The morning of Stefan's funeral--
Laura was rushing to get Lulu ready so they wouldn't be late for the service. She had overslept again this morning, like every morning that Luke had been away. It would take Laura hours to just manage to fall asleep at all, and usually by the time she did, it was already time to get up and start a new day. But she had to allow Luke this time. She had pushed before, and it led him to the hospital, close to death. She wouldn't risk Luke's life again, even if it meant she wouldn't be a part of it.
Laura finally found Lulu's other shoe, put it on her, and was almost out the door when Lucky called down from upstairs telling her to wait. She stopped at the door, wondering what Lucky wanted her to wait for, and was surprised to see him dressed up in a suit when he came down the stairs. He knew she was shocked and just said, "He saved my father's life, so I owe him the courtesy to attend his service."
"That's really generous of you, Lucky, considering the problems that you have had with the Cassadines," Laura said, tears forming in her eyes.
"I figure that I'm going to make my own judgements now instead of living by this feud. I'll hate Nikolas because of just him and not because of his name. I also will always hate Stefan, but not because Dad told me too. I'm making my own opinions of the Cassadines now and have decided to ignore their name and just see the people that they are."
Laura had full tears falling down her face when she went over and hugged Lucky. He pushed back slightly, but did take her embrace. "Thank you so much."
Lucky finally pushed away from Laura, standing still, no emotion showing on his face. "This isn't a big breakthrough, Mom. I still don't like your precious Nikky any more than I did before. I just have learned that I don't need to fight with him either. I don't fight with anyone else I hate, and I do hate other people... some who are a lot closer to me than a half brother of mine."
Laura wiped away her tears, knowing exactly where this was heading. She was determined not to show Lucky how much his insults were hurting her. And, even if he didn't want to fight, she would. "Like your father and me."
"If the shoe fits..."
Laura told Lulu to wait outside, closing the door behind her and walking over to the window to make sure she could keep an eye on her the whole time. "You know, I've allowed you this anger for a situation that you know absolutely nothing about. You saw one person get raped and then assume that is how everyone looks, how everyone feels. Well, Lucky, I was raped too, so you can't tell me what I looked like, what I felt like, or how I can feel about the situation afterwards. It's not for you or even your father to judge, but you're both doing just that."
"But..."
Laura put her hand up to tell him to be quiet until she finished talking, and for a change, he listened. "Lucky, your father and I can tell you everything about that night. Everything that led to the rape. We can even totally open up our minds back to that night and tell you our innermost thoughts during that whole night -- before, during, and after the rape. But it still wouldn't make you understand completely what took place. I know you wouldn't believe me if I told you that I loved your father back then And yes, I must be a horrible woman for being married to another man and wanting to be with your father instead. I know you think it's crazy that I could marry him after raping me, and it won't change your mind if I told you that he had no idea what he was doing to me at the time. A firing squad could have come in and threaten to shoot him if he didn't stop, and it wouldn't have made a difference because he wouldn't have heard them. He didn't hear a thing. He did go nuts... completely nuts for that one moment in our lives. Am I going to really throw away everything we have together just because of one crazed moment when he was nothing like the man he really is inside?"
Lucky listened to Laura's words, knowing inside that his parents' love was real. He couldn't deny that he knew in his heart that his father would never do something like that again. He couldn't claim that he thought of his father as a cruel enough man to be able to do that to any woman now. But he had done it once, and that's what he had a hard time accepting. The fact that the man he knew to be so caring to the people he loved was capable of committing a degrading and hurtful deed once in his life to the woman he claimed to love more than anyone or anything else in the world. "I do understand what you and Dad have shared since then. And I know that can't be thrown away just because I know about what happened before. I just don't understand how you could have shared those loving moments since the rape. You didn't have them before the rape, so how could you even think about starting something like that after what he had done to you?"
"Because of all the things we shared before that night. I know that you feel all rape is the same. You feel what your father did to me is exactly the same as what Liz's rapist did to her. But it's not that simple. Nothing in life is that simple, Lucky. If I didn't know exactly who your father was before the rape, I probably would have never been able to forgive him. But I did know your father. I knew how he acted. I knew what he thought. I also knew his heart, even though I tried not to think about it since I was a married woman. I could never have believed that your father wasn't capable of hurting me again if I didn't know the kind of man he was before the rape. I'll admit that." Laura started crying, the memories of her argument with Luke a few days ago coming back to her. Here she was finally getting to speak to her son about this, and he wasn't here to try to cross the same bridge also.
Lucky tried to understand, but he agreed with one thing his mother said... he would never understand it. Would he be willing to accept that it isn't his right to judge? "I'll keep what you've said in mind. That's all I can promise you. I can't promise to ever get back to what we once had, and I can't promise to ever want a relationship with Dad again. Not a father/son relationship at least. Maybe we'll build something of our own when he decides he has something here worth living for."
Sonny walked into Luke's office, expecting to see the same scene he had walked into every morning for the past couple of days -- Luke passed out from finishing off a bottle of some kind of booze from the night before. Today, he walked into a scene entirely different. "Okay, what did I do? Just walk into the Twilight Zone? What's got you all dressed up, clean shaven and all?"
Luke slyly grinned while saying, "I've gotta date that I don't want to be late for."
"A date, huh?" Sonny said. He sure hoped Luke was kidding, unless this date was with Laura. "So what kind of date is it?"
"Now now, Sonny. You know a man can't let those kind of secrets out." Luke walked over to his desk, grabbed his jacket, and put it on.
"At least tell me who this date is with."
"Is your love life really that miserable with Brenda that you gotta go nosying in mine?" Luke said, jokingly.
"My love life is the one that is actually good right now. I'm with the woman I love, remember?" Sonny regretted his words as soon as he said them. He was just joking, but he knew that it was a low blow anyway.
For a small moment, Luke felt his heart sink, staring at the picture of Laura he had on his desk. He quickly placed Laura's picture face down on his desk, while saying, "Well, some men got all the luck," hoping his joking nature would fool Sonny enough into thinking that he was okay with the situation.
Sonny saw past Luke's joke, knowing that Laura was still on his mind. He didn't want Luke to make a mistake and try to forget Laura completely by jumping into bed with another woman. He had done that with Lily, and it didn't work. He had always longed for Brenda, and because he couldn't admit it at the time, he had lost precious years with her. "Luke, if you think you can move on with your life, you're crazy. Take it from a man with experience... you have to hold onto what is important."
Luke knew that Sonny wouldn't let him out the door until he was straight with him. "Sonny, I'm not actually going out on a date. I was joking about that. I could never do that without Laura being the woman I went out with, and that's not going to happen anytime soon. I just have to be somewhere, and I'm already late."
"Just tell me one thing, Luke, and then I'll let you do whatever you have to do. Why are you doing this at all? Why are you throwing away your marriage over something that happened 20 years ago?"
"I don't know. Maybe because it's easier for me to live with it then. My son was right, Sonny. I should have been punished all those years ago. And since I wasn't then, it's about time I was now."
Luke quickly walked out the door, leaving Sonny alone in his office. Sonny walked over to Luke's desk, picking up Laura's picture. "But you're not only punishing yourself, Pal."
Nikolas walked aimlessly around the island, thinking about how much his life had changed since moving to Port Charles. He had discussed with Alexis the idea of moving back to Greece, finishing off his education before becoming the head of the family. But Alexis had convinced him that he still had ties to this town, and he would regret running away from them. Yeah, he had ties, but he had also lost the most important person in his life. Was really getting to know his mother and his sister worth the loss he now had to live with?
Alexis had finally found Nikolas and told him that the guests would arrive soon. Nikolas wasn't sure who would actually come, but he knew that there were a few he had to be present for. He wished that everyone in town could have seen what he saw when looking at Stefan Cassadine, but instead they only saw the last name. He had always hated that, and even more so now that Stefan was dead. People, the same people who would never call Stefan a friend, would come to this service because it was the "right" thing to do. They couldn't deny Stefan had saved the hospital, so now they would thank him for that. Too bad it was too late to do so.
Nikolas and Alexis walked back to Wyndemere, seeing the first launch of people arrive. "Are you ready for this?" Alexis asked.
"I have no other choice," Nikolas said, stoically. He would do what was required of him, if not for himself, then for his uncle.
