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Spencer House
Laura answered the door to find
a rather frantic looking Alexis and
Stefan on the steps. "Is
something wrong?" She asked hurriedly. "Come
on in and sit down and tell us."
Luke looked up from his chair, and was
immediately as concerned as his
wife. "You've found something out,
haven't you?" he asked.
"What is it?"
Stefan took a deep breath.
"Well," he said, "we went through some old
records that I kept of when Helena
tried to see Nikolas. It seems she
was very persistent around the
time that Lucky was taken." Realization
dawned on Luke quickly. "So
Helena also wanted Nikolas?" Stefan
nodded. They both looked
up as someone at the door knocked, and Jason
entered.
"Are the boys here?" he asked.
Laura shook her head. "No, they went to
the movies with Liz and Emily.
Why?" Jason shook his head. "We need
to get them back here. Daniel's
planning something. We've seen him and
Helena move stuff, like their planning
a trip. And Helena made sure her
jet is ready, only she told the
pilot to expect two other passengers
along with them." Luke barely
waited for Jason to finish, before he was
out the door, Stefan following
close behind.
Outside of Movie Theater
The four teens came out of the
theater, still laughing and joking.
Lucky walked over to a trashcan
to throw away their empty popcorn tubs
and cups. A black car pulled
up beside him, but he thought nothing of
it and turned to walk away.
He and the rest of the teens looked up
surprised when Stefan, Luke, and
Jason showed up at the other end of the
parking lot. Lucky frowned.
They were shouting at him, but he couldn't
hear from this far away.
Turning around, he saw two big men dressed in
black coming towards him.
He tried to run when they each grabbed one of
his arms. Looking up, he
saw two others going after Nikolas. Stefan
and a few of Jason's men were taking
care of them, though. As he
struggled, he saw Luke and Jason
running to him, and tried to stay out
of the car long enough for them
to reach him. Kicking with all his
might, he had almost broke free,
when he felt a sharp pain in his head,
and blacked out.
Spencer House
Alexis and Laura waited anxiously
by the door. When it opened they both
relaxed a little as they saw Nikolas,
with the girls behind him. "Oh,
Nikolas!" Laura cried, as
she hugged him. "I was so afraid they had
gotten you. Where's you brother?"
she asked. When no response came
from him or anyone else.
She nearly dropped to the ground. "No!" she
screamed. "Tell me they don't
have him again." Nikolas put an arm on
Laura's shoulder, and talked to
her gently. "They didn't get him again.
They tried, but Luke and Jason
got there in time to stop them." Laura
didn't calm down too much.
"Where is he, then?" She looked up in
fright as she saw Luke entering
the house, with Lucky in his arms.
"Luke, is he all right?"
She asked. "I think he'll be fine, darling,
but he got a nasty bump on his
head." Luke replied, as he laid Lucky
down on the couch. Even though
he reassured Laura, he was still pretty
worried about his son. He
should have woken up by now. "Laura,
sweetie, go get me a cold rag,
and an ice pack, okay?" Laura just
nodded, and ran into the kitchen.
"Luke, is he really okay?"
Jason asked. "I'm not certain." Luke
replied. "But we can't take
him to the hospital, there's too much risk
of Helena and Daniel getting him."
Laura came back in, and held the ice
pack to the bump on her son's head,
as Luke wiped his forehead. "Come
on, cowboy." He said softly.
"Wake up now."
Lucky found himself in a dark place.
He couldn't remember. His head
hurt. Two men trying to drag
him into a car flashed before his eyes.
Not again. They couldn't
have gotten him again. There was no way he
could live through that again.
Then he heard voices. They were voices
he knew. They were
his parents. They had saved him this time.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
"Dad?" He asked hoarsely.
"Yeah, yeah it's me." Luke said happily.
"How are you feeling?" Lucky
came to a little more, and saw all the
people standing around him anxiously.
He tried to sit up, but soon
realized that was a mistake.
"My head hurts." He groaned. Everyone
laughed, relieving the tension
they all felt. "Well, you got a nasty
bump up there, but I think you'll
live." Laura said. "Do you remember
what happened?" Lucky nodded
carefully. "Yeah, some men came after me,
and tried to get me in the car.
I tried to get away, but…" Lucky cut
off, and Luke squeezed his hand.
"But it had a different ending this
time. They didn't get you."
Lucky smiled. "Nope, they didn't. You
got me away from them." Luke
smiled back, and noticed Lucky looked
pretty tired. "Why don't
you get some sleep, okay?" Lucky nodded, and
was out in seconds.
Luke got up and turned to everyone
else. "Okay, we got our sons back
for the night, but Helena is going
to keep trying. We need to get out
of this town, and fast. And
that means all of us in this room." Luke
said, as he turned to the girls.
"I'm sorry, but Helena know you two are
close to us, so you'll be at risk."
He then turned to Stefan. "I hate
this, but you'll all have to come
too. Helena obviously knew Nik and
Lucky were together tonight."
Stefan nodded in agreement. "Jason,"
Luke continued, "I know you can
take care of yourself, but we could sure
use you." Jason nodded.
"I'll be there."
"All right, Luke, so when do we
leave?" Alexis asked.
"Tonight."
Waking up, Lucky looked around him
a little confused. He was in a
strange room that he didn't recognize,
by himself, not knowing why he
was there. So why did it
all seem so familiar to him? Because it's
just like old times, his mind screamed.
This was a somewhat comforting
thought. So many times before,
he and his family had been in trouble
one night, only to wake up in a
new unfamiliar place, safe. He missed
that about his old life.
No longer could he just run to some place new
and have all his troubles vanish
behind him. He realized what must have
happened. After Helena had
gone after him, his father had moved them.
It was serious now.
Getting up, he got dressed and
walked out into the hallway. He was in
some strange old house. He
walked down the stairs, and found everyone
in the living room. Everyone
was right, he thought to himself, even the
Cassadines were there.
"Hey, what's going on?" He
asked, as he walked over and took a seat
next to Nikolas.
"We're just doing a little planning."
Luke answered him. "We need to
keep moving, make sure Helena doesn't
follow us, before we figure up
what she's up to and beat her at
her own game."
Lucky leaned back. His head
still hurt a little, but he tried to ignore
it. "Where are we?"
"In Kansas, where no one will find us."
"Awful close to Colorado, aren't
we?" Lucky asked. Luke nodded.
"Yeah, but I wanted to be close
so if Helena tries to get you and
Nikolas there, we won't be far
behind." "So she's after Nikolas too,
huh?" Stefan answered him
this time. "Yes, she tried to grab him the
other night in the parking lot
too. And it would appear that she was
trying to get him to Polk the same
time she had you."
"So what we do now is wait for
my men to report on where Daniel and
Helena are. They packed up
and left last night, too." Jason said.
"Why don't we just stay here, then?"
Lucky asked. "Helena isn't
stupid, she's not going to let
things slip. The only way to figure out
what she wants, is to let her think
she has it." Nikolas looked at him
curiously. "What are you
suggesting, Lucky?"
Lucky nervously leaned forward,
and glanced up at his father. He wasn't
going to like this. "Let
Helena get me and Nikolas."
Luke held back his anger the best
he could. "No way. I'm not letting
that old bat near you again."
Laura looked at Lucky sadly. "Your
father is right, honey. It
would be to dangerous."
Alexis watched them all closely.
She understood Luke and Laura. They
just wanted to keep their son safe.
But she understood Lucky, too. He
wanted this ordeal to be over.
He wanted to bring down Helena, and face
Daniel himself. No, she decided,
he didn't want that. He needed it.
"Lucky, we'll figure something
out. Why don't we all spend the rest of
the day not worrying about this,
okay?" Stefan asked. Everyone else
agreed. Luke and Laura went
out for a walk, Liz and Emily went upstairs
with Jason to let their families
know they were all right. Stefan left
to see if he could find out anything
else about Helena on his computer.
This just left Nikolas, Lucky,
and Alexis in the room.
"You weren't actually serious about
letting Helena get you again, were
you?" Nikolas asked his brother.
Lucky nodded, and didn't look up.
"Why would you want to do that?"
Alexis spoke up for him.
"Because he needs to." She said. Both boys
looked at her surprised.
"Don't tell me you actually agree with him."
Nikolas said. "I know it's
dangerous, and probably crazy." Alexis
said. "But Lucky is right.
There is no other way to find out what
Helena's up to. And he has
to face her and Daniel. I know what it's
like to have someone dangling your
life over your head. Helena has
threatened me for months just for
who I am. I understand what its like,
Lucky. You have to take your
life back, and that's something you need
to do on your own."
Lucky looked at her and smiled.
"Your good at hitting the nail on the
head." He said. "So
will you talk to mom and dad about it?" "Sure, I
don't know if I can convince them,
but I'll try my hardest." She
replied.
Nikolas looked at both of them
and shook his head. "I don't believe
either one of you. Your both
crazy." Lucky looked at him, but ignored
what he said. "I'm doing
this. You don't have to come too, though. I
can do this alone. I'm not
going to force you to do this if you aren't
comfortable with it." Nikolas
studied his brother, and realized he
couldn't talk him out of it.
"All right. I'll go along with you. If
you're crazy enough to go through
with this, someone is going to have to
go with you and keep an eye on
you."
Outside the House
"Are you completely crazy Alexis?"
Stefan shouted. "You actually want
to send those to two boys into
Helena's hands?"
"I don't want this to be a habit
or anything, but I agree with the
Count." Luke said.
"You've lost your mind, 'Tash dear."
Alexis sighed. This was going
to be even harder than she thought. She
turned to Laura. "I know
this idea worries you, but you have to see
that Lucky needs to do this.
And it wouldn't be like we wouldn't know
where he was. We'll take
precautions. Lucky and Nikolas will both have
tracking devices and bugs on them,
and Jason's men will tale them."
Laura shook her head. "No.
I'm not going to risk my son's lives. I
thought the whole point of this
was to save them from Helena, not hand
them to her."
Luke walked over and put his arms
around her shoulders. "Your right,
darling. We are doing this
to protect them."
"Stefan?" Alexis asked.
"Please, you must see how this could be vital
to saving them in the end."
Stefan crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry, Alexis, I won't put Nikolas at
risk."
Alexis took one last deep breath,
and pulled her last card out. "So
what's the alternative?"
She asked. "To just keep moving, hoping
Helena doesn't find us?" She turned
to Luke and Laura. "You want to put
your son back on the run?
Don't you think he deserves a life where he's
not always worried about being
separated from the people he loves, or
worse? You've already left
your daughter with Bobbie. Its not enough
to just stay alive, don't you see
that? Both of these boys need their
family, their entire family.
And they deserve to live a life with them
in peace." Alexis looked
at all three of them, and continued.
"Sometimes to get you kids' nightmares
to go away, you have to let them
face the monster themselves."
Stefan and Luke and Laura looked
at each other, and knew she was right.
"All right." Laura said.
" I don't like this one bit, and I want Lucky
and Nikolas to be as safe as we
can make them in Helena's grasp. But if
my boys really need to do this,
I won't stop them."
"Helena is about two towns
away, but could be here in a second if
she wanted." Jason said.
"Tomorrow night would be a good time to, uh,
set the bait, I guess." He
looked up at Lucky and Nikolas. "If you
want to rethink this, I'd speak
up now."
"No, I'm ready." Lucky said.
Nikolas sighed. "I'm ready too, then."
He said.
"All right. Then tomorrow,
you two will go out around town, like you're
just shopping or hanging out or
something. Well have guards on you so
Helena won't think it's to easy,
but they won't be able to stop her from
getting you. Now, she shouldn't
think this is a set up, so I don't
expect her to search you two for
bugs or tracking devices. If she does,
though, we have a back up.
Nikolas, we've installed both in your
medallion. She wouldn't take
that away from you."
Stefan picked up from there.
"All you're there to do is to figure out
why she needs to get you to Polk,
where the Ice Princess is. After
that, we'll come after you, and
if all goes well, this should all be
over."
Laura cleared her throat.
"Since this will be our last night all
together for awhile, then, the
girls and I decided to make a party of
it." She left the room, and
came back with Liz and Emily, their arms
full of food and movies.
"Luke, help me move the furniture." Luke
looked at her questionably, but
helped her. Once the room was cleared,
Laura spread sleeping bags and
blankets and pillows all over the floor,
and put all the chips and junk
food in the middle. "Exactly what kind
of party is this?" Jason
asked.
Emily looked at him as if he had
three eyes. "It's a slumber party,
silly."
"Slumber party?" Stefan asked.
"I must say I'm as confused about this
as Mr. Morgan." "I believe
its an American custom where kids invite
their friends over, and they all
sleep on the floor, uncle." Nikolas
said.
"Doesn't seem to me that it would
be much of a party if you had to sleep
on a hard floor all night."
Jason said.
"People rarely get any sleep."
Liz spoke up. "They normally stay awake
all night talking or watching movies."
Stefan looked at her dumbfounded.
"Why in the world do they call it a
slumber party then, if no one ever
sleeps?"
"Why don't you just learn as we
go along, okay Stefan?" Alexis asked,
barely containing her smile.
"We need pajamas, though, right?"
"Yes." Laura said.
"I took the liberty of going shopping this morning
while most of you were asleep.
I think I guessed the sizes pretty
well." She opened a bag and
handed flannel pants with matching shirts
to everyone.
Stefan stared at the clothes Laura
gave him, then back to her. "You
expect me to wear this ridiculous
outfit?"
Luke chuckled, thoroughly enjoying
this as much as he could. "Afraid
you might look more human out of
you dark suits?"
Stefan glared at Luke, and walked
away to go change in his room. Luke
laughed even harder when he reappeared,
looking more than a little
uncomfortable. "Well it's
not like you look any better." He said.
Everyone else came back from changing,
and Luke's laughter caught on.
Stefan did look rather funny wearing
color, after seeing him wear only
black for so long. Eventually
Stefan started laughing too, after seeing
how happy Nikolas looked right
then. The good mood of the room was
contagious.
Everyone sat down eventually, and
spread the food around.
"So what do we do first?" Alexis
asked. "I attended a few of these in
college, but it's been awhile."
"Well, we could watch a movie,
or start on the other slumber party
rituals." Emily said. "What
rituals would those be?" Nikolas asked.
"The first would have to be the
makeovers." Liz replied.
Lucky groaned from his spot next
to her. "No way. That's only a ritual
at girls' slumber parties.
We're not doing that here."
"Oh, come one, it'll be fun." Liz
coaxed. "Emily, let's put everyone's
name in a bowl. The first
person picked will do the makeover. The
second will be the makeover-ee."
While the girls were doing that, Laura
and Alexis went and got every piece
of make-up they had with them. "Are
we ready?" Laura asked.
Liz nodded, as she pulled the first name from
the bowl. "And the person
who will do the makeover, is.... Stefan!"
Nikolas looked at her amused.
"You put the guys' names in there too?"
"Of course. Everyone here
must be included in the rituals. It's a
rule." Emily said matter of factly.
"And now for the makeover-ee.
Dun-dun-dun-dun... Luke!"
Everyone in the room except for
Stefan and Luke broke out in giggles.
"No way!" Luke shouted.
"First of all, I ain't wearing make-up, and
second of all, I'm not letting
the Count apply it!"
Stefan grinned, seeing how he could
enjoy this now. "Come on, Spencer,
it's one of the rules that you
have to go along with the ritual, right
Miss Webber and Miss Quartermaine?"
Liz and Emily nodded, laughing
to hard to reply. Stefan joyfully picked
up some blush, and brushed it heavily
onto Luke's cheeks. Five minutes
later, he was done, and Luke looked
absolutely ridiculous. Stefan had
never put make-up on anyone before,
and it didn't help that he had been
laughing the whole time.
The whole room was in hysterics, and Luke got
up and ran to a mirror.
"Gee, Count, you didn't have to
make me look like I should be standing
on a street corner!" He complained,
as he walked into the bathroom to
wash his face. When the door
was closed, he looked at himself in the
mirror again, and chuckled to himself.
He was pretty funny looking.
When he came out, everyone was
settling down to watch a movie.
"Get all your make-up off, Luke-trina?"
Lucky teased. Luke picked up a
chip with dip on it and smeared
it down Lucky's face. "Hey now, new
rule!" Lucky shouted.
"You can't be bitter if someone teases you."
Laura laughed and tossed a napkin
to Lucky.
"No food fights, boys." She
said. "Too hard to clean up."
"Aww, but isn't it a ritual darlin'?"
Luke asked.
"Yes, but your forgetting a rule.
Whatever mothers at slumber parties
say is automatically a rule."
Jason laughed from where he sat.
"It seems to me the main purpose of a
slumber party is to embarrass people,
and make the rest up as you go."
Emily smiled. "You're starting
to get it now."
"So what movie are we watching?"
Luke asked.
"Scream." Liz said.
"Scream?" Luke repeated.
"Another ritual." Lucky responded.
"You always have to watch a scary
movie."
Towards the end of the movie, Alexis
looked over to Stefan to see if he
was enjoying it. She grinned
broadly as she saw him staring straight at
the screen with his eyes wide.
Looking over, she caught Jason's eye,
and silently communicated with
him. Jason picked a duster from behind
the couch. He slowly and
carefully moved it over and behind Stefan's
neck. Everyone else in the
room saw what was going on now, and watched
in interest. Jason moved
the duster closer, and brushed it by his ear.
Stefan screamed and threw the bowl
of popcorn he was holding. He looked
around frantically, covered in
popcorn. For the zillionth time that
night, everyone cracked up.
"You know, Count, we should have
come to a truce a long time ago." Luke
sputtered as he tried to catch
his breath. "You sure are good for a
laugh!"
Laura looked at her watch, and
quieted everyone down. "Okay, it's late
now, I think we should all get
some sleep."
Liz, Emily, Lucky, and Nikolas
all groaned. "But no one sleeps at a
slumber party, remember?"
Nikolas whined.
"And what the mother says goes,
too, remember?" Laura replied smiling.
"But wait, we're forgetting one
of the most important rituals." Luke
cried.
Laura turned to him smiling.
"You know one of the rituals?" She asked.
"Of course," he said, "the
pillow fight!" With that said, Luke picked
up his pillow and knocked Jason
in the back of the head. Soon, everyone
was hitting everyone else, and
trying to duck from oncoming throws.
Once they all were exhausted, they
got ready to go to sleep. Alexis,
Laura, Liz, and Emily gathered
into a circle, and were soon giggling and
whispering.
"Hey!" Jason yelled.
"Don't tell me girl talk all night is part of a
slumber party." He said.
Lucky laughed as he rolled over.
"Yep, it's the whole reason no one
gets any sleep."
"So it's like living on a farm,
huh?" Nikolas asked. "You have to
listen to chickens cackling all
night."
The guys laughed, ignoring the
yells from the girls.
"All right, we get the hint."
Alexis said. "We'll be quiet now."
"Thank you!" All the guys
said together. Two seconds later, the girls
were laughing again.
Stefan said, and turned toward
Luke. "Well, Spencer, looks like this is
going to be a long night."
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