Dawn had just begun to shatter the night when Maxie reluctantly opened her eyes and then closed them again, refusing to surrender one moment of her time with Jason before she had to. She lay curled up against his side, her head resting on his chest, her long blonde hair blanketing his hard muscles. She could feel the warmth of his body and listen to the rhythm of his heart as it beat softly and peacefully.

They were both naked, a sheet pulled over their tangled bodies. Her muscles ached and her body felt sore, but it was a feeling that she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. It was ironic, she was in bed with one of the deadliest men in the country and she had never felt more secure or more at peace in her life. This was the man she loved. This was how it felt to wake up next to him. It was like nothing else she had ever experienced before, not even the time in New York. As precious as those hours together had been, they weren’t accentuated by years of missing him and feeling his absence in her life.

She didn’t want to think about how hard it would be to say goodbye.

A strong hand came up to gently caress her hair and quietly stroke her back. “You okay?” Jason whispered softly as he felt the soft texture of her skin against his.

“I’m fine,” she shifted a little so that she could look into his blue eyes. “I’m more fine. I’m incredible.”

“You certainly are,” Jason says with a smile as she leans forward to kiss him and he returns the kiss. “Last night was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I didn’t know it was possible to feel what I felt.”

Maxie smiled. “That’s good, because I didn’t know it was possible to do some of the things I did...we did last night.” Just thinking about the night before made her blush.

Jason reached up to caress her cheek. “Are you sorry?” He asked her, surprised to find that he was holding his breath waiting for her answer. She shook her head.

“Not for any of it,” she told him simply, punctuating her statement with another kiss that caused the passion to surge through them again. “You know, technically its not daylight until all of the darkness is gone. Some people would still consider this to be part of the night.”

“Is that so,” Jason moved his attention away from her mouth to the curve of her neck. “Than I suppose we should argue with them. Arguing takes too much time and energy. I’d much rather spend my time doing something more productive.” He lowers his math to her breast and suckles, enjoying the shudder that goes through her.

“I’m not sure that this would be classified as productive,” the effects of her word are ruined by the moan that proceeds them.

:”I don’t know,” Jason says as he focuses on using every part of him to bring pleasure to every part of. “I think it depends on what you want to produce.”

And with one sudden movement, Jason turns her onto her back and proceeds to show her exactly the effect she produces in him.

Lucky, fresh from the shower, with his light brown hair still wet, walks up behind his wife as she talks on the phone and pulls her against him in a gentle embrace.

Emily turns around and smiles at him before turning her attention back to the phone. “No, you’re right Mom. I shouldn’t have left town without letting you know where I was. No, I just needed to get away for a little while. I couldn’t stay and deal with Lucky’s death. I know. I have to come home and deal with it soon and I will I promise. No, actually I think Maxie has a busy day planned shopping and then we are taking Jonathan to the zoon I think. Yeah, it was nice of Jason to offer to bring Jonathan. I’m sorry you didn’t get my message and that you guys were worried. They did? Really? No that’s fine. We’ll be back in two or three days. I promise. Yeah, I’ll think about it.” Emily’s voice is beginning to sound out of patience and Lucky gently massages the muscles in the back of her neck. “I know it has to be done. I know he meant a lot to the people in that town. You know he meant a lot to me too.” Emily took a deep breath. “Yeah. No, he’s still sleeping. Okay I’ll give him your love. I love you too Mom.”

Emily sighed heavily as she put the phone down.

“You okay?” Lucky asked her his concern evident on her face.

She nodded. “I just ....I just thought we were all done with the lies you know.”

“We will be. In a little while all of this will be over with. Helena Cassadine will be out of our lives and you and Jonathan and I and the baby can be a family.”

“Unless Nikolas decides to take him away again.”

“Em,” He kissed her softly on the cheek. “Remember what we promised each other all those years ago.” He touched her nose gently. “One major life threatening crisis at a time whenever possible.”

“I remember,” Emily giggled suddenly. “The look on the priests face when you made me repeat that was priceless. I don’t think he expected crisis management to be included in the wedding vows.”

“Then he’d obviously never officiated at a Spencer wedding before.” Lucky quipped. “We not only include it in the vows but write it into the prenuptial.” He drank in the sight of her smile. “What did my mother-in-law have to say?”

“It was what she didn’t say,” Emily muttered as she let him pour her a glass of orange juice from the honor bar and sat down at the counter. “I can tell she thinks I’m a flake for taking off like that when you had just died. She thinks I should be home dealing with all of the lawyers and the memorial service and all of that instead of chasing off to New York. I don’t know why she doesn’t trust me,” Emily complained as Lucky continued to smile at her. “Just because I took off when I was 19 without saying a word to anyone and returned almost thirteen years later with an illegitimate son, a husband she knew nothing about, and a crazed psychotic old bitch trying to kill me doesn’t mean that I’m not trustworthy.” She finished in a whining voice.

“I trust you,” Lucky hides her amusement at her tirade which he chalks up to pregnancy, worry, and lack of sleep. He reaches over and kisses her long and deep. “Lilies of the valley.” He tells her. She gives him a puzzled look. “For my memorial service. Or maybe I want one of those big huge wreaths that says Rest in Peace.”

Emily shakes her head. “Too tacky. I was kind of thinking that we could go for one of those cyber funerals, you know a computer animated memorial service and then open up a chat room where people can leave messages telling each other how wonderful you are.” Emily said mockingly.

Lucky’s eyes narrowed. “It would be a first for a Spencer,” he began teasingly, but then stopped when he saw her shudder. “Em? Love?” He moved closer to her on the couch and realized that she was starting to cry. He pulled her into his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Emily said haltingly, trying to get control and not break down. Today was too important for her to appear weak and vulnerable. “I guess it’s just hormones.” She explained with a weak smile that doesn’t even begin to fool the person who knows her best.

“Try again,” Lucky says as he gently moves to comfort her. “And don’t even bother trying to make up a story for my benefit.”

Emily sighed and pulled away from him so she could look into his eyes. “I just...here we are joking about your memorial service when 24 hours ago I thought I’d lost you forever. And I still could. Anything could go wrong today. Or there could be another explosion tomorrow. And then there’s this stupid virus and only God knows what’s going to happen there. I want to spend the rest of my life with you Lucky Spencer. I want to grow old with you. I want us to be the wildest couple in the retirement home.” She smiled tremulously. “But sometimes I’m so afraid that we won’t get that chance. There’s so much more I want to do and see and explore with you and with our children. I don’t want to lose you ever.”

“You won’t. I’ll never leave you, don’t you know that. Even if I had died in that explosion. the most important part of me, my heart and my soul, would have been with you just like they have been since the moment I first realized I loved you. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that everything will be all right. But I am going to tell you that there is no force in this world that is strong enough to stop me from loving you. Ever.”

Emily buries her head in his chest. “I love you.” She says quietly.

“I have never doubted that,” Lucky tells her softly. He brushes a few tendrils of hair away from her face. “Are you going to make it through today?”

“If it means having my son back I can make it through anything.”

Lucky says nothing, just continues to hold her quietly.

The Manhattan Home of Jax and V

Jax sits at his desk, staring at the computer printouts and faxes in front of him. The wall street rumor mill had proven to be far more effective and fast than he had predicted. The rumors they had set in motion yesterday were now running rampant over the financial community and his stock was plummeting rapidly. By his estimates he had lost almost a million in the last hour alone.

He smiles as he hears the soft rustle of silk behind him and feels V’s gentle hands embrace him as she softly kisses his neck.

“Good morning,” she tells him with a smile that almost makes his uneasiness over what he plans to do today disappear. Grinning, he reaches and pulls her onto his lap and gives her a passionate and thorough greeting that leaves them both breathing rapidly.

“I should wake up this early more often,” V says lightly as she stares into his eyes, eyes that had caught her heart the first time she had looked into them.

“Early?” Jax teased. “It’s almost eight o’clock. Some of us have been up and working for hours.”

“Some of us are workaholic millionaires who don’t know how to enjoy life,” V shoots back unruffled. “Besides, now that I’m my own boss who in their right mind would choose to get up early?”

“Lots of people.”

“Well those people aren’t kept up all night by their wonderfully passionate and terribly sweet husbands.”

“Terribly sweet? Six years of marriage and I’m no longer wickedly seductive- I’m only terribly sweet? Ouch.”

V giggled and then sobered slightly. “How is the plan going?”

Jax sighs. “I think I’m ready to make that call.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah. Apparently the world is eager to believe that Jasper Jaxs is a failure.”

“Poor Jax,” V croons with false sympathy, knowing her husband well enough to know that for all of his outward reluctance, he is enjoying the game. “Has Jerry started buying the stock back?”

“Not yet. He has a few dummy corporations set up and ready, I figure the value will drop another 30 or 40 percent before it hits rock bottom.” He pulled his beautiful wife closer. “I hope you didn’t plan any shopping excursions today because I don’t think your credit will be very good.”

“I think I’ll survive,” V says wryly thinking of the closets full of clothes Jax had bought her just this last year alone. She gracefully slid off his lap. “I think I’d better leave you alone to make your phone call. If we’re being paid a visit by the wicked witch of Greece I’d better make sure everything is ready.” She stops at the door to his study. “Did I tell you how proud I am of you for helping Lucky and Emily this way?”

“No, but remind me tonight when you have time to show me in depth.”

She flashed him a smile and made her way out of the study to get ready for their visitor.

Jax watched her go and picked up the phone. Lucky had given him Helena’s private number, he hoped she didn’t question him too closely about how he got it.

Twenty minutes later he hung up the phone after making plans for Helena to meet him at his home to discuss the sale of his company to her later in the afternoon.

He made a quick call to Lucky and then, smiling at the numbers the stock was hitting, made a longer call to Jerry.

Wyndemere

“I can’t believe you’re actually going to keep me here against my will,” Ruby groused for what Nikolas was almost sure was the hundredth time in the last hour. They were all sitting down to breakfast and he and Stephanie had been subjected to Ruby’s outrage for almost the entire meal.

“It’s not that bad,” Stephanie chipped in. “If you have to be confined to one place Wyndemere isn’t that bad. There’s the beach, the gardens, the stables, the grounds, a huge house to explore. It’s not that hard to find something to do.”

Nikolas smiled at his daughter. “Thank you for the support.”

“At least for the first day. After that it pretty much sucks.” Stephanie finished, ignoring the glare her dad sent her. “Look at it this way, at least you’re not under house arrest alone.”

“She’s not under house arrest,” Nikolas said almost plaintively. “She’s grounded.”

“Oh, I forgot,’ Stephanie exclaimed. “I’m the one who is under house arrest.”

“You are not under house arrest either it’s just too dangerous for you to be roaming around town and...” Nikolas looked at his daughter and his sister. “Never mind. If you guys want to see this as house arrest, go ahead. But the launch captain has his orders to not let either of you onto the new launch so if you want to go into town you’ll have to swim.” He attempted to cajole the two of them. “Why don’t you let the housekeeper pack up a picnic lunch and take the horses out for a ride. You used to like to ride the horses when you were younger,” he told his sister.

“I used to think having a prince for a brother was pretty cool once upon a time too,” Ruby said.

“I don’t know,” the dark haired young woman who entered the room smiled at her older brother. “ I still think it’s pretty cool having a prince for a brother.”

“Morning Lu,” Nikolas greeted his other sister with a smile. “You look pretty good all things considered.” Lu’s plane had arrived late last night and she had been surprised to find both her parents out of town and to be told that she would be staying at Wyndemere for a while.

Lu’s eyes go wide. “I just wish I’d had the chance to spend some time with him, you know. I mean he called at school when he came back and we talked a lot, but he was pretty insistent that I not leave school in the middle of the term. Now I wish I had. It’s hard to believe that he’s gone.” A sadness fell over the foursome and a solemn quiet that made Ruby feel ashamed. Her brother was dead and she was complaining about a grounding she knew she deserved. She walked over to her older sister and hugged her.

“How about a picnic?” Ruby suggested.

Lu hesitated. “Actually, Jamie is driving over from Pine Valley today for a visit.” But I’m sure he would understand if I asked him to come tomorrow or the next day.”

“Jamie?” Nikolas looked up confused. “I thought you were dating some guy named Brady from Salem.”

“You are so far behind the times, Nikky.” Lu picked up a strawberry and put it in her mouth. “Brady Black is yesterday’s news. Too many emotional issues. I think his dad wasn’t exactly a stable influence in his life. I mean compared to John Black, Luke Spencer gets the award for father of the century.” Lu explains with a shudder, not bothering to go into her ex’s family background which she would never have believed if she hadn’t grown up in Port Charles. “I’ve been dating Jamie Martin for the last four or five months. We met when he came to my college to visit my roommate Amanda.”

“So is this serious?” Nikolas feels obliged to ask.

“It could be,” Lu’s eyes turn dreamy and a chill runs up and down Nikolas’s spine. “It could be,” she says simply.

Ruby and Stephanie giggle and begin teasing Lu about her new boyfriend. Forgetting her facade of sophistication in her irritation. Lu picks up a strawberry and belts her little sister and her niece .

Nikolas contemplates for a moment trying to stop the mounting food fight, but decides that discretion truly is the better part of valor and beats a hasty retreat to his study.

Once in his study, he wonders not for the first time if supervising Lu, Ruby, and Stephanie for the next few days might not be more dangerous than tracking down evidence of Helena’s fraud. Nikolas has a funny feeling that somewhere over the Atlantic, Luke Spencer is grinning because he knows damn well he got the better end of the deal.

The atmosphere in the hotel room grows more tense as the morning drags on and the afternoon begins. Jason and Lucky go over every inch of information they have been able to dig up on Helena’s building, taking each possible scenario and running with it until Emily is exhausted just listening to it.

They order in something for lunch, but no one has much of an appetite. Jax’s phone call and the realization that their plans are going through sooner than they expected have set all four adults on edge. Maxie sits by herself at a table, barely able to look at Jason out of a fear that she will somehow lose control when she needs it the most. Instead she focuses on the weapons her father sent over, carefully checking each one to make sure its loaded. After a minute, a restless Emily walks over to join Maxie.

“Can I help?” Emily asks as she expertly picks up a weapon.

Maxie looks at her in surprise and Emily just grins. “You learn some new skills when you’re on the run.” Emily smiles. “Although I’m not nearly the expert you are. Did you always want to be a cop?”

“Except for a brief stint when I wanted to be either a model or a ballerina, pretty much.”

Emily laughed. “Trust me, being a model isn’t exactly an occupation to aspire to.”

Maxie looks at Emily curiously. “What did you want to be? Before everything I mean?”

“Anything that got me out of the Quartermaine mansion,” Emily said bluntly, then she grinned. “I guess I got that wish, didn’t I?”

Both women burst into laughter as some of the tension in the room dissipated.

Emily looked at her watch. “How much time before Helena’s meeting with Jax?”

Jason looked at the clock. “Three. Why?”

Emily stood up and grabbed her purse and walked up to Lucky. “Take me shopping.”

“What?” Lucky’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “You want to go shopping.”

Emily nodded. “We have three hours. You spend those three hours in this room worrying about a plan that we all know inside and out and that you and Jason have gone over with a fine tooth comb and you will drive yourself and the rest of us crazy.” Emily smiled at him. “Let’s get out of here and have a little fun. We can go to FAO Schwartz and pick up something for Jonathan or maybe a new computer game for you. It doesn’t matter what we do as long as its not sit around worry and stare at these four walls.

“It’s not safe.”

“So we take a couple of Jason’s men with us. It’s not like I’ve forgotten how to shop with bodyguards following.”

Jason looked at his brother-in-law. “She has a point. We all need to be relaxed and loose if this plan is going to go down the way we want it.”

After a moment of hesitation, Lucky nodded. “One one condition.”

Emily’s eyebrow rises.

“I get to hold the credit card.”

“You know that’s not going to stop me from buying what I want?”

“I know,” Lucky flashes his wife a quick smile. “At least this way I get to pretend that I’m in charge.”

Emily laughs, bids goodbye to Jason and Maxie, and ushers Lucky out the door before he can change his mind.

Maxie looks at Jason after they have left.

“Are you sure its wise to let them go?”

Jason nods. “My men will keep an eye out for them. The stress of sitting around and waiting would not be good for either Emily or the baby and Lucky knows it. He’ll take her mind off everything for an hour or so she can relax and then he’ll come back ready for action.”

“How about you?” Maxie walks up close to him and traces his chest with her fingertips, enjoying the feel of his shudder beneath her touch. “Who’s going to help you relax?”

Jason makes a valiant attempt to resist temptation. “It’s not nighttime.”

“I’ve always been good at pretending.” Maxie whispers. Then she hesitates. “We used all of the condoms last night.”

Jason grins a huge grin that Maxie feels like she could drown in. “I can think of several ways that we can relax that don’t require a condom at all.” He takes her lips in a firm and possessive kiss. “Let me demonstrate.”

Almost two hours later, Emily and Lucky return to the hotel room, Emily’s eyes glowing to find Jason and Maxie sitting at the table while Jason reviews the plans one more time and Maxie offers her advice from years of training and experience with hostage rescues.

Maxie looks up when Emily and Lucky enter. “Did you guys buy out the entire store?” She motions to the pile of packages that Lucky is holding.

“Not quite, but close. We found some great stuff for the baby and even something I think Jonathan might like, although with teenagers or preteens its hard to judge. We went for a carriage ride in Central Park and had sno-cones.” Emily beams at Lucky who returns the look.

Maxie looks puzzled. “Sno-cones?”

“It’s a personal thing,” Emily explains. “What have you guys been up to while we were gone?”

“We were just reviewing the plans.” Maxie said quickly “I think we’re set. And we were right about Helena splitting her force. She just told half her guards that they would be accompanying her to Jax’s. So instead of ten guards, we’ll have to face four.”

“Good,” Lucky begins but is interrupted by Emily.

“I’m going to put these packages away.”

Lucky nods and watches her leave with a smile.

He turns his attention back to Maxie and Jason and the blueprints of the building they are carefully studying. He smirks, a smirk that Jason catches.

“What is your problem?”

“Nothing,” Lucky tries his hardest not to smirk as he picks up the blueprint. “But wouldn’t it be easier to read your blue prints if it wasn’t turned face down on the paper.” And without saying a word, he flips for the blueprint right side up. This time, he doesn’t even bother to try to hide his smirk.

One hour later, the four watch carefully as Helena, accompanied by her loyal “assistants” make their way out of the building and into a waiting car that pulls up in front of the building.

Emily holsters the gun into the shoulder harness and slips on a leather jacket borrowed from Jason that contains more than a few surprises should she need them.

Lucky gives her a soft kiss. “Are you sure you know what to do?”

Emily ignores the fact that he has asked her that question repeatedly for the last thirty minutes or so and merely nods before returning his kiss. Both of them pretend not to notice when Jason kisses Maxie.

Silently, Maxie and Emily head down to the elevator while Jason and Lucky make their way to the stairs.

Once in the elevator, Emily leans back and releases a long sigh.

“It will be okay. Nothing is going to go wrong.”

Emily smiles and shakes her head. “I wasn’t worried about that. I was thinking of poor V. All we have to do is storm the castle, V has to entertain the evil queen.”

Maxie shudders. “I can’t imagine having to make small talk with Helena Cassadine.”

“Well let’s hope V and Jax can. The last thing we need is Helena coming home early from this meeting.”

The elevator door opens and Emily looks at the younger women. “Ready?”

“As I will ever be,” Maxie says softly. “One castle about to be stormed.” She adds under her breath. “Let’s just hope we all get to live happily ever after at the end of this fairy tale.”