Chapter Eight: Elizabeth Collins Stoddard…

She was alone… as she always knew that she was…

Elizabeth had seen to the family and to the staff. Willie Loomis and Mrs. Johnson gave Elizabeth the impression they were fine. Willie slugged back a few shots in the Old House kitchen area, as Mrs. Johnson shrugged at Liz's concern for her.

"You'll see that Mrs. Johnson has all that she needs, won't you, Willie?"

"Hrmmnn?!" Willie answered after another swing of swill and bicarbonate of soda.

Elizabeth sighed. Within the walls of Collinwood's Great House, now diminished in Angelique's destruction, Mrs. Johnson always maintained and, somehow, Willie always maintained with her.

Liz was *beyond* ready for bed!

There was a room upstairs for Elizabeth too. In fact, she'd already slept in it once upon a time when she needed time away from The Great House she, herself, had grown up in. This Old House was a playground for her, just as it was for her nephew, David, over their recent years.

Grappling the handrail, Elizabeth found her way up the stairs, thinking over her shotgun firing at Angelique that night. "I did good enough in that… for sure…" As the crinkly haired Liz trod her steps upward, she could practically hear the odd conversation between Laura and her son, David. She also decided it was not her business to pay attention to those wiry intonations she felt…

As Elizabeth reached a room that had held her so well in her own youth, she looked about her to see that the mustard antic of the décor were not that interesting as they'd been once-upon-a-time either. It was a matter of finding a bed and getting into the darn thing.

Of course, as soon as Liz did this, covering herself into the restfulness that would inevitably approach, Liz looked up at the ceiling and considered her family, heavily.

"Victoria Winters was Maggie Evans and has always been Josette duPres…" Elizabeth thought as she lay in her Old House bed, staring upward, "And Barnabas Collins is a vampire and has been waiting for her… No surprise there, either…" Liz kept thinking and thinking. "I won't begrudge them a moment of re-acquaintance. Why would I?" Liz stroked her hand over her face in all the wonderment of familiar obligations. "Barnabas and Josette were the legend and now its right in front of us… and frankly? I both welcome this and I don't really care either!"

As Elizabeth inhaled deeply to allow a restful sleep, she noticed another thought coming up to the surface for her…

"I'm a werewolf, okay? … let's not make a big deal out of it… WOLF!"

That was Carolyn… that was her own daughter admitting to being a werewolf… As Elizabeth had long suspected might have occurred since… since…

Paul left…

Liz lay in bed, as she had lain in bed before, wondering why Paul had left.

"I sent the werewolf who bit Carolyn in her crib…" Angie had admitted…

And who was that werewolf?

"My husband," Elizabeth realised, "My husband… Paul Stoddard… because… he was a werewolf from the beginning. He never told me, and as Angelique turned his actions foul in her curses… he bit our daughter, Carolyn, and he couldn't live with that… so… he disappeared… and that is why he has been gone all these years now…"

"Paul… where are you now?" Elizabeth lay there, wondering…

As Liz looked at the ceiling she heard an odd growling noise...

Elizabeth sat up in bed and had to ask, "IS that you, Paul? Are you coming back to us? I doubt it. But when I wake up tomorrow? Feel free to let me know."

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard wasn't sure who was listening, but she was ready to close her eyes and fall asleep now. "Paul… you will come back… or you won't… and I will be disappointed if you come back without letting me know. You were obviously manipulated by Angelique when Carolyn was a little girl. Knowing that? I can't blame you for leaving us. You were compelled to with your curse, Paul, and I wish you'd return to our family once more… curse and all."

And with that? Elizabeth wondered about her long-lost husband, curling the blankets over her, and fell, very soundly, to sleep.

A/N: Let me know what you liked! Thanks!