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Luke Spencer stood over his still
sleeping son with frown on his face.
He didn't remember Lucky being
so thin. He looked worn out, too.
"You say he came by here late last
night, huh?" Luke asked.
"Yeah," Jason answered, "he looked
like he needed to be somewhere around
people for a change, so I let him
stay. That a problem?"
"No, I know this place is well
guarded." Luke said as he thought it out,
"I should actually thank you, for
giving my son a night of the streets
for once."
"It was no problem." Jason said,
"Want something to eat?"
Luke looked over at the table,
where Emily sat feeding Michael.
"Sure, but I'll make it quick.
I don't want to be here when he wakes
up. Weird that he's not up
all ready. Lucky normally gets up at the
crack of dawn."
They ate in silence for awhile,
till Jason spoke up.
"Luke, I've been thinking, would
it be all right with you if I offered
Lucky a permanent place here?
I wouldn't get him involved in anything;
it would just be a place to stay.
But Robin's moved back to the cottage
now, so things have quieted down.
I finally decided to move into
Sonny's room, so Lucky could have
mine." Jason said.
"I guess I don't have a problem
with that. Anything is better than that
boxcar."
Emily watched this with a smile.
Maybe her and Lucky could be friends
again. She really missed
him being there.
"That would be great!" Emily squealed,
"Lucky could help out with
Michael."
"Well, he'd certainly try, but
you might need someone to watch him,
too." Luke said smiling,
"I seem to remember him feeding Lulu once, and
most of the food ended up on him."
They started to laugh when they
heard Lucky mumbling in his sleep.
Luke got up and went over to the
couch, where Lucky was now tossing and
kicking the covers off. He
sat down and gently shook his shoulders.
"Lucky? Hey kiddo, wake up."
Lucky woke up with a start, and
it took him a minute to focus. His head
was spinning, and he felt like
he was going to explode. The dream
again. It didn't matter where
he went, he thought, this dream was going
to follow him. He finally
realized his dad was sitting next to him.
For a minute he wanted to just
fall into his arms and tell him
everything. He wanted his
father to make it all go away. But he didn't
think that was possible, so he
did nothing.
Luke saw the longing in his son's
eyes, and sat there saddened as
nothing resulted from it.
He cleared his throat and scooted back a
little.
"You okay Cowboy?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine.
What are you doing here?" Lucky asked.
Luke allowed himself a small smile
as he realized his son's tone didn't
have the harshness in it that it
normally held when he talked to his
father.
"Just dropped by to see Jason about
the club."
"Oh, well, uh I better get going.
I got someone I have to meet."
Luke stood up quickly so he could
get up. Lucky was quickly tying his
shoes when Jason spoke.
"Hey, Lucky, you know I like to
keep an eye on my employees, which
includes you since your washing
my cars now."
Lucky nodded, wondering where he
was headed.
"Anyway, I'm going to be moving
into Sonny's old room, so if you picked
up a few more odd jobs around here,
I'd be willing to let you stay in my
old room."
Lucky thought for a minute.
There'd be more chance of running into his
father here, but the boxcar was
losing its' comforts now that fall was
nearing.
"Please say yes, Lucky," Emily
pleaded, "it would give us a chance to
catch up."
He did miss Emily, that was a fact.
And Liz wouldn't worry so much
about him here.
"All right, deal." He relented.
Jason and Emily smiled at him,
which he returned as he hurried out the
door.
Luke looked over at Jason, relieved
that Lucky had accepted.
"Thanks Jason. And if you
wouldn't mind, keep an eye on him? I'd like
to know what that nightmare was
about."
"Sure thing. And Luke,
I will keep him safe."
Luke smiled and nodded as he too
headed out the door.
Lucky jumped down from the boxcar
with his bag on his back. He had lied
when he said he had someone to
meet, but he really needed out of the
penthouse right then. The
dreams were too disturbing. Another second
and he might have spilled everything
to his father. He had stopped by
Liz's house, to tell her where
he would be. She was doing much better
now, and he knew she'd be okay
if he wasn't around as much.
When he arrived at the penthouse,
he nearly collided with Nikolas as he
walked in the door. His surprise
at seeing him there stopped him from
picking another fight with him.
He just nodded, and Nikolas did the
same, as he walked out the door.
"Wow, you guys actually didn't bite
each other's heads off for once."
Emily said surprised.
"Chalk it up to being caught off
guard. Never expected to see him
here." Lucky replied.
"Well, I invited him over.
He's not that bad if you know him, really."
"Yeah, I'll bet. I won't
get into that right now."
Lucky walked into his new room
and dropped his bag. When he walked back
out Emily was sitting on the couch
flipping through a magazine.
"Hey, Em?" Lucky said.
Emily looked up at him a little
uncertain of how to react. They really
hadn't talked forever, but him
calling her Em made it seem like old
times again.
"I, uh, wanted to talk to you about,
well, I mean, we haven't talked in
ages, I know, but," Lucky took
a big sigh and continued, "I'd like us to
be friends again, if we could.
I know I wasn't there for you when I
should have been and.."
"It's all right, Lucky, you had
your own problems, too."
"But it was no excuse, Em.
We need to get this out, so we can get
passed it, otherwise, I think there
would always be a barrier between
us."
Emily looked at him uncertainly.
She really wanted to just forget
everything and move on, but she
did get her feelings hurt when he
started to ignore her.
"Well, okay, I know when you got
back after your mom, um, after she…"
"After she faked her death," Lucky
said emotionlessly, "with the rest of
my family helping her."
"Yeah, well, I know you called
then, and I did brush you off because I
was hanging out with Matt and,
well, doing drugs. But I kinda always
wondered why you didn't come around
more after all that. I've always
thought it was because you were
disgusted with what I did and
everything."
"No, man, that wasn't it at all,
Emily." Lucky said shocked, "I'm sorry
you I had you believing that.
I've always thought a lot of you, and the
drugs didn't change that.
I didn't come around much because…"
There was a long pause as Lucky
looked down. He didn't know how to
explain this to her.
"Look, when I was growing up, I
never really had that many friends. I
mean, I'd meet kids and play with
them, but by the time I got to know
them, we'd have to leave again.
After awhile, I just stopped trying.
I'd stay close to my parents, and
wouldn't talk much to anyone. I kept
feeling so horrible over lying
to friends about who I was and where I
came from and then just disappearing
on them one day. But when we came
here to Port Charles, I thought
I finally had a home. I allowed myself
to finally relax and settle in,
and get to like this town. I even let
myself get to know someone besides
my parents. Emily, you were the
first real friend I had that I
didn't think I'd ever have to lie too.
But then this whole thing came
up with my grandma being alive, and…, and
it was just like being on the run
again. Suddenly we had to lie to
everyone we'd known and disappear
again. It hurt that I had to lie to
you. But I, I thought it
was just the normal way of life. That as soon
as you got to know someone, you
had to leave them. Then I got back, and
you were having a lot of hard times,
and I hadn't been there, and I
didn't think you'd want anything
to do with me. I mean, my parents have
lied to me, and that's a big thing
to me. I can't deal with lies, so I
thought you wouldn't want to deal
with me after all that. I'm sorry for
all of that Emily. If I could
take it all back, I would tell you the
truth about my mom, I would tell
my parents how wrong it was to do what
we did."
Lucky looked down, unsure if what
he said made any sense.
"Lucky.." Emily sighed and continued,
"It's all right. I guess I
understand what you're saying.
I forgive you. I have to, it seems like
you were beating yourself up over
this enough anyway. I don't think
there's any reason for me to punish
you further. But if you ever do lie
again, which I hope you don't,
I hope you realize now that you can still
come to me and talk it out.
No matter what you do, I'll always listen
to you."
"So everything's okay now?" Lucky
said smiling.
"Yeah, for once, everything's okay."
Emily said returning the smile.
"So how about we take a walk down
to the docks and get a couple grape
sno cones?"
"You got it!"
Emily still had plenty she wanted
to ask him, not about their
friendship, but about his own problems.
They could be saved for another
day, though, she decided.
They had already gone through enough today.
Now was a time to just have fun.
They had him again. Whoever
it was, they had grabbed Lucky from they
car yet again. He couldn't
get lose. He kicked and squirmed and bit,
but nothing worked. The person
would not let go of him. As he clawed
to get away, he ripped a chain
off from around the neck of his attacker.
There was something heavy on the
end of it, like a big charm. Then
something heavy came down on his
head, and he fell to the ground as the
darkness overtook him, his hand
still clasped around the chain.
Lucky sat up panicked and sweating.
It always happened like that. Just
when he would black out in the
dream, he'd wake up in real life. He
silently thanked Jason that he
had his own room now. If he had been
seen having this nightmare twice,
he was sure they'd ask questions. And
he just didn't feel like hashing
through all of it right now. He
doubted that he ever would.
Rolling over, Lucky got up out
of bed and walked over to his bag on the
floor. It still held everything
in it, since he had never unpacked.
Habit, he guessed. Why scatter
everything around when you might have to
leave at a moment's notice?
Slowly he unzipped a side compartment and
pulled out the chain with the charm
on it. The same one from his dream.
This proved everything had really
happened. His mind just decided to
forget about it for a little while.
Studying the chain, Lucky carefully
stretched it out on the floor.
He'd always wondered what was so
important about it that he held
on to it, even through his years on the
run. His parents didn't even
know he had it. It had hurt him not to
tell him, but he knew there was
some reason that he couldn't.
It was a secret, though.
A secret he had kept from his parents. He
supposed he deserved all that was
being thrown at him now. The bible
said an eye for and eye.
So he figured a secret for a secret was
equally just. He hated secrets.
Growing up on the run, he believed
with all his heart and soul that
he and his parents had to be able to
trust each other completely.
Any secret between them could get them
killed. Thus, secrets meant
death. That wasn't something he could stop
thinking over night, but it was
what his parents seemed to want him to
do. They wanted him to get
over their mistakes and come back home. But
they didn't know that he had done
that. He had gotten over their
mistakes, but he still couldn't
come home. He was waiting for the
punishment. They were all
healthy as could be, and that wasn't right.
Was that why he worked for Helena
and then went to Jason for a job? Was
he trying to put his life in danger
because he believed it should be?
Lucky shook his head and tried
to think of other things. This afternoon
had been great. Emily and
he had relived old times, while at the same
time beginning a new, stronger
friendship. Like the one he had with his
parents long ago…. Stop it,
he cursed to himself. He could not keep
coming back to them.
Looking up at the clock, Lucky realized
how late it was. If he didn't
get some sleep, it would be apparent
to everyone that he had had a rough
night. Picking up the chain,
Lucky gave one more look to the charm on
it. Then he quickly stuffed
the Cassadine medallion back into his bag
and went back to bed, where he
eventually fell asleep.
Quickly, all the passengers from
flight 324 out of Boston filed off of
the plane. The last man in
line stopped for a second to look around.
No need for him to rush off to
the luggage rack, he carried all his
stuff on him. Walking out
into the sun, he pushed his sunglasses on
over his hazel eyes. He was
tall and rather stocky, probably mid 50's.
His hair was starting to gray and
there were several wrinkles on his
face, but he still gave off a sense
of intimidation to those around him.
A dark car pulled up near him,
and the man walked to it and got in. He
had a meeting to attend now, one
he was looking forward to.
With a sigh, Lucky threw the rag
into the pail. Finally done, for today
at least. He was starting
to think ten dollars an hour for waxing and
washing all of Jason's cars wasn't
too much after all. A room had
eventually come with it too, though,
so he figured he was living up to
his name right now. It was
still early afternoon, so he decided to take
a walk down by the docks before
going back to the penthouse. Jason had
decided to have a small dinner
party that night. Well, decided might be
the wrong word, Lucky mused.
He would almost bet his life that his Aunt
Bobbie had talked him into it.
She wanted to see her grandson and show
him off to everyone. Lucky
really didn't want to go, but he knew he
couldn't back out of it after Jason
gave him his own room, it just
wouldn't be right. If it
had only been Mike and Emily who were coming,
it would have been all right.
But Bobbie had decided that Luke and
Laura needed to get to know their
great-nephew as well. As long as his
parents didn't say anything about
wanting him to come home, though,
Lucky thought he could at least
be civil tonight. After getting Jason's
okay, he'd invited Liz to come
too. With her there he knew he would be
fine.
Helena Cassadine stood on the docks
by her yacht, nervously fiddling
with her medallion. She was
thinking back to the past, to a horrible
mistake she had made. She
hated to admit it, but it was her mistake.
Needing someone to full fill an
extremely important job, she had hired
who she thought would do it precisely
and thoroughly. Well, she had
been right about that. But
then the unexpected had happened. She, a
Cassadine, had lost control of
the situation. Daniel Forst had proved
himself to be a man with his own
agenda. And here she was waiting to
meet this monster yet again, though
not of her own free will. When
Daniel called, there was no choice.
She quickly turned around when she
heard the footsteps behind her,
changing her expression to one more
confident. It would do no
good to show your fear to the enemy.
"Thank you, Ari, for driving Mr.
Forst from the airport. That is all we
will need for now." Helena said.
As Ari walked off, Daniel studied
Helena with a smirk on his face.
"And just what is it that you find
so amusing, Mr. Forst?"
"Come now, Helena dear, there is
no need to use such formalities. We
are old friends, are we not?
I was admiring how much you haven't
changed since we have last met."
"Well, Daniel, don't be so sure
that I'm still that same naïve woman you
knew long ago." Helena replied
dryly, "Though I may still look the same
on the outside, I have definitely
gathered many regrets of some of my
past actions. Hiring you
tops that list."
"Now, now, my dear, don't be that
way." Daniel said chuckling, "I've
always been quite fond of you.
I can't help it if I just slightly
disagreed with the way you wanted
things done back then." Daniel changed
his tone to one more threatening
as he continued, "And you would be wise
not to pick a fight with me about
it."
Helena let down her false charade
and frowned at him.
"Why are you back now?" she asked.
"We have unfinished business.
It seems that I never accomplished what
you hired me to do, so I'm just
back to finish the job."
"You know very well that what you
think so desperately needs to be done
was never part of my plan."
"It is now, though, and you'd be
better off if you didn't fight me on
this. That is, unless you'd
like meet you maker a little early."
Before Helena could respond, she
saw Lucky walking down the steps. She
silently prayed that he would turn
around. But he didn't. He gave her
a slight look when he saw her,
but continued on his way.
"Hello Lucky, how are you this afternoon."
She said pleasantly as she
could.
"Like you care, Mrs. Cassadine."
Lucky retorted.
Daniel turned around and smiled
his biggest smile at Lucky. "Now young
man, that is no way to talk to
a lady."
Lucky stopped dead in his tracks
and stared at the man. Instantly
images flew through his mind, but
they were to fast for him to grasp.
He stood there stunned as the man
walked towards him.
Daniel extended his hand as he spoke.
"Lucky, was that your name? Nice
to meet you son, I'm Daniel Forst."
Lucky still didn't move. Daniel
studied him with delight. So the boy
remembered him. This should be
interesting. Helena just stood watching,
cursing herself. She was
feeling pity at the moment for a Spencer. But
even the son of her worst enemy
didn't deserve to be taunted by this
man.
"Well, Lucky, it's getting near
dinnertime. Shouldn't you be getting
home?" Helena asked.
The words seemed to go right past
him. He finally snapped back to
reality as Helena shook his shoulder.
He glanced up at her and saw
something in her eyes he had never
seen before. He couldn't tell what
it was, but they didn't hold the
pure hate for him that they normally
did. Taking one more glance
at Daniel, he turned and walked away.
Helena stared after Lucky as he
left. They were both in for it now.