Secrets, Lies, and Other Acts of Love
Chapter 12: Love and Death
He should be feeling despair. Lucky knows this, but all he can feel at this
moment is this incredible feeling of relief and gratitude. He is doing what a few hours
ago he was afraid he would never be able to do again. He is holding Emily in his arms
again.
The fact that they are setting in a cold cell with armed guards stationed right
outside doesn’t seem to matter.
At least not that much.
They are sitting on the lone cot in the cell, Lucky with his back against the wall
and Emily held carefully in his arms. He won’t let her go again. He can’t.
He had managed to whisper to her that Jonathan was safe and she had nodded.
He wanted to tell her about the wire and about their plan for rescuing her, but he is too
afraid that Helena is listening.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers not wanting the guards to overhear. His hand caresses
her hair.
“For what?” she replies listening to the strong rhythm of his heartbeat.
“For spoiling your escape,” he laughs ruefully as he he lifts her chin and looks
into her eyes, “Instead of rescuing you I put you in more danger. I can’t believe how
incredibly brave you are. You didn’t need rescuing.”
“I will always need you,” she whispers, her voice shaky and uneven. She
remembers the terror of the last 48 hours. “I would never have made it.” She is silent
and her words when they come are muffled against his chest. “I am so grateful for this
moment. Whatever happens, I will never forget it.”
He makes no comment and contents himself with pulling her closer.
“Ouch,” Emily cries out and reluctantly moves away from him.
“Em?” Lucky reaches for her. “Is it your wound? Did I hurt you?”
Emily hesitates and then shakes her head, lowering her eyes. “I’m fine.”
Lucky doesn’t hesitate. He won’t let her lie to him again. Ever. “Emily.” He
grabs her hand and holds it. “No more lies.” He whispers.
Emily stares at their two hands with fingers intertwined. Without a word, she
turns around, unbuttons her shirt, and shows Lucky her back. The angry red welts that
criss cross the delicate flesh tell Lucky all he needs to know.
“I’ll kill her.” The feeling of anger is so intense that he can’t breath. Can’t think.
The images of the welts burn in his mind. Putting aside his anger, her gently covers
Emily back up and rebuttons her shirt. Careful not to touch her back, he gently holds
her.
After everything she has been through, Lucky’s gentleness is almost more than
Emily can bear. She begins to cry silently. She tries to hide her tears but Lucky refuse
to let her.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I...I made Helena angry with me. She wanted to know where Jonathan was. I
lied to her. I told her he was in Seattle. When she discovered the truth,” Emily’s voice
breaks. She pauses, the memory of the whip coming down still haunts her. “Helena had
one of her men whip me. I was weak and feverish. I didn’t cry out the first time or the
second. But by the fifth time, I fainted. I don’t remember anything else.”
“It’s okay,” Lucky whispers. “You’re safe.”
Neither one of them realizes how incongruous that statement is when they are
trapped in a cell that is heavily guarded. They believe it because they are together.
Emily’s eyes are shadowed. “You don’t understand,” the words slip out in a
tortured voice. “I told her where he was. I couldn’t stand the pain anymore and I gave
in. I betrayed my son. I told Helena where he was.”
She is crying in earnest now and Lucky is at a loss to comfort her. Her guilt so
closely mirrors his own that he wonders who is comforting who.
After a few minutes, the cell is quiet again. Em has her head on his shoulder. He
is touching her- her cheek, her hair, her arm. He can’t stop touching her. He needs to
convince himself that she is real.
She moves away from him as she dries her tears. She needs to be stronger than
this. “I didn’t want you involved,” she says to him. “I would have done anything to
keep you safe.”
“You did, “ His voice is harsh as he remembers that morning when Helena
appeared at the safe house. Was it only a few days ago? “You scared the hell out of me
threatening to kill yourself if Helena didn’t let me go. Everytime I close my eyes I see
that knife against your neck. “
“I would have too,” Emily’s voice is too calm. “I would have done anything to
protect my son. To keep you safe. And I was so tired of running and hiding like a
trapped animal. Without me, Jonathan could have a normal life.” Her voice drops even
lower. “The first day Helena held me all I could do was pray that she would get angry
enough to kill me.”
Another reason to kill Helena Lucky decides seeing Emily’s pain. But he is also,
he realizes, angry at Emily. “You don’t get it do you?” He lowers his voice to the
barest of whispers. “Jonathan loves you. He needs you. God Em,” He embraces her
again, drained of anger at the thought of losing her. “Do you have any idea how
important you are to me?” He wants to say more but feels that old familiar fear, the fear
of loving anyone again after losing Liz, engulf him. As deeply as he cares about Emily,
he won’t let himself love her. He can’t lose someone he loves again. He ignores the
voice in his head that tells him that he’s too late to stop.
Emily looks up, achingly aware of what he is not saying. What she knows he
will never say. Her brown eyes are soft and luminous and momentarily filled with pain.
Emily closes her eyes and opens them again, staring at his face as if she is trying to
memorize every aspect of his features, every detail of this moment. She will need it to
keep her warm when she is cold she realizes.
With his heart beating rapidly, Lucky leans forward until his lips softly touch
hers. When, after a second, she returns his kiss, he deepens it.
After the longest minute of his life, he breaks the kiss breathing raggedly.
“Not here,” he whispers huskily. “I don’t want to be a sideshow for Helena’s
goons. When this is is all over,” he vows,” we’ll talk.”
Emily nods and lowers her eyes in confusion. She knows that it is extremely
unlikely that they will get out of this.
And if they do....she knows that a future between her and Lucky won’t happen.
There are too many barriers that stand between them. If she makes it out of this, she
will not risk Jonathan’s safety again for anyone. She will not ask Lucky to live a lie and
she will not tell the truth. But she knows that these reasons are mere smokescreens.
The real reason she can never be with Lucky is because he is still in love with Liz. He
will always love Liz. Emily can fight Helena Cassadine tooth and nail for Lucky’s life.
But she cannot fight a ghost for his love.
It didn’t matter a bit that she loved him.
“I am never letting you go again,” Lucky breathes the promise against her hair.
Her heart breaks as she realizes he already has.
An hour later Emily is sleeping on the cot and Lucky is sitting across the cell from her,
watching her sleep. The guards are still outside the cell. There has been no sign of
Helena, but Lucky knows that she is watching. Strapped to his wrist is the switchblade
that Jason gave him. A switchblade against six men with automatic weapons is suicide
and Lucky knows it. As much as he wants to act, he has to bide his time and trust in his
father and Jason. He prays to God that Sean is keeping Jonathan safe. And he prays to
God to forgive him for not keeping Emily safe.
The guard turns as footsteps sound down the corridor. Lucky is suddenly filled with
an overwhelming fear. Quickly he moves to wake Emily up.
“Lucky?” Emily is momentarily confused and then she sees Helena standing
outside her cell and understands what is happening.
“Promise me,” Lucky whispers urgently. “Promise me that whatever happens
you not jeopardize your safety or Jonathan’s. No matter what happens to me.”
“Lucky...I..” Emily hesitates.
“Promise me,” Lucky insists. “I can endure anything if I know that you are
safe.”
She wants to protest, to tell him that she feels the same about him. But she
realizes that he has to do this for her. And she has to let him.
She nods.
Helena watches them with vindictive anger. As much as she has grown to hate
Emily Quartermaine for keeping her great grandson away from her, she hates Lucky
Spencer for just existing. She looks forward to the pleasure of killing them both.”
“How touching,” Helena mocks as the guards open the cell and she enters. “A
last embrace between lovers.”
Lucky holds Emily and ignores Helena.
“You’ll be okay,” he whispers in her ear.
“No, she won’t.” Helena corrects him coldly. “Until my great grandson takes
his rightful place by my side, nothing will be okay for Ms. Quartermaine again.”
“What are you planning to do?” Emily asks.
“To you?” Helena answers thoughtfully, “Nothing. Yet. You are still somewhat
useful. Although I must say that your usefulness is fast diminishing and you are
becoming far more trouble than you are worth. I imagine that in a day or so you will be
of no worth to me and I will discard you.” Helena looks at Lucky. “On the other hand,
you I will simply kill now. I am actually quite looking forward to watching you die. It is
not everyday that a Cassidine gets to kill a Spencer.”
Before Lucky can make a move, the guards grab him and begin to drag him out
of the cell.
“Lucky!” Emily cries as the guards restrain her.
Lucky manages to turn his head and look at her one last time. Their eyes meet
and hold. Then the guard leads Lucky out of the cell.
“I love you,” the words escape from Emily before she can stop them.
Lucky pauses, closes his eyes for a second, and then moves forward as the
guards continue to take him away with Helena following behind.
Left alone in her cell, Emily falls to the floor in despair. She is not sure which is
breaking her heart more. The fact that Lucky is gone. Or the fact that he said nothing.
She closes her eyes and lets herself cry.
Somewhere outside the complex:
Luke has heard enough. He and Jason have taken turns monitoring Lucky’s
wire taps from the insides of a broken down van that Jason stole. They have also been
taking turns planting small but deadly explosive devices around the perimeter of the
compound, just beyond the range of the security cameras or the guards. With the
devices as a distraction, they hope to enter the compound and follow Lucky’s signal.
What he has just overheard convinces Luke that they are out of time. Helena’s men
have taken his son and Luke has no intention of sitting by and listening to his son being
killed.
Wait a minute, Luke grabs the screen that displays the homing signal again and
turns up the sound on the wire tap.
Oh my God, he whispers as he realizes what has happened. He knows that
Lucky is being moved from the sounds coming through the wire, but the signal infront
of him is not moving. The signal isn’t moving.
His son had taken the beacon off himself and planted it on Emily. Now he and
Jason had a chance at finding Emily, but none at finding Lucky.
Luke refuses to let himself think that way. Instead he reaches for the weapons
Jason has brought, grabs them, and heads off to find Jason.
He has a son to rescue and a girl to save.
And an enemy to kill.
The hotel lobby
The manager of the hotel is not surprised when a small contingent of Helena’s
guards, led by Jacob, enter the hotel lobby. Instead he greets them apologetically. Jacob
waves the managers flattery aside. He is here for one reason and one reason only.
“Which room?”
Before the words are out of the manager’s mouth, Jacob has led his men up the
stairs.
The hotel room
Sean sits on the chair by the rackety old table checking the small arsenal of weapons.
He won’t admit it to anyone, but he is getting worried. They have been gone too long.
Already his mind is racing with possibilities. Does he go after them? Or get the kid to
safety? He thinks of Jonathan who is in the bathroom. He remembers Jason and Luke’s
command to keep the kid safe and realizes he has his answer. He picks up the gun.
They have been gone too long and he and the kid have stayed still for too long. It’s
time to move. He stands up.
At that moment Jacob and his men force their way into the room. Without
giving anyone a chance to respond, Helena’s men open fire and splatter the room with
bullets. The noise is deafening for a minute. When it is over, Sean Donnelly lies dead, a
crimson stain cascading from his head and chest. He never stood a chance. Never got
off a shot. Never posed a threat. He was just in the way.
Jacob kicks the body. “Check the rest of the room,” He orders his men. “See if
Spencer had more than one companion with him.”
The men search for a few minutes.
“The place is empty.”
“Fine, let’s get the hell out of here.”
“What about him?”
“Leave him for the rats.”
A minute later they are gone.
On the ledge outside of the bathroom window, Jonathan holds on for his life.
