http://www.fanfiction.net...08310/1/Finding_Your_Way
Oh and Happy New Year!
- Chapter 28 -
Emily sat at her desk, holding Elizabeth's tests results with a firm hand. The young doctor ran her other hand over her face as she thought about what a monster Ric Lansing was. For weeks he had misled Elizabeth into believing she was carrying his child so she wouldn't leave him. The idea that he had almost succeeded in making her believe they would become a family made the doctor shake her head in disgust. No one deserved to be misguided this way; to be drugged and lied to this way.
Emily hadn't known Elizabeth for very long but felt for her like she would a close friend. She could see how much her brother cared about this young woman and she would do anything in her power to make sure Ric paid for what he had put Elizabeth through.
She heard a knock at the door. "Come in." She called out, before letting out a sigh. Emily quickly saw her brother poke his head inside the room. "Jase." The doctor let out; her voice sorrowful.
Jason walked in and quietly closed the door behind him. "Hey, a nurse told me I could find you here."
"How is Elizabeth holding up?" His sister hastily asked.
"She's asleep." Jason briefly answered relieved she was finally getting some rest after the devastating news that she wasn't pregnant had rocked her world. "Have you heard anything about her tests?"
"I was just looking at her lab results…" Emily said and paused. "Do you want to take a seat?"
"What do they say? Emily, just tell me what he did to her!" Jason demanded.
"Ric… has been drugging her all along; to make her believe she was pregnant." The doctor finally explained.
"How?" Jason asked angrily rubbing his hands.
"The vitamins she has been taking are not vitamins but hormonal supplements. We found high levels of hCG in her blood… inconsistent with a normal pregnancy but enough to fake the symptoms."
"Son of a bitch!" Jason couldn't contain as he clenched his hand into a tight fist.
"The other pill bottle was a powerful sedative and we found traces of it in in her system too, he probably used these to disorient her; make her weak enough to fall for his bullshit."
"Yea she's been dizzy at times and looking very pale but I thought it was the pregnancy."
"That's what Ric wanted, for everyone to be fooled and he succeeded for a while."
"But is she ok? I mean can these have long term effects on her."
"She has been taking these pills for a few weeks so I'll need to run a few more tests just to make..."
Jason suddenly turned and began decisively walking towards the door.
"Jason wait!" Emily said hurriedly standing up. "Wait! Don't do anything stupid!"
Jason turned to face his sister, fury in his eyes. "He drugged her! God knows what would have happened to her if this went on longer. Ric needs to pay for this."
Jason turned to leave but was stopped by his sister who held his arm. "But by doing what I think you're about to do you will make things worse!"
"Emily don't…"
"Let the police handle this, as a doctor it is my duty to report this, alright? We'll gather as much evidence as we can and send the bastard to prison where he belongs."
"You know Lansing won't go to prison, he'll pay who and what he has to pay but he will get out of this and make himself pass as the victim and Elizabeth as some scorned ex looking for revenge. I won't let that happen."
"Not this time Jason; he drugged her, he made it look like she was pregnant he won't get away with that." Emily assured her brother.
"Yes because I won't let him get away with it." Jason added.
"I understand you want to take matter into your own hands right now but at least think about this first. You're angry and you're reacting to what you just learned so please take some time before you do anything."
"I appreciate your concern but I know what I need to do."
"Jason, Elizabeth needs you right now, she will wake up soon and need you by her side. She just lost a baby. Yes she was never pregnant but in her mind she was and she'll need you to get through this."
Jason showed his back to his pleading sister and fiercely slammed his fist into the closed door. "I can't believe I didn't see it… I let him do this to her."
"Don't put this on you Jason. You can't blame yourself for what this sick man did to her."
"I could have prevented this, instead I just… I just let her go." A guilt ridden Jason added, his back still to his sister.
Emily ran a supportive hand over his shoulder. "Lansing is not going to get away with this, we won't let him hurt her again… or anyone else for that matter."
Brother and sister stood still for a few silent seconds before Emily spoke again. "I have to get back to work, are you going to be ok?"
"I'm fine, I'll go check on Elizabeth." Jason said then readied to leave before a thought came up. "She was seeing a doctor, I don't know his name but he has to have been working with Ric on this."
"Dr. Devlin. His name was all over her prescriptions. I'll look into him and let you know what I can find. This man shouldn't be allowed anywhere near another patient after what he's done to Elizabeth."
Dr. Devlin stood alone in his sober apartment wondering how he had managed to place himself in the middle of such a vile masquerade. It was supposed to last only a month and no one was supposed get hurt, he remembered Ric's promise, but instead his friend's plan had turned messy.
Ian was tempted to find Elizabeth and tell her the truth, but this truth could make him lose everything. The doctor forgot about this thought as promptly as it first appeared to him.
He wished that none of it had ever happened. He wished he could have said no from the beginning, but this would have been the end of his career. Ric knew all about his arrest for drug possession when he was still in college. How the need for extra cash had pushed him to get involved with a local drug dealer. He had been very successful at hiding this dishonorable episode of his past until Lansing had served him with documents which if out could instantly make him lose his license.
Choose your friends wisely son his father had once told him. Only at that particular moment did he realize his father could not have been more right.
"Damn Ric! What kind of mess have you dragged me into?" The doctor thought out loud then glanced at his watch. It had been ten minutes since he tried calling Ric for the third time and Ian was ready to redial. No answer.
Ric had told him to make himself invisible but Ian knew something really bad was happening and had no idea what to do next. Until he could find Ric he would do exactly as the lawyer asked and disappear.
Jason walked back to Elizabeth's hospital room, Emily's words still playing in his head. He found Cody standing vigil in front of the door just like he had asked him to. "Is she still asleep?" He first inquired.
"I think so." Cody answered unsure.
"Good… she needs to rest. Anything on Ric's whereabouts?"
"Nothing yet. He hasn't been seen anywhere." Cody was sad to say.
"Dammit! We need to find him!" A frustrated Jason let out.
"The guys are doing everything they can Jason. We'll find him sooner or later."
"It better be sooner; I'm not about to let Lansing escape us; not after what he did to Elizabeth. An who knows what other trick he has under his sleeve." Jason said then rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"What did your sister have to say about those pills?" Cody asked knowing the answer wouldn't be good given Jason's apparent anger.
"He's been drugging her to fake a pregnancy. I still can't believe he went this far."
"Wow… Lansing is scum. Don't worry, we'll find him and he'll get what he deserve." Cody tried to reassure his friend.
"I also need you to find out anything you can on a Dr. Devlin. He's in with Lansing on this, he might also know where to find him… Emily is looking into him too."
"We're on it." Cody hurriedly answered.
"Thanks man."
Jason walked past the guard to enter Elizabeth's hospital room. He hesitated a couple seconds before turning the door nob. Emily was right, Elizabeth needed him right now and he would be there for her, he wanted to be there for her always if she would let him.
Jason finally entered the room quietly so he wouldn't wake her up. Elizabeth was laying on her side, her back towards him and both hands clenched in between her legs. She seemed so fragile the young man thought as he sat on a chair next to her hospital bed. He hadn't been able to protect her from Ric's twisted plan but he would never again let anything happen to her.
"You're back." He suddenly heard from Elizabeth who turned to face him.
"I just left to talk to Emily, I thought you were asleep."
"I might have closed my eyes for a few minutes… umm… did she tell you when I could leave the hospital?"
"She'll come by in a little bit to check on you and we'll know." Jason told her.
Elizabeth repositioned her head on the pillow without saying another word. Jason rubbed his hands together as he sat in the uncomfortable silence.
"How are you feeling?" He asked and then felt bad for asking such a ridiculous question. She didn't feel well; she had just learned she wasn't going to be a mother after all. Jason had witnessed first hand how heartbroken Elizabeth had been when Emily told her the news.
"I feel tired… as if I haven't slept in two days." Elizabeth told him.
"You went through a lot." Jason said.
"I just want all of it to be over… for my life to get back to normal. Normal. I'm not even sure what I'm talking about when I say that." She said looking away.
"It's hard to see right now but everything will be ok. Very soon this will all be behind you." Jason assured her, convinced that very soon Ric wouldn't be a problem anymore.
"Will it ever?" Elizabeth hopelessly said then closed her eyes. Her mind instantly flashed back to Ric attempting to snatch her away and to her fighting him off as hard as she could. Nothing would be over with Ric still actively trying everything he could to get to her.
Elizabeth reopened her eyes, hoping to erase the disturbing thoughts from her mind.
"Did Emily get the… results back from the lab?" She waveringly asked.
"She did." Jason replied.
Elizabeth faced Jason again, eager but afraid to hear the next words he would speak.
The young man continued talking, with Elizabeth's probing eyes fixated on him. "The vitamins you thought you were taking daily were in fact hormonal supplements. Ric was also giving you tranquilizers which explains the dizziness and fainting."
Elizabeth took a deep breath trying to digest the information she was hearing. She then unconsciously began shaking her head from side to side. "And all this time I thought it was real… I thought a baby was growing inside me."
"You couldn't have known…" Jason said.
Elizabeth went on talking as if she didn't hear his words. "You know I didn't even believe it when I first found out I was pregnant… but I thought I was just in denial… that I couldn't believe it simply because I didn't want it to be true."
"These pills you were taking faked all the symptoms. You couldn't have known it wasn't real." Jason repeated.
She let a sigh escape. She should have known because she knew who Ric was and what he was capable of the young woman thought.
Jason held her hand firmly in his. "You will have your baby Elizabeth, when you are ready and without having to worry about Ric using this child to try and control your life."
Elizabeth nodded; as painful as it was Jason was right. This was not the right environment to raise a child. "You're right, this is probably for the best." She said, her eye releasing a warm tear.
"Everything will be ok. I promise you." Jason told her, looking straight into her watery sapphire eyes.
"I believe you Jason. Thank you for being here."
Jason lowered his face to grace her lips of a sweet peck that he hoped would erase some of the pain.
It did. "Thank you" She repeated and held him close to her body.
Courtney inserted the key in the door's keyhole making the least possible noise. Her mouth harbored a mischievous smile when she entered the large apartment. Carly hadn't exaggerated; the place was simple but elegant and extremely neat, which she couldn't say of her messy apartment. "Make yourself at home… I can do that." She told herself remembering Carly's words. "I could get used to this place." Courtney added.
She put herself to work and began lighting candles all around the apartment and dispersed red rose petals across the floor, tables and created a scented path leading to the master bedroom. Beaming in excitement the blond woman delicately arranged more flower petals on the bed. She had created a romantic trap any straight man in his right mind couldn't escape.
"Tonight you will be all mine Jason Morgan." Courtney said then tightened her trench coat.
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