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The doctor pulled away from the hysterical boy, alarmed. “Alright!” she cried. “Just lead the way.” She hurried after Nikolas as he ran back to Lucky’s room. Suddenly Nikolas came to a halt, his face a mask of horror. The doctor came up behind him, and looked into the room. After only the briefest glance, she called over her shoulder for help.
Nikolas stood silently by, shocked, as the corridor was filled with the running footsteps and shouted instructions of doctors and nurses. Stepping aside, he watched through the observation window as the doctor placed her thin hand on his brother’s convulsing chest. He stumbled backward, blinking away sudden tears.
“Nikolas!” He turned, alarmed, to find the source of the voice. Elizabeth stood a foot or so behind him, her expression concerned. “What’s going on?” she asked, straining to see over Nikolas’ shoulder.
“Nothing,” Nikolas insisted, quickly stepping forward to obstruct the girl’s view. He took her arm gently, and started to guide her away from the room. “Let’s go,” he said quietly.
Liz refused to give up without a fight. She pushed angrily past Nikolas and ran back into the ICU, her concern reaching a peak. Nikolas cursed silently and ran after her, hoping to catch her before she got a look at Lucky. He slowed as he caught up to her, and knew by her expression that he was too late.
Tears flooded Liz’s vision. She stared for another moment at Lucky and the doctors and nurses with him, then looked over at Nikolas. Her eyes betrayed her sheer terror. “Oh my god,” she breathed, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. Her head swiveled again to her boyfriend, and they grew wide. Nikolas tried vainly to comfort her, but Liz only pushed him away and stood watching in stark terror as she watched the horror taking place before her.
Finally, unable to restrain herself any further, Liz walked past Nikolas, and into the hospital room. Nikolas stretched a hand out to stop her, then remained still when his hand was pushed away. Liz stood in the open doorway, too horrified to speak. Lucky’s body had finally collapsed, exhausted by the sudden activity only a few moments earlier. He was now still as death, and looked like it. Liz squeezed her eyes shut as a doctor injected his IV with a drug from a needle, then looked over questioningly at the other doctor. “Do you have an idea of what happened, Eve?” he asked quietly.
The female doctor shook her head, and carefully took down Lucky’s vitals on his chart, a small frown creasing her brow. “He went into convulsions,” she responded after a long pause. “His heart monitor was racing when I came in, he was short of breath, and convulsing. I couldn’t say what brought it on.”
“He seems to be calmed down now.”
“Of course he’s calmed down Joe!” Eve shouted angrily. “He’d be dead now if he wasn’t.” She was silent for a moment as she took Lucky’s temperature, then looked again at the other doctor. “He’s stable now,” she commented. “His heartbeat is a little irregular, and he’ll have to put on a respirator,” she added sadly. “But his temp is normal, and his fit seems to have passed. It doesn’t look like he’ll be waking up anytime soon though.”
“It’s probably just as well,” Joe said, glancing at the still form below him. “I doubt he’d really want to be awake right now.”
Eve nodded, and glanced up at the door. She immediately spotted Liz. “Hey!” she called. “You can’t be here! What do you think you’re doing?”
Liz stepped back, panic flooding over her. She looked from Lucky to the doctor and back, her lip trembling querulously. The doctor stared back with fierce intensity, clearly outraged by the girl’s presence. Liz continued to back away from the door, until she backed into Nikolas. Startled, she let out a strangled cry, and watched in shock as Nikolas brushed past her and stalked into Lucky’s hospital room.
Eve’s mouth dropped open in surprise at his tactlessness, and looked to Joe for support. “Hey,” the doctor said, unconsciously mimicking Eve. “You shouldn’t be in here. We can call security if you’d like,” he said when Nikolas didn’t budge.
“He’s my brother,” Nikolas stated calmly. “I want to know what’s wrong with him.”
“We’d tell you if we knew,” Eve piped in, folding her arms across her chest. “He’s stabilized now. We can take him up to run some tests, and let you know as soon as we find out. In the meantime, stay out of the way.” With that, she stalked out of the room, clenching her jaw in unexpected fury.
The other doctor smiled slightly after her departure, then looked around for a nurse. “Sam,” he said after a moment. “Stay here with Lucky and—“
“Nikolas.”
“—Nikolas, and wait for Dr. Lambert to come back. Then you can go with her to get the tests run.” He looked over at Nikolas, his eyes full of sympathy. “I’ll see what I can find out for you,” he said. “Why don’t you stay here with your brother while I take care of his girlfriend.”
Nikolas nodded numbly, and sank again into the chair beside his brother’s
bed, shell-shocked at the sudden turn of events.
*****
Laura ran into the ICU waiting room, her husband a step behind. Laura, breathless, leaned against the wall for a moment, staring at Liz and the doctor who spoke quietly to her. She looked over in concern at Luke. “What do you think that’s about?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know babe,” Luke whispered. “Why don’t we find out?”
“Wait,” Laura said, pulling him back.
“What Laura?” You were worried about being late to see him, and practically ran here to get here in time for visiting hours, and now you want to wait around out here? Something could be wrong.”
“I know!” Laura cried, then quickly lowered her voice. “That’s why I want to wait here, and see Liz’s response. “I don’t think I could bear it,” she added quietly. “I don’t think I could bear barging in and finding out with something to cushion the blow.”
Luke clenched his fist in anger, then gave in and nodded. They watched silently as the doctor gently guided Liz to a chair, speaking quietly to her as he did. After a moment, Liz nodded silently, and the couple saw for the first time the tears glistening in her eyes. “Oh god,” Laura breathed, and rushed forward to speak to the doctor.
“Doctor!” Laura shouted as she neared him. She glanced down briefly at Liz, and was shocked at her haunted expression. “Is something wrong with my son?” she asked sharply.
“Ma’am,” the doctor said calmly. “Just wait a minute while I finish up talking to Liz here.”
“No, I won’t wait!” Laura shouted angrily. “He’s my son! I have the right to know if something has happened to him!”
“If you’ll just hold on—“
“Maybe you didn’t understand her,” Luke cut in. “We want to know what’s wrong with out son, and we don’t plan on waiting around all day to hear it.”
Joe sighed, a weary look coming across his face. “I just want to take
Elizabeth out of here,” he said as patiently as his irritation would allow.
“She knows me already, since I’ve been treating Lucky for the past two
weeks.” He waited for a response from the parents, and was relieve when
he got none. “Okay,” he said at last. “I just want to take her back out
to see her grandmother, and then I’ll be back. Nikolas can bring you up
to date in your son’s room.”
Luke’s eyes widened in outrage at the mention of Nikolas’ name, and he felt his wife’s firm grasp on his elbow. “Thank you doctor,” Laura said. “For everything. I know we’ve been terrible to you for the past couple of weeks.” Her eyes flooded with tears. “It’s just that—“
“Don’t worry about it,” the doctor insisted. He looked past them as Eve ran back into the room, bristling with anger.
She looked over at Joe, and managed a smile. “Well,” she said, “it took a lot of fast talking, but Dr. Goldstern agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to run some tests on Lucky. We just have to take him up and we can go ahead and draw some blood samples for the lab.”
“Tests?” Luke asked sharply. “Tests for what? What the hell is going on?”
“Mr. Spencer,” Joe said smoothly. “Like I said, Nikolas can fill you in. Now Dr. Lambert and I have got to get to work.” Luke started into his son’s room after the doctor, but felt Laura’s grip on his arm tighten.
She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please don’t, Luke,” she whispered anxiously. “Nikolas will tell us everything as soon as he comes out.” She looked over her shoulder at Liz, who was staring ahead blankly, tears running down her face. “Poor thing,” she muttered, and looked at her seething husband. “Talk to Nikolas,” she told him. “And try to act decently when you do. He knows what happened with Lucky,” she said, “and it looks like we’re going to have to get any information from him. Elizabeth sure can’t tell us anything.”
Luke closed his eyes, willing the pain and anger to malt away, but it did not. He nodded silently, and waited for Laura to sit beside Liz before stepping toward the observation window. He did not have the time to even glance in before the doctors, along with an unfamiliar nurse, burst out of the room, pushing Lucky on the gurney.
Nikolas emerged immediately after, his expression full of worry. His eyes fell on Luke and he backed up, panic stealing into his eyes. “No!” Luke cried, drawing startled looks from Liz and Laura. He forced himself to at least make an appearance of control, the stepped forward to meet Nikolas. He placed a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder, and regarded him with grief-stricken eyes. “Just tell me what happened,” he pleaded, and hung his head in defeat.
Nikolas hitched in a deep breath and, with a quick glance at his mother,
explained what had happened. When he had finished he stood quietly, waiting
for Luke to explode. He watched the older man’s shoulders heave, and held
his breath in anticipation. After a long moment, he realized that Lucky’s
father was weeping.
“No,” Luke groaned, sinking to the floor. He leaned his head against the wall, and let the tears fall freely from his closed eyes. “This can’t be happening,” he whispered, then looked up into Nikolas’ worried face. “Just pray nothing happens to him Cassadine,” he sneered, his face contorting in rage. “I’ll kill you if anything does.”
Nikolas looked over to his mother in confusion, but she merely shook
her head and stared at her enraged husband. She sighed heavily, and gathered
Liz in her arms, cradling the sobbing girl to her chest. Nikolas clenched
his fists and ran out of the room. When he was a safe distance away from
the family, he struck mightily at the uncaring wall, pleased with the smart
pain that laced through his hand and wrist. Leaning has back against the
wall, he shut his mind off from the cares of the world, and let the tears
consume him.
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