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Dara Jensen walked
briskly into the Port Charles police station. She
spotted Detective Taggert leaning
over to pick up some scattered papers on
the floor. ''What happened here?''
she drawled, unconsciously imitating
Taggert. ''Tornado blow through?''
She straightened, smiling.
''If that's
what you'd like to call it,'' Taggert said, without his
usual patronizing tone. ''We had
a, uh--incident- here this morning.
''Incident?''
Dara asked, raising an eyebrow. ''I'm almost afraid to
ask.
Taggert
sighed and leaned against his desk. Dara noticed the corner
of the wood had chipped and broken
off.
''That
Spencer kid had a nervous breakdown or something. He just
lost it and started acting all
nuts.'' He shook his head sorrowfully. ''Real
tragedy--his girlfriend just getting
raped and all, and it turns out his dad
did the same thing.''
Dara looked
at Taggert questioningly. ''What do you mean?''
Taggert
shrugged. ''Doesn't really matter. He's his parents' problem
now.''
Dara watched
Taggert with growing distaste, both for his refusal to
give her any details and the casual
way he dismissed the entire ordeal. She
decided not to pursue the matter
further, but made a mental note to check
with Mac for details later. ''So-''
Taggert looked at her and smiled.
''Did
you hear about Morgan?'' he interrupted excitedly.
''Yes,
I heard. It's nothing to happy about, Taggert. A man was
murdered.''
''No,''
Taggert responded. ''A CRIMINAL was murdered. Someone just
did what the PCPD couldn't.''
Dara shook
her head and glared at the detective. ''WHO was murdered
isn't the point. There's a killer
loose and it's YOUR job to find them.''
She stopped and leaned in closer
to him. ''Well, Mr. Big Shot Detective,
think you can handle such a TOUGH
job?'' She smiled and walked away,
leaving Taggert to stare stupidly
after her.
Audrey
burst through the door of the waiting room, relief and anger
showing equally on her face. ''Oh,
Elizabeth, thank god,'' she breathed as
she ran to her granddaughter. ''You
left the house in such a hurry, when I
told you where Lucky was-'' She
trailed off, noticing the tears
coursing down Liz's face. ''What--Elizabeth,
what is it?'' She sat beside
her and put her arm around her
shoulders. ''Please tell me.''
Liz looked
up into her grandmother's face, wiping away tears. ''I
don't know,'' she whispered hoarsely.
''Lucky was fine yesterday, but last
night he just got so MAD all of
a sudden, and this morning-'' She broke off,
as fresh tears started down her
cheeks.
Audrey
pulled her close, letting her cry against her shoulder. She
saw Luke and Laura standing together
a few feet away, watching their
exchange. ''Elizabeth,'' she said
softly, drawing her arms away. ''You don't
have to try to explain anything
to me. Just sit here and I'll be right back
okay?'' Liz just nodded and watched
her go.
Audrey
approached the Spencers and looked at them questioningly.
''What happened?'' she asked shortly.
''Elizabeth
is practically in hysterics.''
Luke and
Laura looked at each other tiredly; the word 'hysterics'
had been given all new meaning
to them this morning. Laura looked back to
Audrey and spoke quietly. ''Lucky's
had some sort of breakdown,'' she
explained. She shook her head.
''He went crazy when we showed up at
the police station, and when Liz
showed up he accused of her conspiring with
us-''
''He WHAT?''
Audrey exclaimed, drawing a startled glance from Liz
and a nurse standing near by. ''He
has no right to accuse her of anything.''
''I know
that Audrey,'' Laura said, trying to hide her anger. ''He
didn't know what he was saying.
He was acting so--paranoid. It's like
something inside him just snapped.''
''Oh,
something inside him snapped alright,'' Audrey snapped. ''His
good sense is what. Elizabeth has
been nothing but perfectly sweet to him,
but he drove her away and made
her hate him--and now he has her eating
right out of his hand again. I
don't know why I ever let their
friendship continue anyway, after
I caught him sleeping on her floor-''
''Audrey,
would you stop babbling!'' Luke demanded harshly.
Audrey opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it
and stalked off. She approached
the only nurse in the waiting room and
lightly touched her shoulder. The
nurse looked up, smiling. ''Hello, Mrs.
Hardy,'' she greeted her, nodding
slightly. ''I see you aren't working now,
so-''
''I need
to see a patient,'' Audrey said curtly.
''Which
patient?'' the nurse asked a little nervously.
''Lucky
Spencer.''
Lucky raised
his head slowly, scrubbing his hand through his hair.
His head throbbed painfully and
it was all he could do to keep from sinking
back into the pillows. There were
two pillows, he noticed, a little
surprised. He realized he had no
idea where he was. He tried to sit up, but
soon reached a resistance. He looked
down at himself and was shocked to see
restraints across his chest, wrists,
and ankles. He pushed against them with
all his strength, which wasn't
much.
''Don't
do that,'' a voice chastised him, and Lucky looked up to see
a doctor standing in the doorway.
He finally realized that he was in a
hospital. ''It won't do you any
good, anyway.''
Lucky
sank back onto the bed, closing his eyes in a feeble attempt
to make the room stop spinning.
The doctor approached the bed cautiously,
looking at his patient apprehensively.
''There's no concussion, at least we
don't think there is, but you're
head certainly isn't going to feel too
good for a while.''
''What
happened?'' Lucky asked, his mouth dry. He had a horrible
feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He opened his eyes again, but everything
was hazy, and the room stubbornly
refused to quit tilting around him. His
eyes felt heavy, and he was dismayed
to find himself wanting to sink back
into sleep again.
''Well,
you were hit on the head,'' the doctor was saying.
Lucky
didn't open his eyes, but turned his head in the direction of
the doctor's voice. He licked his
dry lips, and sighed heavily. ''With what?
I've never felt this bad in my
life.'' He regretted the words instantly. He
dreaded the long story the doctor
would undoubtedly launch into at this
prompt.
''A phone,''
the doctor said almost cheerily.
''What?''
Lucky exclaimed, opening his eyes and struggling to sit up
again. He, of course, was stopped,
by both the restraints and the doctor's
hand on his chest.
''Stop
it,'' the doctor said calmly, and stepped back. Lucky watched
him blearily, exhaustion forcing
him to fall back on the bed again. He shut
his eyes and tried to think back
to the night before. His eyes flew open and
his hands curled into tight fists.
The need to get out of the bed was
suddenly overpowering. He lifted
his head, ignoring the pain and the
dizziness, and called out to the
doctor. ''Wait!'' The doctor turned and
regarded him coolly. ''I need to
talk to you,'' he said. ''Alone.'' His eyes
fell on two guards standing on
each side of the door the doctor had entered through.
The doctor
eyed him suspiciously, but nodded at the guards to leave.
They left, closing the door quietly
behind them. ''What is this all about?''
the doctor asked, unable to mask
most of his suspicion.
Lucky
looked to the door, and then searched for windows, and was
surprised when he didn't find any.
''Lucky-''
the doctor prompted, and he focused, or at least
attempted to, on the doctor again.
''THEY
put me in here, didn't they?''
The doctor
sighed and looked at him, almost regretfully. ''Why are
you whispering, Lucky?''
''They
might be listening,'' Lucky hissed, and struggled to push
himself further up. ''I know this
might sound crazy,'' he whispered
urgently, glancing again at the
door. ''But you have to believe me. It's all
part of their plan.''
He laid
back against his pillows, feeling the exhaustion pulling at
him once again. ''What did you
give me?'' he asked drunkenly. ''Did my
parents tell you to drug me too?''
he asked when the doctor didn't respond.
''It wasn't enough to lock me up
in here, but they had to drug me
too...''
The doctor
watched him silently, stealing anxious glances at the
door, and wished for about the
fifth time that he was a psychiatrist. He
started as the door opened behind
him. ''Ah, Dr. Scanlon,'' Audrey said,
entering the dimly lighted room.
''I was hoping I could have a minute with
your patient.''
Lucky
looked up at her with only the slightest interest. The
sedative Scott had given him was
finally overpowering his anxiety to get out
of bed.
''I'm
sorry, Mrs. Hardy, but-''
''Oh,
don't worry about that. I already spoke with Gail and she said
it was alright.''
Dr. Scanlon
looked unsure, but turned to leave anyway, relieved at
the excuse to leave. Audrey
waited until the door closed behind him, then
approached Lucky. She hastily removed
his restraints, then tried to cajole
him into sitting up. Lucky fought
briefly with his painful head and the
sedative, then gave up and collapsed
back on the pillows.
He stared
at Audrey blearily as she leaned over him. ''All right,
Lucky,'' she said seriously. ''Now
tell me what you've done to my
granddaughter.''
Lucky's vision blurred as Audrey
leaned in closer to inspect. ''Do
to her?'' he asked. He sat upright
in the bed, his anger pushing his
body
to work harder than it wanted.
He felt the world tilt as he sat up, but
ignored it and continued.
''She's the one who betrayed me!''
''Betrayed
you?'' Audrey asked in a mocking tone. ''Oh, please
Lucky! Elizabeth would never do
anything to hurt you. She adores you.
Which is why she's out in that
waiting room crying for you right now.''
Lucky
blinked in surprise, and forced his eyes to focus. ''She's
out
there?'' he asked quietly.
''Yes,''
Audrey practically shouted. ''With you parents. She's out
there crying because she thinks
SHE did something wrong to hurt you! I
can't seem to make her understand
who's REALLY hurting who.''
Lucky
was no longer listening. He sat staring at his hands, trying
to rub some circulation back into
them. He didn't want to hear Audrey,
or
her accusation, or any of it. Liz
was waiting outside with his parents,
and he knew know that they
were all working against him. He looked back
at Audrey and spoke in a hushed
voice. ''Go away.''
Audrey
appeared shocked. ''Not until I'm finished with you,'' she
said scoldingly.
''GO AWAY!''
Lucky shouted, and jumped off the bed. The dizziness
worsened, but he found that if
he focused on his anger it made it
more
bearable. ''And take your WHINY
LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER with you!'' He
looked briefly down at himself,
and was relieved to find he was wearing
normal clothing, and not a hospital
gown. He pulled on a pair of shoes
and hurried toward the door, despite
his body's attempts to send him
down
to the floor. He pushed past Audrey
and barreled out into the hallway,
where he was greeted by two
burly security guards. He threw himself
straight into them and they staggered
back in surprise.
He realized
nobody was making a grab for him and took it as his
cue
to make his exit. He forced his
legs into a run and hurried down the
hall, his feet picking up speed
as he did. He turned a corner and ran
down another corridor. He saw an
elevator opening and picked up speed
to
catch it. He barely made, the doors
sliding shut almost before he was
through. He leaned against the
wall inside, panting heavily. Sweat
trickled down his forehead
and the dizziness hit him again with
crushing
impact. He collapsed against the
wall of the elevator sliding down to
a
sitting position.
Stefan
and Nikolas Cassadine watched him in a mixture of surprise
and horror. ''Lucky?'' Nikolas
asked hesitantly.
Lucky
looked up at him with wild eyes, and brushed a sweaty strand
of hair out his face. ''You,''
he whispered
hoarsely.
He pulled himself up a little straighter and glared at
Nikolas wildly. ''Don't tell me
YOU'RE in on it too,'' he said.
Nikolas
looked to his uncle, but Stefan simply shrugged. He stared
back at Lucky, who was now using
a hand to steady himself on the wall as
he stood up. ''Stay away from me,''
Lucky whispered, his voice a little
stronger. He was still
breathing heavily, but he felt like he could go
on. ''I won't let you take me back
there,'' he said and backed out of the
elevator as the doors slid open
to the lobby. Nikolas and Stefan watched
him go with their jaws hanging
open, then stepped out after him. ''Just
stay away,'' Lucky repeated, then
took off toward the exit.
He ran to the
doors, and pushed them open, glancing over his shoulder
once before stepping outside. A
couple of people glanced at him,
disinterested, but no one tried
to stop him. Cool air hit him as he
stepped outside, and he was
surprised to find it was already dark out.
He walked shakily to a pay phone
and dialed his aunt's number.
''Ruby?
Hey, it's me Lucky,'' he said, leaning against the wall. His
head hurt again, now that his adrenaline
wasn't working for him. ''No, I
just wanted to make sure Lulu was
still there. '' He paused a moment,
hoping he was right about
his guess that his parents would take her
there. Ruby told him that Lulu
was there, and fine, but sleeping. Lucky
closed his eyes and slid
down the wall in relief.
''Yes,
I'm fine, Ruby. Wake Lu up all right? Tell her I'm coming to
get her.''