accept."

"But can she live next door to Gia without killing her?"

"Only time can tell that," Lucky nervously laughed.

*

"I can’t believe he broke up with me," Emily laid spread out on Elizabeth’s bed, wiping away her tears. "After all we’ve been through he broke up with me."
"But why?" Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "Helena’s not after him too is she?"

"No. But Sorel is. According to Zander Sorel came in and threatened me."

"…Well…maybe this is all for the best."

Emily sets up, her eyes burning with indignation. "Oh yeah and what if I said that about you and Lucky? Huh?"

"That’s different Em. Lucky’s not a kidnapper. He never attempted to hurt me like Zander hurt you."

"Zander didn’t mean to hurt me Liz! He was scared!"

"Besides Emily, you still have a chance to get Zander back after the trial. My chance of getting Lucky back is zero to one! Not unless some one shoots Helena Cassadine dead!"

"Can you keep it down in there, I like peace when I’m unpacking," Gia poked her head through the door.

"What are you talking about unpacking? There’s no room here for you," Elizabeth crossed her arms.

"Oh yeah? Well there was a recent vacancy. The former tenant handed me the keys himself."

"What?" Elizabeth hopped off the bed and snatched the keys away from Gia. "These are Lucky’s keys."

"Were Lucky’s keys. He’s moved in with Nikolas and gave me the keys to his old room. Sorry Lizzie. We’re going to be neighbors."

Elizabeth stared at Gia in horror. "No. He can’t do that. I have to talk to him."

"Don’t you think I’ve tried that? The boys are unmovable in their decision to break up," Gia sighed. "Going to the cottage is a bad idea."

"She’s right Liz. Just let him go," Emily laid a comforting hand on Liz’s shoulder.

"Like you’re letting Zander go? And how about you Gia? What happened to Miss. No fear? You may be willing to give up on Nikolas, but I’ll never give up on Lucky. I’ll fight Helena tooth and nail for him. I’ll see you latter." Elizabeth stormed out of the room.

"She’s right. I can’t let Nikolas go without a fight either. Here, watch my stuff," Gia handed Emily her luggage and follows Elizabeth out of the diner.

*

It had just begun to rain when Elizabeth and Gia left Kelly’s now they both were standing on the doorsteps of the cottage soaking wet.

"Why did I forget my underbrella?" Elizabeth groaned. "Do you have keys to the cottage?"
"I left them in my things," Gia shrugged. "Let’s knock on the door. They were here a couple of hours ago. Surly they won’t leave us in the rain."

One minute later, Nikolas answered the door. His eyes widened in shock, "What are you two doing here? Did you leave something?"

"Yes my boyfriend," Gia pushed her way into the cottage, Elizabeth followed along behind her.

"Where’s Lucky?" Elizabeth glanced around.

"Listen it’s not safe for you two to be here," Nikolas sighed. "Go back to Kelly’s and don’t come here again."

"But there’s a big storm going on outside. You can’t expect us to go back out there can you?" Gia asked, playing upon Nikolas’s noble side. "That would be ungentlemanly."

Nikolas sighed in defeat. "Alright. You can stay until the storm lifts, but after that you must leave."

"Great. Do you have anything dry for us to wear? Like say," Gia spots a couple of Lucky’s shirts that had fallen out of his bag when he took things upstairs. "These?"

"Those aren’t mine."

"But they’re Lucky’s. I’m sure he won’t mind. Come on Gia, let’s get out of these clothes," Elizabeth disappeared into another room.

"On my way," Gia smiled invitingly at Nikolas than followed Elizabeth.

"Did I hear voices?" Lucky asked, coming down the stairs.

"Did you have to leave those two shirts in plain sight," Nikolas groaned.

"What?"

"Elizabeth and Gia showed up soaking wet. They talked me into letting them stay until the rain stopped. But that’s not the worst of it."
"What did you do?" Lucky asked.

"Not what I did, this one is your fault. Gia spotted two of your shirts that fell out of the basket. They’re changing now."

"Shit," Lucky cursed. "They’re determined to make this hard on us aren’t they?"

"That’s what it looks like bro," Nikolas nodded.

"Hello Lucky," A familiar voice speaks up from the kitchen. Lucky gasped in surprise when he turned to see both Gia and Elizabeth clad in his shirts. They certainly looked better on them than they ever looked on him.

"Gia…Liz….," Lucky swallowed.

"Here, put these on," Nikolas strolled to his coat closet and took out two of his overcoats. "These will keep you warm."

"Gee thanks," Elizabeth threw Nikolas a dirty look.

"Why don’t we go fix the girls some hot chocolate," Nikolas grabbed Lucky and drug him into the kitchen.

"This isn’t easy…especially with them half-naked in there," Lucky growled.

"That’s why I gave them the overcoats."

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Try our best to ignore them," Nikolas pours the boiling hot mixture into four cups and leads his brother back into the livingroom.

"Here you ladies go, piping hot hot chocolate," Nikolas sets down the tray, much to his dismay noticing that the girls had taken off the coats.

"We got hot," Gia sweetly smiled.

"We appreciate the thought though," Elizabeth smiled.

"Is that music I hear?" Lucky asked.

"Oh I hope you two don’t mind. We were in the mood for that new song by Ricky Martin and Christine Agulaira," Gia takes a sip of the hot chocolate.

Lucky and Nikolas just looked at each other, at a loss of what to do next.

"Lucky…can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?" Elizabeth stand up. It was time to fix things.

"We need to talk too Nikolas," Gia nodded.

"Do we have a choice?" Lucky asked, crossing his arms.

"Nope," Both Elizabeth and Gia answered together.

"This is bad," Lucky sighed.

"Yeah. They’re actually in agreement on something," Nikolas muttered.

"Shut up," Elizabeth grabbed Lucky’s arm and dragged him into the kitchen.

"Ok. You have me alone. What is this about?" Lucky asked.

"I’m not giving up on you without a fight Lucky. You may be willing to let Helena win, but I’m not."

"Elizabeth…"

"No Lucky. We have been through too much together to let her win. Now you have a choice. Either fight along with me, or remain silent. But we are not breaking up. Is that clear."

"Can I talk now?" Lucky asked. "Elizabeth…the fact that we’ve been through so much is the reason why I want to let you go. Things with Helena are going to get a lot worse before they get better and I don’t want you to get caught up in it."

"Lucky I already am caught up in it. I’ve been caught up in it the day we became best friends. We’ve seen each other at our best and our worse. We’ve stood by each other through thick and thin. What makes this any different."

"Helena," Lucky flatout replied.

"Oh screw Helena Lucky. I’m no more afraid of her than I am of the wicked witch of the west. I can handle her, no we can handle her. Together. Please Lucky…don’t let her win. Don’t let her have this control over you. That’s what you’re doing if you break up with me."

Lucky stared long and hard at Elizabeth then sighed in defeat. She was right. Breaking up would be letting Helena win. Letting her know that she had gotten to them. "Ok. Fine. But I want you to know that if you ever feel that it’s getting too hot for you to handle…you’re free to bail at anytime."

Elizabeth smiled with relief. She hadn’t expected it to be so easy to change Lucky’s mind, but she’s grateful it was. "There’s no danger of that happening. It’s like I said. I’ll love you forever Lucky, and the day after that if possible."

Lucky smiled and pulled Elizabeth tightly in his arms, praying that he won’t regret the decision not to push her out of his life.

Meanwhile, Nikolas and Gia were in the middle of their own heated discussion. Unlike Lucky, Nikolas was standing firm with his decision.

"We’ve gone through this a dozen and one times Gia. We can’t be together because of what Helena may do to you. She’s already hurt all the people I love, my mother, Stefan, my brother…I can’t let her hurt you too."

"She can’t hurt me. The only way she can hurt me is to take you away from me. And you’re letting her do that right now."

"Gia…"

"Nikolas please…don’t let her manipulate you like this. Break free from those chains and be with me. I’ll stand by your side through all of it. You know I will."

"She can go after your family. Look at what happened to Liz’s sister…"

"The only family I have is my mom and Marcus. And as you know, Marcus is a cop and my mother lives with him. They’re perfectly safe."

"Gia, Helena has ways of getting to people. She never does the obvious thing and she never gets caught. I just can’t risk it."

"Nikolas can’t you see you’re playing right into her hands by giving her what she wants? Letting her come between us? She’s manipulating you!"

Nikolas doesn’t answer. He just stares at the ground, biting his lip. He knew Gia was right, but he was so scared of what Helena could do to her. Stefan had told him not to put anything pass Helena and he wasn’t. He certainly wasn’t about to risk Gia’s life, even if it meant he couldn’t be with her. "Gia please understand…"

"Look me in the eye Nikolas! Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love me! That you really do want me out of your life and then I’ll go!"

Nikolas looked at her. Right into her warm brown eyes that made him weak in the knees. The eyes that bore her very soul and pierced right into his. He opened his mouth to say what she demanded of him…but he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to those perfect brown eyes that kept him so captivated from the moment he met her. Defeated, he lowered his gaze.

"You can’t," Gia smiled. "You can’t tell me something you don’t feel."

"It’s just not safe Gia," Nikolas barely whispered, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

She tenderly touched his face and made him look her in the eye. "Nothing ever is truly safe Nikolas. Life is full of risks. We just have to be brave enough to face up to them."
"She won’t stop until we’re apart you know."

"I know."

"She can get violent."
"I know that too, but as long as I have you I can face even that. I love you Nikolas and I won’t leave you over that petty old woman."

"Well since you insist…I guess we better share our decision with Lucky and Liz. They’ve been in the kitchen for quite a long time," He took her hand and led her into the kitchen where they find Lucky and Elizabeth in a passionate embrace. "I guess we’re not the only ones that worked things out."
"Nikolas, Gia," Elizabeth pulled away from Lucky blushing furiously. She had forgotten that they weren’t alone.

"So I guess this means you’re back together?" Gia asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "And you and Nikolas?"
"Helena wants a battle. Now she has one," Gia squeezed Nikolas’s hand.

"Uh…Gia…I was thinking," Elizabeth cleared her throat. "I know that lately we haven’t been getting along. And that’s both of our fault. But with the Helena situation, plus the fact that our boyfriends are brothers and we’ll be thrown into each other’s orbit…well why don’t we bury the hatchet. We don’t have to be best friends, but we don’t have to be enemies either."

"You mean you want to call a truce?"

Elizabeth nodded and held out her hand. "What do you say."

Gia shrugged and accept Elizabeth’s hand in a firm handshake. "Ok. Sure. Truce."

"Well that’s a relief anyway, no more fighting," Lucky laughed.

"Yeah. You two were getting as bad as Lucky and I a couple of years ago."

"We weren’t that bad," Elizabeth slapped Lucky’s arm.

"Come on guys, let’s go watch the rain!" Gia began to drag Nikolas over to the window.

"What? Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"It’s fun…and romantic. Watching the rain in the embrace of the one you love," Gia tenderly kissed Nikolas before facing the window.

"I think that’s a good idea," Lucky nodded, joining his brother at the window.

"So, has Miss. Webber and Miss. Campbell been given their appropriate warning?" Helena speaks into her cell phone to the spy she had following the girls. "They have, excellent. Where are they now? At the cottage! So they’ve decided to ignore my warnings. Well both shall be very sorry indeed. Stage two is to be executed immediately! No delays!"

Helena angrily shuts off her phone and turns to her manservant Andri. "Oh Andri, how can I follow through with my genius plan with those two twits in the way? They’ll spoil everything. As long as Lucky has Elizabeth, He’ll be resistant to the brainwashing. And that Gia girl…if she supplies my grandson with a heir…that will ruin all my plans to control the Cassadine fortune. I can’t allow that to happen."

"But Madame, how can you be for certain that Master Nikolas’s relationship with this woman will go that far?" Andri asked.

"Because it was fortold to me by my oracle Andri. Miranda has never been wrong yet. Her exact words, a brown skinned beauty is the one meant for Nikolas and she will be the one to give him a heir, disrupting my control."

"Madame?"

"You see, there’s a loophole. Nikolas can’t come into power until he’s twenty-five, unless he has a heir first. If he has a heir, then he comes into power upon birth of the child. I can’t let that happen."

"Do not worry Madame. You will fix everything."

"Andri, get my man on the phone. I have the perfect way to deal with both Miss. Webber and Miss. Campbell. This should send the message loud and clear."

"Yes Madame," Andri bows and backs out of the room to do his duty.

"Oh yes my dear Nikolas. I will have control of your fortune one way or another. And Luke…with control of your son…not even you can stop me," Helena eyes glint evilly in the pale moonlight.

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