Elizabeth and Morgan stood in shocked silence as the south wall opened to reveal a secret panic room. Morgan stood still, staring at it, but Elizabeth moved forward, standing in the doorway as the memory finally started to come back...

Elizabeth was looking through the bookshelf when her hand brushed against the white button. She looked up, and saw Carly, four or five months pregnant at the time, standing at the edge of the panic room, tied to the wall like an animal, screaming for help. Elizabeth stood, frozen, not knowing what to do. Finally, she came to her senses and reached for the phone to call 911, but before she could dial she was hit by a wave of dizziness. She heard Carly shout something about Ric, but nothing she was hearing made any sense. She felt dizzy... so dizzy... She tossed the phone in Carly's direction, and then everything went black...

"Mom? Are you okay?"

Morgan's vioce pulled Elizabeth back to the present. "I'm fine, sweetie," she said. She turned to smile at him, and was hit with another blow as she realized that he was the child that Carly had been carrying. With his tan skin and dark hair, he'd always reminded her of Ric, but now when Elizabeth looked at him all she could see was Sonny. She quickly turned away.

"Mom, what is this place?" Morgan asked. "Did you know this was here?"

Though the boy hadn't posed the question accusingly, that's how it sounded in Elizabeth's ears. She sank down against the doorframe, tears coming to her eyes, and whispered, "I didn't remember. I blocked it out. How could I not have known?"

"Mom?" Morgan asked again, growing worried. However, Elizabeth didn't respond. Deciding she was fine for now, he stepped past her and into the panic room. It fascinated him as it would almost any teenage boy, only Morgan felt drawn to it for some reason other than the fancy electrical equipment and the James Bond-type secrecy. He hastily started combing the place, although he had no idea what he was looking for until he found it.

Tucked carefully between the matress and the bedframe, hidden from the view of anyone who might happen to come in and glance around, was a note. Morgan sat down on the bed and read it aloud.

"To my darling baby boy,
"I don't have much time to write this. It's been seven days since your birth, and now Ric has no more use for me. Before he kills me, I wanted to leave this for you. I can only pray that someday you will find it and learn the truth.
"Ric Lansing is your biological uncle, your father's half-brother. Your father didn't even know Ric existed until a few months ago, but Ric has spent his whole life hating Sonny. It's made him into a sick, twisted man who'll do anything and go through anyone just to hurt Sonny. He is criminally insane.
"I suppose I should start from the point at which you got involved, although it runs much deeper than that. Ric had gotten Elizabeth pregnant, and against everyone's advice, she married the bastard. She called a meeting with Sonny to ask him to end the fued with Ric, and after your father left, she fell down the stairs. The fall resulted in a miscarraige, which Ric blamed Sonny for. In order to get his own twisted revenge, he abducted me on the night of Sonny's half-sister, Courtney's wedding to our best friend, Jason Morgan, who I named you for. He's held me in this room for the past four and a half months, just waiting to steal you away from me to replace the baby that, in his own sick mind, he believes Sonny took from him.
"I have to stop writing now, because Ric's coming for me. Whatever you decide to do with this letter, please remember that I love you and I always will."

The letter was simply signed "Carly" in quick scrawl at the bottom of the page. Morgan stopped reading, and looked to Elizabeth for confirmation that this was for real. She sadly nodded her head, tears running down her face.

"Oh my God, he's home," she said suddenly. Morgan looked over at the monitor she was pointing at. He could see Ric fast approaching the front door, a calm, happy expression on his face. He couldn't help wondering if this Carly, his birth mother, had watched that image on the monitor every day as he held her captive. But then, Morgan couldn't picture Ric holding anyone captive. Ric was his father. Ric loved him. Didn't he?

"Come on," Elizabeth said, getting up and grabbing her son's hand. She was scared, and confused, and strangely numb, but she had a strong urge to get herself and Morgan out of there. The ran out of the panic room, heading for the back door.

Just as they were leaving, Ric was getting in. He opened the door, expecting to see his wife and children. Instead, what he found was a room he hadn't set foot in for years.

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A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Keep the feedback coming, and I just might be able to get another chapter up before I go on vacation. :)