Emily stretched and yawned sleepily as a tropical breeze filtered in from the slightly open window. Still more asleep than awake, she turned on her side and cuddled back up against the solid form radiating heat in her bed.

Lucky grinned as he watched her settle herself and then pulled her even closer to give her a softly pressed kiss on her lips.

“It’s too early to get out of bed,” she protested as she grudgingly came awake to return the kiss.

“Who said anything about getting out of bed,” Lucky whispered as he deepened the kiss and used his hands to caress her slender form.

Emily’s eyes glazed over with that familiar look that Lucky loved to see as he broke off the passionate kiss. She smiled up at him. “In that case,” she whispered as she returned his kiss and lost herself to the oblivion of their love.

An hour later Emily emerged from the shower with her hair tied back in a ponytail and an old robe pulled around her. She walked into the kitchen where Lucky was doing what he did every morning, checking his email. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. “Good morning,” She whispered.

He smiled. “I thought we already said good morning.”

“Okay then,” She kissed him softly on the neck. “How about I simply settle for telling you how much I love you?”

“That will work,” he replied amazed that after six years together he could still be amazed by what her touch did to him.

After a few minutes, Lucky reluctantly broke off the embrace. “I have work to do.”

“Actually, now that you mention so do I. I promised Jonathan I’d take him over to the ruins of that pirate fort so that he could take some pictures for his report.” Emily sighed as she fixed herself a cup of tea. “I’m so glad that he’s been able to go to school this year. Sometimes I feel so guilty for what we are doing to him...the moving around...the different names..”

“The keeping him alive....the keeping him away from the Wicked Witch of Greece..” Lucky interrupted her. “Emily, you have to stop this. Jonathan is happy. And safe and alive and with us where he belongs. We both know the price we paid, the price you paid to make sure of that.” He looks at her with those piercing blue eyes. “If you ever doubt what we are doing all you need to do is look in the mirror. Those scars you carry should remind you of why we are doing this.”

There is a rare moment of uncomfortable silence between them. Emily shakes her head, walks over to the sink, and pours out the rest of her tea. Lucky comes up behind her and puts his arms around her. Sighing, she leans back a little and settles into his arms. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. She can feel the shake of his head and hear the beat of his heart.

“No, I’m sorry. I love you. You know that. Your scars are this badge of honor that remind me of how strong you are.” He traces the faded welts down her back through the robe and Emily shivers at his touch. “But sometimes” His voice catches “Sometimes they remind me of what happened in Mexico and how I almost lost you. Both of you. And when I think of Helena out there somewhere..I go crazy. That’s all there is. You worry that we do too much to protect ourselves from Helena. I worry that we don’t do enough.”

She turns in his arms so that they are face to face. “Do you ever regret...” She begins, but he refuses to let her finish.

“Not for a second. Not ever. The last six years have been incredible. Waking up beside you every morning. Falling asleep in your arms at night. Watching Jonathan grow up in front of my eyes. I have never been happier in my life.”

She releases the breath she was holding and allows him to pull her closer, until her head rests just below his chin. “I’m sorry.” she repeats, the words muffled by his chest. “I don’t know what has got into me lately. I know you love me. I know we are doing the right thing but sometimes lately I feel so insecure about everything.”

“You’re pregnant Emily,” Lucky smiles. “You’re supposed to be emotional when you’re pregnant.” His hands move to cover her stomach possessively although at two months there is no way she is showing yet.

“How would you know?” She looks at him suspiciously. “When was the last time you were around a pregnant woman?”

“My mom when she was pregnant with Ruby. Oh, I was there when she was pregnant with LuLu but if I remember right I was too busy beating this pig tailed little brat at video games or running away with her across the country to notice.” He smiles when Emily jabs him playfully with her elbow. “But I remember when she was pregnant with Ruby. Excited one moment. Angry the next. In love with my dad. Ready to strangle my dad. Poor Dad, he didn’t know whether he was coming or going some days.” Lucky’s breath stirs her hair gently. “But even when she was throwing a closet full of shoes at him he always loved her.” He forced her chin up. “Just like I will always love you.” He kisses her gently.

There is silence in the kitchen for a moment. Then Emily looks up. “A closet full of shoes?” She starts giggling and Lucky smiles in relief that the small crisis has passed.

Outside on the beach, Jonathan Quartermaine-Spencer was walking with his dog to collect shells and other things. He usually woke up before either of his parents in the morning, a trait his dad said he inherited from his real father- a man that Jonathan had never meant and didn’t particularly want to meet.

Jonathan picked up a piece of driftwood and threw it down the stretch of beach and watched with a smile as Diablo ran to get it. The German Shephard was his constant companion. Diablo went with him everywhere- even to the small missionary school he attended part time. While Jonathan was in class, Diablo would sit and wait at the edge of the schoolyard. His mom and dad had tried once to get Diablo to stay home. They never tried a second time.

At twelve, Jonathan was a mirror image of his mother. Tall with brown hair and brown eyes. He never asked whether he resembled his father. He hoped the answer was no.

Not that he hated his father Jonathan thought as he sat down on the sand to watch the waves crash against the beach. How could you hate someone who you had never met? To Jonathan, his father simply didn’t matter. He had his mother. He had Lucky. He had Diablo. It was more family than he had ever expected to have. Maybe someday, when it was safe for his mother, he would look up his real father. This Nikolas Cassadine. Just to see what he was like. But he knew that the only real dad he would ever have was the one who had lived with him. protected him, and loved him for the last six years.

Someday. Would that someday ever come? Jonathan had been ten when his mom and dad had sat him down and explained it all. Not that Jonathan needed anyone to explain to him the danger he and his mother were in and by extension Lucky since he had come to live with them. Jonathan’s own memories of that time in Mexico were vivid and clear and terrifying even after six years. Sometimes he still had nightmares. Maybe more often than sometimes. He had almost died. Sean had died. Jonathan had killed a man. His mother had been kidnapped. If it hadn’t been for Lucky, he and his mother would never have made it. And Luke. And Jason. And all because of Helena Cassadine.

His great grandmother.

Sometimes he wondered if his mom ever looked at him and saw her. How could she love someone who was related to the woman who was trying to kill her. Jonathan saw the scars on his mother. It made him sick to think that his great grandmother had put them there. He had said as much to his mother once and she had been quick to reassure him that she loved him. So had Lucky. And Lucky had pointed out that since Nikolas Cassadine was his brother, Jonathan had Lucky’s blood racing through him too. The thought had made his year. He didn’t want to be a Cassadine. He didn’t want to be part of a family that could do the things the Cassadines did.

He wanted to be a Spencer. Or even a Quartermaine-Spencer. Not that they were ever allowed to use their own last names. That was rule number one. His name for the last year had been Jay Longstreet. His mom was Emma. His dad was Caleb. Jonathan grinned. This time it was Lucky that got stuck with the yucky name. Last time it had been Jonathan who had to go through two months of his life being called Alvin. Lucky always picked out beautiful names for his mother though. Rule number two. No pictures. Jonathan had never posed for a school picture. His mom had no pictures of him anywhere in the house. The only photo of any of them was the one they used for their passports. The only other photo in the whole house was the one his mom had of the Quartermaines. Even that she kept hidden in the bottom desk drawer. Sometimes Jonathan got it out and looked at it and wondered if he would ever like those people if he met them.

He knew his mom and dad were worried about him. But truth to tell, he worried more about them, especially his mom. He was smart enough to know that if that Helena Cassadine person wanted him so much, she probably wouldn’t hurt him. And he was old enough to take care of himself. Lucky had taught him self-defense. What Lucky knew about survival made MacGyver seem like an amateur. Jonathan knew how to fight, he knew how to shoot a gun if he had to, he knew how to rig an explosive. He also knew how to think his way through any kind of problem. Every day Lucky and he would take Diablo for a walk and away from mom Lucky would drill him. What do you do if? If plan A doesn’t work what’s plan B?

The person Jonathan really worried about was his mother. And then Lucky. If Helena wanted him, what would she do to get to him? She had been willing to have his mother shot, kidnapped, tortured, and almost killed before. She had killed her own son. She had kidnapped Lucky’s mother. She had tried to kill Lucky’s family. Jonathan had lived all of his 12 years in hiding because of her. She was pure evil.

And she was his great grandmother. Maybe that thought scared him the most.

So lost in thought was Jonathan, that he never noticed the dark clad figures waiting in the trees behind him until it was too late.

Back at the house, Emily had finished dressing while Lucky had returned to his lap top computer. “Any messages?” Emily asked as she put a gold stud into her ear.

Lucky didn’t look up as he finished hacking his way into Jason Morgan’s private files. It was the system they had used for the last six years. Jason left them messages every month or so in his own private files and every month or so Lucky broke into those files and retrieved them, being careful to bypass the information that he really didn’t want to know about. Most of the messages were short updates on Helena’s latest location or Jason’s efforts to kill the bitch or something along those lines. Once in a while Jason would drop a note about someone they knew. It was their only means of communication and it was very one sided. Lucky never left messages of his own. He and Emily and Jonathan had been incommunicado for six years.

“Not really.” He closed the lap top. “What do you say we both take Jonathan to see the pirate ruins and then stop in town for lunch.”

“Sounds good to me,” Emily smiled. “But I thought you had to work.”

“I did,” Lucky grinned. “I just made us a couple of thousand dollars on a stock transition and managed to transfer some funds from the Swiss account to the island account.” Between the money Lucky had stashed away and the account Jason had set up for Emily and Jonathan and the relatively inexpensive cost of living in the Caribbean, neither one of them had to work. But that didn’t stop Lucky from playing the stock market via the internet.

The two of them walked down the beach. Emily pressed against his side. A soft warm breeze danced around them. The island was breathtakingly beautiful.

They were about a 100 yards from the house when Lucky stopped abruptly and Emily looked up. She could see a dark shape on the ground further down the beach. Oh God. She raced down the beach as fast as she could but Lucky got there first.

Emily felt the blood drain from her as she looked at the still and silent form of Diablo. Lucky runs his hand over the animal’s still form. It comes away with blood on it.

“He’s been shot.”

Emily looked around desperately. There was no sign of Jonathan. Anywhere. He had vanished. She fell to her knees in the sinking sand.

“Emily,” Lucky reached down to her and pulled her up and pulled her close. For a moment, she let herself be enveloped in his strength. Then she pulled away and looked up at him.

“What are we going to do?” She whispers.

“Whatever it takes to get our son back,” Lucky says his tone furious and deadly.

She knows this. She trusts Lucky. She really does. She even trusts Jonathan to take care of himself. But still...she is a mother who wants her child back.

“We will get him back Emily,” Lucky can feel the cold fear in her as he holds her close. “What do we do first?” She asks although she already knows the answer.

“We go home to Port Charles. We get some help. Then we get him back.” Lucky’s voice is fierce and determined.

Emily nods and closes her eyes to keep the fear at bay.

Jonathan wakes up in a darkened room. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust. When he does, he realizes that he is alone save for a female figure.

"Who are you?" He asks. The figure steps forward revealing blonde hair and cold features.

"My name is Katherine," The woman says as she smiles at the young boy. "I work for your great grandmother"



Next Chapter: Family Reunions Emily and Lucky return to Port Charles as Jonathan begins to make plans of his own.

story index